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Soon after his return to Iran, Mossadegh became the subject of a malicious accusation by a political rival. The unfounded accusation made him so upset that he became sick and developed a fever. His mother, who is best known for founding Najmieh charity hospital in Tehran, noticed how miserable he was and told him that she wished he had studied medicine rather than law. Anyone who studies law and enters politics should be ready to suffer all types of slander and insults, she told him, yet "A person's worth in society is dependent on how much one endures for the sake of the people". In his memoirs, Mossadegh wrote that those words of wisdom prepared him for the life he chose and from then on the more hardship and insults he faced, the more prepared he became to serve the country.
Mossadegh envisioned an Iran that was independent, free and democratic. He believed no country could be politically independent and free unless it first achieved economic independence. As he put it, "The moral aspect of oil nationalization is more important than its economic aspect." He sought to renegotiate and reach an equitable and fair restitution of rights of Iran but was faced with intransigence by the company. To put an end to 150 years of British political interference, economic exploitation and plundering of Iran's national resources, Mossadegh engineered the nationalization of the oil industry.
Tried as a traitor in a military court, on December 19, 1953, Mossadegh pronounced:
"Yes, my sin — my greater sin...and even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran's oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world's greatest empire. ...This at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property. ...With God's blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism.
...I am well aware that my fate must serve as an example in the future throughout the Middle East in breaking the chains of slavery and servitude to colonial interests."
I like the format you used. Short and sweet. Please edit your first post and make a note of this for people to follow. It'll make it easier to follow the thread.View attachment 27584 Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh (1882-1967) was a lawyer, professor, author, Governor, Parliament member, Finance Minister, and democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran.
Mossadegh fought both internal corruption and British colonialism, enacted social reforms and nationalized the Iranian oil industry.
In 1953, he was overthrown by a British-American coup, arrested and tried as a traitor in military tribunal court. It was the CIA's first successful dismantling of a foreign government.
Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir
Mirza Taqi Farahani was born in 1807 in Farahan, Iran, entitled Ataback-e Azam (The Chief Minister), Amir Nezaam (The Prince of the State), and Amir Kabir (The Great Prince), is one of the greatest politicians in the recent two centuries of Iran. He initiated reforms that marked the effective beginning of the modernisation of Iran.
At an early age Mirza Taqi learned to read and write despite his humble origins. Because of his natural gift and talent, he mastered the required knowledge and skills when still very young. He joined the provincial bureaucracy as a scribe and, by his abilities, rapidly advanced within the hierarchy of the administration. In 1829, as a junior member of an Iranian mission to St. Petersburg, he observed the power of Russia, Iran's great neighbour. He concluded that important and fundamental reforms were needed if Iran was to survive as a sovereign state. As a minister in Azerbaijan he witnessed the inadequacies of Iranian provincial administration, and during tenure in Ottoman Turkey he studied their progress toward modernisation. Upon his return to Iran in 1847, Mirza Taqi was appointed by Mohammad Shah of Qajar Dynasty to the court of the crown prince, Naser o-Din, in Azerbaijan.
With the death of Mohammad Shah in 1848, Mirza Taqi was largely responsible for ensuring the crown prince's succession to the throne. Out of gratitude, the young monarch appointed him Chief Minister and gave him the hand of his own sister in marriage. At this time Mirza Taqi took the title of Amir Kabir. He gained his Premiership at a time when the affairs of the country were completely ruined and its internal system was totally torn down. Iran was virtually bankrupt, its central government was weak, and its provinces were almost autonomous. During the next two and a half years the Amir initiated important reforms in virtually all sectors of society.
Government expenditure was slashed, and a distinction was made between the privy and public purses. The instruments of central administration were overhauled, and the Amir assumed responsibility for all areas of the bureaucracy. Foreign interference in Iran's domestic affairs was curtailed, and foreign trade was encouraged. Public works such as the bazaar in Tehran were undertaken. A new secular college, the Dar ol-Fonun (The Skills House), was established for training a new cadre of administrators and acquainting them with modern techniques. Among his other accomplishments was the foundation of a newspaper called "Vaqaye Etefaqieh" (The Happened Events).
Many exploits in political affairs as well as in the relationships with the neighbouring and other foreign countries were made; he also attended to the order of Iranian Embassies across the world. The ambassadors of great lands in Iran were behaved in a way as expected from the Premier of an independent and self-governing government.
With a firm, doubtless, strong, and steady will, Amir Kabir continued his reformations and exploitations, and all alone, resisted the most selfish, tyrannous and despotic king of the Qajar Dynasty along with his corrupt relatives, courtiers, and flatterers, among whom some had been excluded from the government. They regarded the Amir as a social upstart and a threat to their interests, and they formed a coalition against him, in which the queen mother was active. She convinced the young Shah that the Amir wanted to usurp the throne.
In October 1851 the Shah dismissed him and exiled him to Kashan, where he was murdered on the Shah's orders in 1852. Historians and those who are acquainted with Amir Kabir and have studied his life and manners appreciate and regard him as a great and remarkable man.
- See more at: History of Iran: Mirza Taqi Khan, Amir Kabir