Aligholi Ardalan (; also

Romanize In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

d as Aliqoli Ardalan; 25 January 1900 – 2 August 1986) was one of the leading Iranian diplomats of his generation. He served as the minister of industry, the cabinet minister for foreign affairs and as ambassador to the United States, the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He was also managing director of the

National Iranian Oil Company The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; ) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran. NIOC was established in 1951 and restructured under The Consorti ...

for Southern Iran.

Biography

Ardalan was born in Tehran on 25 January 1900. From 1924 to 1927 he served as deputy of the Iranian embassy in Berlin. He received a Doctorate from Frederick Wilhelm University, Berlin (now

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

) having written his thesis on the 'Position of Iranians in the world economy' (dated 23 November 1929) in impeccable German. He joined the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the age of 30, and became political officer at the Iranian Embassy in Washington DC. From 14 May 1958 to 16 March 1960 he functioned as ambassador to the United States. Then he was appointed Iran's ambassador to the Soviet Union. Ardalan was the only Iranian diplomat during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

who served at the United Nations, Washington and Moscow during his tenure as diplomat. He was fluent in German, French, English, Kurdish and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Personal life

Ardalan married in 1939 to Mehri Esfandiary, grand-daughter of Haj Mohtasham Saltaneh Esfandiari, President of the

Majles (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...

for many years. They had two sons: Manoutchehr and Cyrus.

References

External links

1900 births 1986 deaths Ambassadors of Iran to the United States Ambassadors of Iran to West Germany Ambassadors of Iran to Turkey Ambassadors of Iran to the Soviet Union 20th-century Iranian politicians Politicians from Tehran Government ministers of Iran Ministers of foreign affairs of Iran Cold War diplomats {{Iran-diplomat-stub