Abbas Ali Khalatbari

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Abbas Ali Khalatbari
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
13 September 1971 – 27 August 1978
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime Minister
Preceded byArdeshir Zahedi
Succeeded byAmir Khosrow Afshar
General Secretary of CENTO
In office
June 1962 – January 1968
Preceded byOsman Ali Baig
Succeeded byTurgut Menemencioglu
Personal details
Born1912 (1912)
Tehran, Qajar Iran
Died11 April 1979(1979-04-11) (aged 66–67)
Tehran, Iran
Cause of deathExecution
Political partyRastakhiz Party (1975–1978)
Children4
Alma materFaculty of Law of Paris

Abbas Ali Khalatbari (Persian: عباسعلی خلعتبری, romanized: Abbās-'Alī Khal’atbarī; 1912 – 11 April 1979), also known as Abbas Ali Khal'atbari, was an Iranian diplomat, who served as the minister of foreign affairs from 1971 to 1978. He was among the significant diplomats who shaped the foreign relations of Iran during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[1] He is one of the Shah era politicians who were executed following the Iranian revolution.

Early years and education[edit]

Khalatbari was born in 1912.[2] He was a member of a well-established family.[1][3]

Khalatbari pursued his education in Paris where he received a degree in political science from the Faculty of Law and Economics of Paris in 1936, and a PhD degree in law in 1938.[4]

Career[edit]

Khalatbari was a career diplomat.[5] He began his career in the finance ministry in 1940 and then joined the foreign ministry in 1942.[4] He briefly served as Iran's ambassador to Poland in 1961.[4]

Khalatbari was appointed secretary general of CENTO in January 1962, replacing Mirza Osman Ali Baig in the post.[6] Khalatbari was in office until January 1968 when Turgut Menemencioglu succeeded him in the post.[7] From 1968 to 1970 he served as the deputy minister of foreign affairs.[8]

Khalatbari was appointed foreign minister to the cabinet led by Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda on 13 September 1971,[9] replacing Ardeshir Zahedi in the post.[2] Khalatbari paid an official visit to Israel in 1977 as a guest of his Israeli counterpart Yigal Allon.[10] Khalatbari was a member of the Commission on Musa Sadr established in 1977 to make a decision about the fate of Musa Al Sadr, a Lebanon-based influential Shia figure.[11] The commission concluded that Al Sadr should be an agent for Iran.[11]

Khalatbari was also appointed minister of foreign affairs to the cabinet formed by Jamshid Amouzegar on 7 August 1977.[12] Khalatbari served in the post until 27 August 1978[13] when Amir Khosrow Afshar was named as the minister of foreign affairs. Although being loyal to the Shah, Khalatbari learned his removal from the early morning radio news.[14]

Later years and death[edit]

Following the Islamic revolution in February 1979 Khalatbari was arrested and sentenced to death on the charges of "corruption on earth; membership of the former regime, being a minister of the former government, being a SAVAK agent, being member of a government delegation acting against the interests of the nation; being employed by the CIA; treason, acting against the interest of the people, acting against the security of the nation".[15] He was also charged of allowing the SAVAK agents to be employed as diplomats in different embassies of the Imperial Iran.[16] He reportedly said that he had to do so.[16]

Khalatbari and ten other officials of the Shah, including Mansour Rouhani, were executed by the security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran on 11 April 1979.[17][18] Shortly before his execution, a written statement of Khalatbari's reports in the court was issued, claiming that the ousted shah had "personally" killed many people.[17]

Personal life[edit]

Khalatbari was married to the sister of Safi Asfia, who headed the Plan Organisation of Iran, and was in charge of Iran's early nuclear ambitions. He had four children.[19]

Honors[edit]

Khalatbari was the recipient of Homayoun First Class and Taj Third Class honors.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Alidad Mafinezam; Aria Mehrabi (2008). Iran and Its Place Among Nations. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-275-99926-1.
  2. ^ a b "Iran Rulers effective 1694 to Date". Peymanmeli. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Centers of Power in Iran" (Intelligence Report). CIA. May 1972. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d "In Memory of Abbas Ali Khalatbary Foreign Minister of Iran". Sedona. Archived from the original on 25 February 2002. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Law And Human Rights in The Islamic Republic of Iran" (PDF). Amnesty International. February 1980. Archived from the original (Report) on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Biographical Sketches". Massachusetts Historical Society. Archived from the original on 26 November 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  7. ^ Bob Reinalda; Kent Kille (21 August 2012). "Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries-General of International Organizations" (PDF). IO BIO Database. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2013.
  8. ^ Mahmoud Ghaffari (7 May 2004). "Sense and humor". The Iranian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  9. ^ "Chronology August 16, 1971-November 15, 1971". The Middle East Journal. 26 (1): 43. 1972. JSTOR 4324874.
  10. ^ Benjamin Beit Hallahmi (1987). The Israeli Connection: Whom Israel Arms and why. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-85043-069-8.
  11. ^ a b Arash Reisinezhad (2019). The Shah of Iran, the Iraqi Kurds, and the Lebanese Shia. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 271–272. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-89947-3. ISBN 978-3-319-89947-3. S2CID 187523435.
  12. ^ "Chronology May 16, 1977-August 15, 1977". The Middle East Journal. 31 (4): 474. 1977. JSTOR 4325678.
  13. ^ "A chronology of the Iranian Revolution (1978–79)". Derkeiler. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  14. ^ James A. Bill (Winter 1978–79). "Iran and the crisis of '78". Foreign Affairs: 326. ISSN 0015-7120.
  15. ^ "One person's story. Mr. Abbas Ali Khal'atbari". OMID. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  16. ^ a b "Total put to death stands at 101 11 Shah officials executed in Tehran". The Globe and Mail. Tehran. Reuters. 12 April 1979. ProQuest 386986693. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  17. ^ a b "Iran court testimony". Montreal Gazette. Tehran. UPI. 12 April 1979.
  18. ^ "Teheran executes 11 top ex-officials". The New York Times. Tehran. 11 April 1979. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  19. ^ Abbas Milani (2008). Eminent Persians: The men and women who made modern Iran, 1941-1979. Syracuse,NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0. OCLC 225870858.

External links[edit]

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