The Regency Council (Persian: شورای سلطنت, romanized: Šūrā-ye Salṭanat) of the Imperial State of Iran, was a nine-member body formed on 13 January 1979 by Mohammad Reza Shah to carry out his duties[1] after he left Iran amidst the Iranian Revolution and served as the symbol of his continued claim on power.[2]
The council was practically dissolved within days, when its head resigned on 22 January 1979 to meet Ayatollah Khomeini.[2]
On 28 February 1953, it was reported that in a meeting with Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, the Shah had agreed that during his absence in Iran a regency council consisting of Mosaddegh, Gholamreza Pahlavi (Shah's brother) and Hossein Ala (Minister of Royal Court) should be appointed to act as the regency council.[3]
# | Name[4] | Latest Office[4] | Position in the Council |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jalaleddin Tehrani | Former Senator | Head
|
2 | Mohammad Ali Varasteh | Former Minister of Finance | Deputy
|
3 | Shapour Bakhtiar | Prime Minister | Member
|
4 | Mohammad Sajjadi | President of the Senate | |
5 | Javad Saeid | Speaker of the Parliament | |
6 | Gen. Abbas Gharabaghi | Chief-of-Staff of Imperial Iranian Army | |
7 | Aligholi Ardalan | Minister of Royal Court | |
8 | Abdullah Entezam | Former Chairman of National Iranian Oil Company | |
9 | Abdolhossein Ali Abadi | Former Prosecutor-General |
Due to the tensions between Jalaleddin Tehrani and Abbas Gharabaghi Tehrani resigned from the post.[5] He was replaced by Mohammad Ali Varasteh as the head of the council.[5]