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]

Background

1953 Regency Council

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]

1979 Regency Council members

# 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]

See also

References

  1. ^ R.W. Apple Jr (14 January 1979). "A Regency Council is Named to Assume Duties of the Shah". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Ronald Koven (23 January 1979). "Head of Iranian Regency Council Resigns in Paris". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Chronological Summary of Events, 19 February–4 March 1953", Chronology of International Events and Documents, 9 (5), Royal Institute of International Affairs: 148, 1953, JSTOR 40545381
  4. ^ a b Sepehr Zabir (2012). The Iranian Military in Revolution and War (RLE Iran D). CRC Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-1-136-81270-5.
  5. ^ a b Mehrdad Khonsari (June 1995). The National Movement of the Iranian Resistance 1979-1991: The role of a banned opposition movement in international politics (PhD thesis). The London School of Economics and Political Science. p. 111. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021.
Categories