Nematollah Nassiri (; 4 August 1910 – 15 February 1979) was an Iranian military officer who served as the director of

SAVAK The Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State (), shortened to as SAVAK () or S.A.V.A.K. () was the secret police of the Imperial State of Iran. It was established in Tehran in 1957 by national security law. and continued to operate un ...

, the Iranian intelligence agency during the rule of

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, which ...

. He was also the Ambassador of Iran to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Nassiri was among the 438 individuals arrested and executed in 1979 following the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

Early life and education

Nematollah Nassiri was born on 4 August 1910 in Sangesar, near Semnan. He was a rumored adherent of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

, despite denials by the religion of him being a Bahá’í. He received secondary education in Tehran. In 1929, he was enrolled in an army officer school. Nassiri was a classmate of then-Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which in turn played an important role in his career.

Career

Nassiri's career began in the rank of lieutenant of the 2nd class (rank), quickly moving forward in the ranks of the service in the ground forces. In 1949, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, Nassiri became governor of

Kerman province Kerman province () is the largest of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Kerman. The province is in the southeast of Iran. In 2014 it was placed in Region 5. Mentioned in ancient times as the Achaemenid satrapy of Carma ...

. Nassiri served as the commander of the Iranian Imperial Guards during the

Pahlavi era The Imperial State of Iran, officially known as the Imperial State of Persia until 1935, and commonly referred to as Pahlavi Iran, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty. The Pahlavi dynasty was created in 1925 and lasted ...

. He was arrested by the followers of Prime Minister

Mohammad Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh (, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 1950 Iranian legislative election, 16th Majlis. He was a membe ...

when he delivered two decrees of the Shah to the prime minister. A personal friend of the Shah, Nassiri participated in the

1953 Iranian coup d'état The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état (), was the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953. Led by the Iranian army and supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, the co ...

which removed Prime Minister Mosaddegh from power. Nassiri was appointed head of SAVAK following the failure of General

Hassan Pakravan 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 S ...

, the previous director, to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister

Hassan-Ali Mansur Hasan Ali Mansur (‎; 13 April 1923 – 26 January 1965) was an Iranian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1965. He served during the White Revolution of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and was assassinated by a member of the ...

on 21 January 1965. He was also made deputy prime minister. He served in the post until 6 June 1978 when he was dismissed by the Shah. Nassiri was then appointed ambassador of Iran to Pakistan. The proximity to the Shah and his entourage allowed Nassiri to quickly become one of the richest people in Iran. By the early 1970s Nassiri was already the richest landowner on the entire coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

Director of SAVAK

At the end of January 1965, the Shah appointed Nassiri to the post of director of SAVAK, after General Hassan Pakravan was removed from this post due to the fact that under his leadership, SAVAK was unable to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur. In his book "''SAVAK – the secret police of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (1957–1979)''" author Vasily Papava described the appointment of Nassiri to the post of head of the secret service as follows: “''There are several explanations for this appointment. Closest to the truth, probably the following. The Shah was concerned about the growing authority of the left-wing forces in the country... Pahlavi, also not without reason, was afraid of the growing authority of the military, especially the generals and senior officers, who became “heroes” after the August revolution of 1953. It should be taken into account that in the period of 1950-1960s, in many countries of the region, as a result of a coup d'état, the military came to power who overthrew the "pro-Western" secular regimes and established a military dictatorship. That is why the shah needed a new leader of the political police who had left the military environment and was well aware of what measures should be taken to protect the throne from usurping power from the army''”.Vasily Papava. (2016)
SAVAK – ''The secret police of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (1957–1979)''
Berika Publishing House, Republic of Georgia, Tbilisi. Nasiri was removed from the office of Ambassador to Pakistan on 7 October 1978, where he had been transferred after being removed as Director of SAVAK.

Modernisation of SAVAK

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi gave General Nassiri instructions to restore the effectiveness of the SAVAK secret police and to properly serve the monarch. General Nematollah Nassiri ideally coped with the task set before him by the Shah: in the shortest possible time, a rather complex and comprehensive system of total investigation and denunciation was created, which controlled all aspects of the political and public life of Iran. The main focus of the activities of the Shah special services was aimed at combating the "red danger" of communism and socialism. At the same time, in 1968, Nematollah Nassiri showed interest in establishing contacts with the

Soviet Union 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 ...

through the channels of special services, in particular in the acquisition of “counter-intelligence equipment” in the USSR. One of Nassiri’s main achievements as head of SAVAK was the elimination of the Shah’s opponent, General

Teymur Bakhtiar Teymur Bakhtiar (; 1914 – 12 August 1970) was an Iranian military officer and intelligence chief who was the founder and head of SAVAK from 1956 to 1961 when he was dismissed by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1970, he was assassinated by SAVAK agen ...

, the first director of SAVAK. The development of a special operation plan to eliminate Bakhtiar and its brilliant execution by the SAVAK agents was personally supervised by General Nassiri, directly agreeing with the Shah regarding all the details of this operation. On 12 August 1970, Teymur Bakhtiar was assassinated in Iraq by SAVAK agents sent there.

Arrest and execution

On 6 June 1978, General Nematollah Nassiri was relieved of his post as head of the SAVAK and appointed ambassador to Pakistan. His place was taken by Lieutenant General Nasser Mogadam, who for many years headed SAVAK's "Department III". With the constant development of the Iranian Revolution, the Shah ordered the dissolution of SAVAK and Nassiri was called back from Pakistan. He was arrested together with 60 other former officials on 8 November 1978, including high-ranking officials, such as former director of SAVAK

and former Prime Minister

Amir-Abbas Hoveyda Amir-Abbas Hoveyda (; 18 February 1919 – 7 April 1979) was an Iranian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Iran from 27 January 1965 to 7 August 1977. He was the longest serving prime minister in Iran's history. He also ...

. When the Shah left Iran on 16 January 1979, Nassiri remained in prison until the fall of

Shapour Bakhtiar Shapour Bakhtiar (, ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the words of the historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in the tone of a jere ...

's government on 11 February. On 15 February, Nassiri was arrested by revolutionaries and brought to the Refah School with other officials. He was tried in a Revolutionary Tribunal along with 24 other individuals for a total of 10 hours and was charged with corruption on earth, massacre of people,

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

, and

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

. He was sentenced to death at 10 p.m. and after the sentence was confirmed by

Ayatollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

, and was

executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French , rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are usually re ...

at 11:45 p.m. His property was subsequently confiscated. 1Nasiri-arrested

References