Mehdi Bazargan

Mehdi Bazargan (مهدی بازرگان In Persian) (September, 1907? - January 20, 1995) (also spelled Mahdi Bazargan) was head of Iran's interim government, virtually Iran's first prime minister after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He was one of the architects of the Iranian revolution.

Related Topics:
Persian - 1907 - January 20 - 1995 - Iran's interim government - Prime minister - Iranian Revolution - 1979

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Bazargan was educated in thermodynamics and engineering at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris.

Related Topics:
Thermodynamics - Engineering - École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures - Paris

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A pro-democracy activist, Bazargan came back from France and become the head of the first engineering department of Tehran University in the late 1940s. In 1951 with the leadership of Dr. Mossadegh, Iranian parliament nationalized the Iranian oil industry (National Iranian Oil Company) and removed it from British control. Mr. Bazargan served as the first Iranian head of National Iranian Oil Company under command of Prime Minister Mossadegh.

Related Topics:
Democracy - 1940s - 1951 - National Iranian Oil Company - British - Prime Minister - Mossadegh

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After the fall of the Mossadegh government, he co-founded the Liberation Movement of Iran and was jailed several times by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

Related Topics:
Liberation Movement of Iran - Shah - Mohammed Reza Pahlavi

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Bazargan was appointed to the prime ministership by Ayatollah Khomeini on February 5, 1979 after the revolution forced the Shah to leave Iran. Bazargan was seen as one of the figureheads of the democratic and liberal revolutionaries and increasingly came into conflict with the religious clerics including the leader of revolution Ayatollah Khomeini. Bazargan resigned with his cabinet on November 5, 1979, immediately after the US Embassy takeover and hostage-taking on November 4. Though it was considered to be a protest to the hostage-taking crisis, it was also clear that his liberal views and resistance to the clergy had already convinced him that he could not make the democratic changes he had planned.

Related Topics:
Ayatollah Khomeini - February 5 - 1979 - Liberal - Cabinet - November 5 - US Embassy takeover and hostage-taking - November 4 - Protest

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Bazargan was a member of the first Islamic Parliament of Iran (Majlis). He died on January 20, 1995 while travelling from Tehran to Zurich, Switzerland from a heart attack.

Related Topics:
Islamic Parliament of Iran - January 20 - 1995 - Zurich - Switzerland

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