21 Facts About Shapour Bakhtiar

Shapour Bakhtiar was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Shapour Bakhtiar's mother was Naz-Baygom, and both of his parents were Lurs and Bakhtiaris.

Shapour Bakhtiar's father was executed by Reza Shah in 1934 while Shapour was studying in Paris.

Shapour Bakhtiar attended elementary school in Shahr-e Kord and then secondary school, first in Isfahan and later in Beirut, where he received his high school diploma from a French school.

Shapour Bakhtiar returned to Iran in 1946 and joined the social democratic Iran Party in 1949 and led its youth organization.

Shapour Bakhtiar later held the same position in Khuzestan, center of the oil industry.

Under his premiership Shapour Bakhtiar was appointed deputy minister of labor in 1953.

In 1960, the Second National Front was formed and Shapour Bakhtiar played a crucial role in the new organization's activities as the head of the student activist body of the Front.

Shapour Bakhtiar was one of the prominent members of central council of the illegal Fourth National Front in late 1977, when the group was reconstituted as the Union of National Front Forces with Bakhtiar as head of the Iran Party.

Shapour Bakhtiar was appointed to the position of Prime Minister by the Shah, as a concession to his opponents, especially the followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Shapour Bakhtiar was accused by some of making mistakes during his premiership such as allowing Khomeini to re-enter Iran.

Shapour Bakhtiar's government was overwhelmingly rejected by the masses except for a very small number of pro-Shah loyalists and a handful of moderate pro-democratic elements.

The Shah was forced to leave the country in January 1979; Shapour Bakhtiar left Iran again for France in April of the same year.

Between 9 and 10 July 1980, Shapour Bakhtiar helped organize a coup attempt known as the Nojeh coup plot, prompting the Islamic Republic to issue a death sentence on him.

On 6 August 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar was murdered along with his secretary, Soroush Katibeh, by three assassins in his home in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes.

Shapour Bakhtiar was received as a hero by Islamic Republic officials.

Shapour Bakhtiar published a memoir in addition to many articles.

Shapour Bakhtiar's books include Ma Fidelite and 37 Days after 37 Years, his biography.

Shapour Bakhtiar's writings are of special interest regarding society and politics in the Pahlavi era and the period of riots and turbulence just before the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Shapour Bakhtiar was first married to a French woman with whom he had three children, a son Guy and two daughters, Viviane and France.

Shortly before his death, Shapour Bakhtiar divorced his wife and married a young Iranian woman.