Amir Khosrow Afshar

Amir Khosrow Afshar (1919–1999; Persian: امیرخسرو افشار قاسملو) was an Iranian diplomat, who served as the minister of foreign affairs of Iran during the Shah era from 1978 to 1979.

Amir Khosrow Afshar
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
27 August 1978 – 5 January 1979
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime Minister
Preceded byAbbas Ali Khalatbari
Succeeded byAhmad Mirfendereski
Personal details
Born1919 (1919)
Tehran, Qajar Iran
Died1999 (aged 79–80)

Biography

Born in 1919 in Tehran,[1] Afshar was a career diplomat. At the beginning of the 1950s he was the political joint secretary at the foreign ministry.[2][3] He later assumed the posts of the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy foreign minister.[4][5] In 1960, he was the acting minister of foreign affairs.[6]

While serving as the deputy to Ardeshir Zahedi, Iranian foreign minister, Afshar was named as the chief Iranian negotiator on the Bahrain question in 1968.[7][8] Next, he was appointed ambassador of Iran to the Court of St James's on 6 November 1969, succeeding Abbas Aram in the post.[9][10] He held this position until December 1974 when he was replaced by Muhammad Reza Amir Teymour in the post.[11][12]

Afshar also served as the ambassador of Iran to West Germany and to France.[6] He was appointed foreign minister to the cabinet led by Jafar Sharif-Emami on 27 August 1978, replacing Abbas Ali Khalatbari in the post.[13][14] He retained the post when a military government led by Gholam Reza Azhari was formed on 6 November 1978.[13][15] His term ended in January 1979, and Ahmad Mirfendereski replaced him in the post.[1][14]

In the 1960s Afshar was among the Iranian statesmen who favored Iran's close relations with the U.S. and other Western countries in order to secure the survival of the Pahlavi dynasty.[3] He left Iran before the revolution in 1979 and died in 1999.[1]

Honors

Afshar was the recipient of Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George.[12]

References
  1. "خسرو افشار قاسملو". rasekhoon.net (in Persian).
  2. Hashem Hakimi (13 February 2002). "Fatemi's outburst". The Iranian. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  3. Roham Alvandi (2014). "The Shah's détente with Khrushchev: Iran's 1962 missile base pledge to the Soviet Union". Cold War History. 14 (3): 432. doi:10.1080/14682745.2014.890591. S2CID 153838957.
  4. Roham Alvandi (2012). "Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: the origins of Iranian primacy in the Persian Gulf". Diplomatic History. 36 (2): 337–372. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2011.01025.x.
  5. Thomas L. Hughes (22 April 1969). "Dispute Over the Shatt al-Arab Disturbs Relations Periodically" (Intelligence report). CIA. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  6. "Afshar-Ghassemlou, Amir-Khosrow". Harvard University. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  7. Roham Alvandi (2010). "Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and the Bahrain Question, 1968–1970". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 37 (2): 167. doi:10.1080/13530191003794723. S2CID 159639635.
  8. Brandon Friedman (2020). The End of Pax Britannica in the Persian Gulf, 1968-1971. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 68. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6. ISBN 978-3-030-56182-6. S2CID 229220016.
  9. "State Intelligence". The London Gazette. 27 November 1969. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  10. John R. Hinnells (1975). Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 518. ISBN 978-0-7190-0536-7.
  11. "Libel damages for Iran's former ambassador". The Herald. 11 May 1984. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  12. "State Intelligence" (PDF). London Gazette. 31 December 1974. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  13. "A chronology of the Iranian Revolution (1978-79)". Derkeiler. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  14. Luman Ali (2018). British Diplomacy and the Iranian Revolution, 1978-1981. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 156. ISBN 978-3-319-94406-7.
  15. Sepehr Zabir (2012). The Iranian Military in Revolution and War (RLE Iran D). London; New York: Routledge. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-136-81270-5.
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