Teymur Bakhtiar: The Controversial Iranian General Who Tried to Overthrow the Shah

The photo of Teymour Bakhtiar with this article shows him in his military uniform, a serious-looking lieutenant general. He was a skilled military officer and ruthless intelligence chief, but also ambitious and reckless. His photo is a reminder of the turbulent political history of Iran in the mid-20th century.

The story of a man who was hunted down while hunting, 53 years ago today.

A man who was ambitious, determined, a destroyer of his opponents, from Jaafar Pishevari to Hossein Fatemi, reckless and mysterious, who himself was also eliminated in a suspicious way.

When the name Bakhtiar is mentioned in the media, we often think of Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister before the Islamic Revolution. But he also has another cousin who has a history and reputation that is if not greater, then comparable to his in the political history of Iran.

Teymur Bakhtiar:, born in 1293 in Shahrekord, became a general in the Imperial Iranian Army and was one of the founders of SAVAK, the National Information and Security Organization.

He was the first head of this organization, who was eventually convicted of treason by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and executed in 25 August 1970, 8 years before the revolution, in Diyala, Iraq.

Teymur was the son of Fathollah Khan Sardaratul-Moazzam, who was a two-term member of the Majlis and one of the Khans of the Bakhtiari tribe, and also the grandson of Lotfollah Khan Amir-Mofakham, who served as Iran’s Minister of War twice during the Qajar era.