Abdolhossein Teymourtash (; 1881 or 82 – 3 October 1933) was an influential Iranian statesman who served as the first minister of the royal court of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1925 to 1932, and is credited with playing a crucial role in laying the foundations of modern Iran in the 20th century.
Given his significant role in the transition of power from the Qajar to Pahlavi dynasties, he is identified closely with the Pahlavis for whom he served as the first minister of court from 1925 to 1933. Nonetheless, Teymourtash's rise to prominence on the Iranian political scene predated the rise of Reza Shah to the throne in 1925, and his elevation to the second most powerful political position in the early Pahlavi era was preceded by a number of significant political appointments. Apart from having been elected to serve as a member of Parliament to the 2nd (1909–1911); 3rd (1914–1915); 4th (1921–1923); 5th (1924–1926); and 6th (1926–1928) Majles of Iran, Teymourtash served in the following capacities: Governor of Gilan (1919–1920); Minister of Justice (1922); Governor of Kerman (1923–1924); and Minister of Public Works (1924–1925).
As Miron Rezun noted, "possessing a pronounced western outlook on life, he is said to have been by far one of the most cultivated and educated Persians of his day". As such, apart from his significant accomplishments as one of the masterminds of the early Pahlavi era where he devised a number of fundamental bureaucratic reforms and navigated his country's foreign relations, Teymourtash has been credited with playing a significant role in shaping the intellectual and cultural currents that transformed Iran in the first half of the 20th century.
Early years
Abdolhossein Khan Teymourtash (Sardar Moazam Khorasani) was born into a prominent family in 1881 or 1882.His father, Karimdad Khan Nardini (Moa'zes al Molk), was a major landowner with extensive landholdings in Khorasan, Iran's northern province neighbouring the then Imperial Russia's Central Asia (now Turkmenistan). To provide his son with the best educational opportunities available to affluent Iranians of the late 19th century, Teymourtash's father dispatched him at the age of 11 to Tsarist Russia to receive a formal education.
After enrolling for a year of preparatory school in Ashgabat, Teymourtash was sent to Saint Petersburg to pursue further studies. He was enrolled as a cavalry cadet at the venerated Imperial Nicholas Military Academy, a preserve of the sons of the Russian aristocracy. The curriculum of the school was predominated mainly by military and administrative studies, but also allowed Teymourtash to adopt a fluent command of Russian, French and German, as well as familiarity with English. Teymourtash's eleven-year stay in Russia also led him to develop a lifelong passion for Russian and French literature, leading him to be the first Iranian to translate into Persian the masterful Russian literary works of Lermontov and Turgenev upon his return to Iran.
Return to Iran
Given his extensive absence from Iran, one of the first tasks Teymourtash set for himself upon returning to his native Iran was to retire to the seclusion of his family estates with the task of improving his Persian. With the help of a tutor, he spent approximately the first six months upon his return to Iran to perfecting his native linguistic skills and devouring Persian poetry and literary masterpieces. His discipline and foresight during the period would serve him well, leading him, in due course, to be described as Iran's most gifted orator in its modern parliamentary experience. Another fortuitous development during the early years of his return to Iran was his marriage to Sorour ol Saltaneh, the niece of the regent, Azod al Molk, and a relative of the governor of Khorasan, Nayer al Dowleh. To congratulate the new couple on their wedding, the reigning Qajar Shah of the period bestowed the title Sardar Moazzam Khorasani on the young groom.
Teymourtash's first employment upon returning to Iran was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as a minor bureaucrat while acting as a Russian translator. Shortly thereafter, Teymourtash's father's connections to the court proved decisive and the 24‑year‑old was appointed a member of a newly constituted delegation mandated to visit several European capitals to herald the inauguration of a new shah to the throne, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar.
Constitutional revolution
As Essad Bey, an early chronicler of Teymourtash's life was to note in the 1930s, "unlike other Iranians of aristocratic houses, young Teymourtash brought back from Europe more than just an affection for occidental garb and an inclination for Persian nightclubs. Because old Persia offered no future for a man of such military training as he had received in Saint Petersburg, he decided to dedicate himself to politics".
Just as the last year of Teymourtash's stay in St. Petersburg coincided with the uprisings and revolts that would culminate in the Russian Revolution of 1905, Iran was soon to find itself in the convulsive throes of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution.
Despite his father's staunch royalist tendencies and his ties to the royal court, young Teymourtash became an active member of the constitutional society headed by Malik al-Mutakallimin in Khorasan. While the rank and file of this particular society consisted mainly of lesser tradesman and poorer people, and included amongst its active membership few educated notables, Teymourtash demonstrated his progressive tendencies by developing a strong affinity for the constitutional ideals and thrust of this gathering and assumed a leading role in the group.
