Muhammad Fazlollah Zahedi (1897-1963) was an Iranian general and politician.

Son of Abol Hassan "Bassir Diwan" Zahedi, a wealthy land owner at the city of Hamedan, Fazlollah Zahedi was appointed general of the Iranian army at the age of 25. During his service at the imperial Russian trained Iranian Cossack Brigade , one of his comrades in arms was Reza Khan, the later Reza Shah Pahlavi. The alliance, forged between the two men, was to endure a lifetime and continued to bind their sons, personally as well as politically.

During Reza Shah's reign, General Zahedi was named (1926) military governor of Khouzestan province, holding the hub of Iran's oil industry, and in 1932 chief of national police, one of the nation's top internal posts. During World War II he was appointed (1941) commanding general of the Isfahan Division. Subsequent to the forced abdication of Reza Shah (1941), fueled by British fears of an Alliance with Nazi Germany, Zahedi was arrested by British forces in 1942 for the same reasons, flown out of the country and interned in Palestine until the end of the war. A fierce nationalist, Zahedi fostered deep reservations and suspicions towards the Allied Forces.

Returned from exile in 1945, during the reign of Muhammad Reza Shah (Reza Shah's son and successor), General Zahedi became Inspector of military forces in southern Iran and once more chief of national police in 1949. After retiring from the army, he was named Senator in 1950. During Dr. Muhammad Mossadegh's Premiership, Zahedi held the Post of Minister of the Interior (1951). He fell out with Mossadegh shortly after the Premier had antagonized Great Britain and the Western Powers, by nationalizing Iran's oil industry 1951, which was controlled chiefly by British oil companies and investors. Iran's oil-exports came to a standstill due to sanctions levied by the Western Powers, leading to considerable economic hardships at home, with painful impacts on the labour force. Riots by several tribes of southern Iran and destitute oil-field workers destabilized public life further and demands for political change grew nationwide. The USA, who had held "Mossy", the ailing and previously staunchly pro-American Dr. Mossadegh in high esteem, were fearing increasing communist influence over the situation and dropped their support for him.

As a result of the ensuing international crisis and Iran's political destabilization, the shah, encouraged by leading figures, asked Prime Minister Mossadegh to resign, in February of 1953. Mossadegh refused to abide by the constitutional rights of the sovereign to dismiss him, provoking a national uprising. During a restive interlude Zahedi acted from underground in order to avoid imminent arrest. Shah supporters crowded the streets, calling for the Premier's ousting. Rebellious groups engaged in street-fights with forces loyal to Prime Minister Mossadegh as well as rallying members of the Iranian communist party "Tudeh" (the name implying "Masses"). The situation climaxed on August 15th, 1953, when the shah, losing credibility, left the country, after having endorsed the decrees dismissing Dr. Mossadegh and naming General Zahedi Prime Minister. By openly refusing to cede power to his destined successor and foiling attempts to remove him by force, Mossadegh had factually staged a coup d'Etat.

Supported by the politics of Great Britain and the USA, and with the participation of intelligence agents Kermit Roosevelt and Donald N. Wilber, retired General Fazlollah Zahedi staged a counter coup, drawing public and military support, which succeeded on the 19 August 1953. Zahedi proclaimed himself Prime Minister and the shah returned triumphantly to Iran, from his brief exile in Rome, on the 21st of August.

Many contemporary sources attribute the instigation of the counter coup entirely to foreign intelligence agencies, such as the US American CIA ("CIA Coup") and the British MI6. Numerous books were published on the events surrounding the counter coup, often mixing facts and fiction. Sober reflection sheds due skepticism on assertions that two foreigners and a few local cooperators should have arbitrarily manipulated masses of (traditionally xenophobic) Iranians into action. In light of the fact, e. g., that the CIA later claimed to have lost all documentation relating to the coup events of 1953 in a fire, circulating narrations (often self-congratulatory) of alleged participating agents and other "insiders" need be regarded with due caution.

Having acquired an unprecedented power-base and, as a consequence, evoking increasing unease at home, the Premiership of General Zahedi ended in 1955. His final exile was sweetened by his last post, as Ambassador to the United Nations, in Geneva.

Zahedi's family descends from the Sufi mystics Sheikh Zahed Gilani (1216 - 1301) and Sheikh Safi Al-Din Ardebili, the eponym of the Safavid Dynasty. Married to Khadijeh Pirnia , daughter of Mirza Hussein Khan Pirnia (titled Motamen-ol-Molk ), and granddaughter to Mozzafar-al-Din Shah Qajar (1853 - 1907), Fazlollah Zahedi had a son, Ardeshir , and a daughter, Homa. Ardeshir Zahedi , a later politician and diplomat, was to marry Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, daughter of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi from his first marriage to Princess Fawzia of Egypt, daughter to King Fuad I.

External links

• New york Times article of 20th August 1953