Assadollah Rashidian () was an Iranian businessman and anglophile who, along with his brothers, played a critical role in the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. He was a principal covert agent of the British

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

(SIS) and through him the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) was able to convince the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, to endorse the operation (codenamed Operation Ajax). Rashidian's main contributions to the operation were his encouragement of the Shah's sister, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, to obtain her brother's approval of the plan, and acting as a liaison between the SIS/CIA team and the Shah once the operation was underway. On 13 October 1952 the government issued arrest warrants for Assadollah Rashidian, his brother, Abdol Hossein Hejazi, and others. They were soon released.

Marriage

In 1958, Rashidian married Lili Daftary, the daughter of Major General Mohammad Daftary and grand niece of Mohammed Mossadegh. Daftary was also friend of Farah Diba.Not to be confused with Leyly Matine-Daftary, another friend of Diba.

Death

Rashidian died in 1981 from an heart-attack, while living in exile in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashidian, Assadollah MI6 operatives in Iran National Will Party politicians Members of the 20th Iranian Majlis Deputies of Tehran for National Consultative Assembly 1919 births 1980 deaths Year of death uncertain Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom Iranian expatriates in the United Kingdom Iranian business executives People from Tehran Iranian spies Iranian anti-communists MI6 personnel