Teymourtash's active involvement in constitutional gatherings led, in due course, to his appointment as chief of staff of the populist constitutionalist forces resisting the reigning monarch's decision to storm the buildings of Parliament. The constitutionalists forces eventually took sanctuary in Parliament to demand constitutionally entrenched rights and safeguards. Throughout the period, Teymourtash remained directly involved by training members of the constitutionalist volunteer militia, and demonstrated bravery when clashes took place with the better trained and more numerous royalist forces. Despite the staunch efforts of the constitutionalists, the royalist forces prevailed by storming Parliament and dissolving the National Assembly.
Election to Parliament and early political life
The following year when nationwide elections were held for the second Majlis of Iran, Teymourtash was elected the youngest Member of Parliament at the age of 26 from Neishabour, in his native Province of Khorasan. In subsequent elections he was re-elected as a deputy to the 3rd (1914–1915), 4th (1921–1923), 5th (1924–1926) and 6th (1926–1928) National Assemblies. However, given the sporadic convening of the Iranian Parliament, Teymourtash accepted a number of political appointments during the long intervening stretches between the dissolution of each session of Parliament and the reconvening of the next.
Although Iran remained a non-belligerent during World War I, it suffered more economic devastation than any other neutral country during the period. Nonetheless, in 1918, the new Soviet Government renounced all previous concessions granted by Iran to Tsarist Russia. Intent on capitalizing on the military withdrawal of Soviet troops from Iran, and the attendant decision by the Soviet authorities to diminish their political interference in its domestic affairs, the United Kingdom decided that the time was ripe to consolidate its de facto control of Iran. To accomplish such an objective, the British set out to prevail upon the Iranian Government that it should cede financial, military and diplomatic authority in return for much needed financial and military assistance. The British succeeded in their design by offering the then Iranian Prime Minister, and its Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs, sizeable bribes to ensure that they would acquiesce to the British demand to devise a virtual protectorate over Iran. It was agreed that neither the bribes nor the terms of the Agreement would be made public, and that the scheme would be portrayed as a necessity to forestall the chaos that had enveloped Iran in the aftermath of the devastating impact of the war.
However, the secrecy shrouding the negotiation of the 1919 Agreement, and the failure to summon Parliament to ratify it prompted nationalist politicians to seize the opportunity to galvanize public opposition to the agreement. Recognizing the brewing controversy, the Government of Iran on advice of the British Government refrained from reconvening Parliament which it was assumed would refuse to ratify the Agreement. At this juncture, Teymourtash emerged as one of the main politicians to voice early opposition to the agreement by co-authoring a general proclamation signed by 41 members of parliament referred to as the "Statement of Truth" which denounced the Agreement of 1919. The proclamation proved effective in consolidating popular opposition against the Agreement, leading the British Government to eventually abandon the scheme altogether.
Teymourtash served as the governor of Gilan from 1919 to 1920. His governorship of Gilan was to prove particularly noteworthy given the reality that his primary mandate was to counter secessionist forces in that province led by Mirza Kuchak Khan who received assistance from the new Bolshevik Government in the neighbouring Soviet Union. Teymourtash's term as Governor of Gilan was to prove short-lived, lasting less than a year, after which he was recalled to the capital without the balance of power between central government forces and those of the Soviet-backed insurgents having shifted in any particular direction. Some Iranian historians have accused Teymourtash of having used undue force in resisting the secessionists, but records that could corroborate such an account have not been presented. He may have been appointed civilian governor, but at the same time a Cossack officer, Starosselsky, had been appointed military governor with unfettered powers to quell the jangali successionist movement. In fact, Mirza Kuchak Khan's followers put on trial during Teymourtash's term were court martialed by a five-member tribunal consisting entirely of Cossack officers.
A Soviet Republic of Gilan was declared in June 1920, after Teymourtash's return to Tehran, lasting until October 1921. Given Teymourtash's concern with protecting the territorial integrity of Iran from the secessionist troops led by Mirza Kuchak Khan, upon his recall to Tehran, along with Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee, he approached the British legation in the capital to solicit their support to resist the insurgents in the North. In return for British financial assistance, Teymourtash proposed an arrangement whereby he would assume personal command of troops to repel advances made by Mirza Kuchak Khan and his supporters. Although the British legation in Tehran seemed favourably impressed with the plan, officials in the British foreign office at Whitehall refused to approve the proposal due to financial considerations.