Hassan Pakravan
| Hassan Pakravan | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 4, 1911 |
| Died | April 11, 1979 (aged 67) |
Hassan Pakravan (4 August 1911 – 11 April 1979) was a well known diplomat and minister in the Pahlavi pre-revolutionary government of Iran. He is not only notable for his political involvement with the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi government and SAVAK, but also his relationship with Ruhollah Khomeini.
Hassan Pakravan, son of Fathollah and Emineh, was born in Tehran on August 4, 1911 (13 Mordad 1290 AP). His father held many high government posts, including governor of Khorasan Province and ambassador to Italy. His mother, partly of European descent, was a professor at the University of Tehran. She was awarded the prestigious French Prix Rivarol, which the French government gives to foreign authors who write directly in French. She was related to the Habsburg rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
As a child, Pakravan accompanied his parents to Cairo, where his father was appointed diplomatic agent. There, he received his primary education at the Lycée Français. He was then sent to Liège, Belgium where he attended high school and university. Pakravan then studied at the artillery school in Poitiers, France, and the Ecole d’Application d’Artillerie in Fontainebleau.
Pakravan began his career at the Tehran Military Academy, where he taught artillery. He then served in a number of military, political, and diplomatic posts including adjutant in the Intelligence Department of the Second Division, military attaché in Pakistan (1949–50), chief of army intelligence (1951–53), military attaché in India (1954–57), deputy chief of the State Intelligence and Security Organization in charge of external affairs (1957–61), deputy prime minister and chief of the State Intelligence and Security Organization (1961–65), minister of information (1965–66), ambassador to Pakistan (1966–69), ambassador to France (1969–73), and senior counselor to the Ministry of Court (1974–79). Pakravan was known for being more compassionate than any of National Security and Information Department's other directors. However, Muhammad Reza Shah replaced Pakravan with his childhood friend Nematollah Nassiri in 1965. He returned to Iran in 1976 and was brought out of retirement in 1978 by the Shah in a last-ditch effort to curb corruption at the Royal Court. Pakravan's supporters noted his aristocratic and impeccable character as well as his intelligence and moral courage to be a source of consolation at the difficult times of 1978–79 when the Iranian Revolution took control of the opposition and eventually seized power.
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