15 Facts About Fazlollah Zahedi

Fazlollah Zahedi was an Iranian lieutenant general and statesman who replaced the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh through a coup d'etat supported by the United States and the United Kingdom.

Fazlollah Zahedi was a descendant of the Sufi mystics Sheikh Zahed Gilani and Sheikh Safi-ad-din Ardabili, the eponym of the Safavid dynasty, and through his mother, Djavaher Khanom, he traced his descent to the dynastic ruler Karim Khan Zand.

Fazlollah Zahedi was among the officers dispatched to Gilan to put an end to the Jangal movement of Mirza Kuchak Khan.

At the age of 23, as a company commander, Fazlollah Zahedi led troops into battle against rebel tribesmen in the northern provinces.

Fazlollah Zahedi was involved in the overthrow of Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee's government in 1920 with the help of Meguertitch Khan Davidkhanian.

Fazlollah Zahedi was arrested in his own office by Fitzroy Maclean, who details the adventure in his 1949 memoir Eastern Approaches.

Fazlollah Zahedi was flown out of the country and interned in Palestine.

Fazlollah Zahedi became once more chief of national police in 1949, when Mohammad Reza Shah appointed him as chief of the Shahrbani Police Forces, in order to counter the growing threat of Sepahbod Haj Ali Razmara.

Fazlollah Zahedi actively supported the new government's nationalisation of the oil industry, which had previously been owned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, now BP.

Fazlollah Zahedi was dismissed by Prime Minister Mossadegh after a bloody crackdown on pro-nationalization protesters in mid-1951 in which 20 people were killed and 2000 wounded.

Fazlollah Zahedi finally broke with Mossadegh, with the latter accusing him of fostering plans for a coup.

General Fazlollah Zahedi was appointed prime minister in August 1953, and his cabinet was declared on 20 August.

One-thirds of the ministers in Fazlollah Zahedi's cabinet were army officers.

Fazlollah Zahedi married Khadijeh Pirnia tol-Moluk, daughter of Hossein Pirnia, and maternal granddaughter to Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar.

Fazlollah Zahedi's daughter Homa Zahedi was a member of Parliament, representing the constituency of the Hamadan Province.