Ali Mardan Khan Bakhtiari

Ali Mardan Khan Bakhtiari
Vakil-e daulat ("deputy of the state")
Reign	1750–1751
Successor	Karim Khan Zand
Died	Spring 1754 Near Kermanshah
Religion	Shia Islam

Ali Mardan Khan Bakhtiari (Luri/Persian: علی مردان خان بختیاری‎, translit. Alī-Mardān Khān-e Bakhtīārī‎) was the Bakhtiari supreme chieftain (ilkhani) of the Chahar Lang branch, and major contender for supremacy in western Iran after the death of Nader Shah in 1747.

He was the autonomous ruler of Golpayegan (1749-1751) and Isfahan (1750-1751), assuming the title of Vakil-e daulat ("deputy of the state"), with the Safavid prince Ismail III as a figurehead that legitimized his rule. He was, however, driven back by Karim Khan Zand's forces, and after a number of clashes throughout the years, was murdered by two Zand chieftains at his own encampment, in 1754.

Ali Mardan is first mentioned after the death of the Afsharid ruler Nader Shah in 1747, as one of the supporters of the latters nephew Ali Qoli Khan, who was crowned as Adil Shah ("righteous king") in Mashhad. The new ruler, however, "lacked his uncle's imperious magnetism to pull together the surviving elements of a sprawling and exhausted empire." Rather than marching to the old Safavid capital of Isfahan to ensure the safeguard of the city, he sent his brother Ebrahim Mirza to the city instead, and stayed at Mashhad and held festives. This, however, reduced in the dissatisfaction of his underemployed army, while the city was weakened to near-poverty. In late 1747, Ali Mardan asked for Adil Shahs allowance to allow him to lead his Bakhtiari men home, which the latter declined. Nonetheless, Ali Mardan and his men ignored his order and left the city—they were hunted by a force sent by Adil Shah, which they inflicted an overwhelming defeat on.

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