Mohammad Mosaddegh

Mosaddegh was born to a prominent family of high officials in Ahmadabad, near Tehran, on June 16, 1882; his father, Mirza Hideyatu'llah Ashtiani, was the finance minister under the Qajar dynasty, and his mother, Princess Malek Taj Najm-es-Saltaneh, was the granddaughter of the reformist Qajar prince Abbas Mirza, and a great-granddaughter of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. When Mosaddegh's father died in 1892 of cholera, his uncle was appointed the tax collector of the Khorasan province and was bestowed with the title of Mosaddegh-ol-Saltaneh by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.

Mosaddegh himself later bore the same title, by which he was still known to some long after titles were abolished. Mosaddegh's mother wanted her son to marry his cousin, daughter of her sister and Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar. In 1901, Mosaddegh married Zahra Emami (1879–1965), a granddaughter of Naser al-Din Shah through her mother Zi'a es-Saltaneh.

Education

In 1909, Mosaddegh pursued education abroad in Paris, France, where he studied at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He studied there for two years, returning to Iran because of illness in 1911. After two months, Mosaddegh returned to Europe to study a Doctorate of Laws (doctorat en Droit) at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. In June 1913, Mosaddegh received his doctorate and in doing so became the first Iranian to receive a PhD in law from a European university.

Mosaddegh taught at the Tehran School of Political Science at the start of World War I before beginning his political career.

Zia Ashraf, (b. ?- d. 1991) married her cousin, politician Ezzatullah Bayat (son of her paternal aunt Showkat al-Dowleh and Abbasghali Bayat Sahm al-Mulk) and brother of Morteza-Qoli Bayat. Had offspring. Later divorced.

Gholam-Hossein (b. 1906- d. 1990) educated as a doctor and served as his father's personal physician. Also held other positions such as Inspector-Genersl of the Central Committee Iranian Lion & Sun Org, Head of Iranian Delegation to International Committee of the Red Cross in 1946. Married Malekeh Khajeh-Nouri and had offspring.

Ahmad (b. 1907 -d. ?) became an engineer, and held the position of Director General of the Ministry of Roads during his father's time as prime minister. Head of the State Railway Organization until being replaced by another official favoured by the shah's sister, Ashraf Pahlavi. After the shah had been deposed politically involved in the National Democratic Front. Married Amina Quds-e-Azam.

Mansoureh (b.1908 - d.1979) married her cousin Ahmad Matin-Daftari. Had offspring, most notably the painter, Leyly Matin-Daftari and the politician, Hedayatollah Matin-Daftari, founder of the National Democratic Front. Died in a plane crash in 1979 while en route between Mashhad and Tehran.

Yahya (b.1912-d.1912) died as an infant in Neuchatel from scarlet fever or measles.

Mahmoud, died young in Tehran.

Khadije (b. 1927 - d. 2003). One of her father's arrests, which she witnessed, left her so traumatized that she suffered a mental breakdown from which she never fully recovered. Undergoing many treatments she was eventually lobotomized and lived out the remainder of her life in a hospital in Switzerland.

Political career

Mosaddegh started his political career with the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905–07. At the age of 24, he was elected from Isfahan to the newly inaugurated Persian Parliament, the Majlis of Iran. He was unable to assume his seat, because he had not reached the legal age of 30.

During this period he also served as deputy leader of the Society of Humanity, under Mostowfi ol-Mamalek.

In protest of the Anglo-Persian Treaty of 1919, he relocated to Switzerland, from where he returned the following year after being invited by the new Iranian prime minister, Hassan Pirnia (Moshir-ed-Dowleh), to become his minister of justice. While en route to Tehran, he was asked by the people of Shiraz to become the governor of the Fars province.

In 1921, he was appointed finance minister, in the government of Ahmad Qavam (Qavam os-Saltaneh). In June 1923, he became the foreign minister in the government of Moshir-ed-Dowleh. He then became governor of the Azerbaijan Province. In 1923, he was re-elected to the Majlis.

In 1925, the supporters of Reza Khan in the Majlis proposed legislation to dissolve the Qajar dynasty and appoint Reza Khan the new Shah. Mosaddegh voted against such a move, arguing that such an act was a subversion of the 1906 Iranian constitution. He gave a speech in the Majlis, praising Reza Khan's achievements as prime minister while encouraging him to respect the constitution and stay as the prime minister. On 12 December 1925, the Majlis deposed the young Ahmad Shah Qajar and declared Reza Shah the new monarch of the Imperial State of Persia, and the first shah of the Pahlavi dynasty. Mosaddegh then retired from politics, due to disagreements with the new regime.

In 1941, Reza Shah Pahlavi was forced by the British to abdicate in favour of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1944, Mosaddegh was once again elected to parliament. This time he took the lead of Jebhe Melli (National Front of Iran, created in 1949), an organisation he had founded with nineteen others such as Hossein Fatemi, Ahmad Zirakzadeh, Ali Shayegan and Karim Sanjabi, aiming to establish democracy and end the foreign presence in Iranian politics, especially by nationalising the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's (AIOC) operations in Iran. In 1947 Mosaddegh once again announced retirement, after an electoral-reform bill he had proposed failed to pass through Majlis.