Amirteymour Kalali

Amirteymour Kalali امیرتیمور کلالی
Minister of Interior
In office 16 December 1951 – 16 July 1952
Prime Minister	Mohammad Mossadegh
Preceded by	Fazlollah Zahedi
Succeeded by	Gholam Hossein Sadighi
Minister of Labour
In office 9 February 1950 – 27 April 1951
Prime Minister	Mohammad Mossadegh
Succeeded by	Ebrahim Alami
Member of the National Consultative Assembly
In office 6 October 1928 – 10 August 1953
Constituency	Kashmar
Personal details
Born	(1894-10-05)5 October 1894 Mashhad, Persia
Died	11 February 1988(1988-02-11) (aged 93) Tehran, Iran
Resting place	Behesht-e Zahra, Tehran
Spouse(s)	Ney Rozma Davalou Qajar (died) Afrouz Farhood
Children	11, including Nahid Mirza
Parents	Nuzrat ol-Molk (father) Princess Ashraf us-Sultana (mother)
Alma mater	Harrow School Saint-Cyr

Prime Minister Mosaddegh and Amirteymour at a cabinet meeting

L to R: Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Mohammad Ali Foroughi and Amirteymour

Mohammad-Ebrahim Mirza Amirteymour Kalali (5 October 1895 – 11 February 1988) (Template:Lang-fa), also known as Sardar Nosrat, was a prominent Iranian statesman and aristocrat.

Background

Amirteymour was born into the Timurid dynasty in 1895. His father Ali Mardan Khan was given the title of Nuzrat ol-Molk by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. Amirteymour was 93 years old when he died in 1988, and his life had spanned a century that had also impacted modern Iran. His privileged position as one of Iran's biggest landowners, tribe leader, and statesman placed him in the centre of key historical events for about 70 years, both as an eyewitness and participant.

Amirteymour's storey begins in the 1910s, when the last of the Qajar rulers, Ahmad Shah, was on the throne. He takes over as the head of Teymouris when he is only twenty years old, and as the chief, he commands a series of battles and raids along the Afghan border. Amirteymour's troops present him with the decapitated heads of his opponents at the end of one battle.

During his time as a Majles deputy in Tehran, Amirteymour establishes many relationships and ties with significant political figures in the country. He first runs for the Majles in the Fifth Session (1924-26), and according to his own account, he gets the votes but not the seat because he is under the age requirement of thirty years. He is elected to the Sixth Session and then re-elected to the Ninth Session, which ends in 1934.

Political career

Amirteymour takes part in the campaign to remove veil. In 1936, Reza Shah asks him to host a reception at his palace inviting the top officials of Mashhad's holy city, as well as their spouses, who are required to attend without the veil. After that, he hosts a banquet for the city's clergy and their wives.

Despite these gestures, Amirteymour falls out of favour with Reza Shah, having enraged the king with his insolence, as he explains. As a result, he is barred from the parliament for the Tenth and Eleventh sessions, but is able to run for reelection in the Twelfth (1940-42).

By the late 1940s, the royal court's intervention in the political affairs of the country is on the rise. On one account Amirteymour describes how Princess Ashraf attempted to gain his cooperation to oust Prime Minister Ghavam. While refusing to go along in this intrigue, Amirteymour took steps to mediate between Ghavam and the Princess.

Relationship with the Pahlavis

With the implementation of the land reform initiative in the 1960s, Amirteymour's authority begins to fade. As a major landowner, he opposes the reforms. After the early 1960s, his resistance forces him to withdraw from politics. He is no longer an acitive participant during this period, but rather an observer. He has, nevertheless, shown to be a savvy politician for the past half-century who survived and outlasted his contemporaries despite taking part in numerous key events of the day and frequently straddling the line between opposing camps.

As a later observer, Amirteymour bemoans the Shah's decision to promote young technocrats to prominent positions, believing them to be inexperienced and out of touch with Iran's people, culture, and history. Amirteymour, like a number of other older statesmen, met with the Shah on the eve of the revolution. In his memoirs, he describes their dialogue as well as his personal disappointment with the monarchy's demise. He holds the Shah's policies and leadership accountable for the monarchy's collapse.

Private life

Amirteymour fathered eleven children from two wives:

• Ney Rozma Davalou Qajar
  • Nahid Amirteymour, married Nawab (Prince) Iskander Mirza who also became the first president of Pakistan.
  • Mohammad Reza Mirza Amirteymour, served as Iran's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Soviet Union and India.
  • Pari Amirteymour
  • Dokhi Amirteymour
  • Jahan Amirteymour
  • Afsaneh Amirteymour
  • Jaleh Amirteymour

Afrouz Farhood

• Nasrollah Amirteymour
• Laleh Amirteymour
• Homeyra Amirteymour
• Alimardan Amirteymour

See also

• History of Persia
• Qajar Dynasty of Iran
• Abdolhossein Teymourtash
• Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari

Sources

• Agheli, Bagher, Teymourtash Dar Sahneye-h Siasate-h Iran ("Teimurtash in the Political Arena of Iran") (Javeed: Tehran, 1371).
• Ansari, Ali, Modern Iran Since 1921: The Pahlavis and After (Longman: London, 2003) ISBN 0-582-35685-7.
• 'Alí Rizā Awsatí (عليرضا اوسطى), Iran in the Past Three Centuries (Irān dar Se Qarn-e Goz̲ashteh - ايران در سه قرن گذشته), Volumes 1 and 2 (Paktāb Publishing - انتشارات پاکتاب, Tehran, Iran, 2003). ISBN 964-93406-6-1 (Vol. 1), ISBN 964-93406-5-3 (Vol. 2).
• Cronin, Stephanie, The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society Under Reza Shah (Routledge: London, 2003) ISBN 0-415-30284-6.
• Ghani, Cyrus, Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlavi Power (I.B. Tauris: London, 2000). ISBN 1-86064-629-8.