Ahmad Zirakzadeh (6 March 1908 – 25 August 1993)http://postchinews.ir/احمد-زیرک-زاده-یار-صدیق-دکتر-مصدق/ ( fa, احمد زیرک زاده) was one of the founders of

National Front of Iran The National Front of Iran ( fa, جبهه‌ ملی ایران, Jebhe-ye Melli-ye Irân) is an opposition political organization in Iran, founded by Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1949. It is the oldest and arguably the largest pro-democracy group operat ...

, an Iranian party which was considered the backbone of

Mohammad Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh ( fa, محمد مصدق, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of ...

's government. He made history by defending the country against

Operation Ajax Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Early life

He was born in 1907 to a

Yazd Yazd ( fa, یزد ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Isfahan. At the 2016 census, the population was 1,138,533. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a Wor ...

i father and mother in a religious family in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. His father, Mirza Zirak, was an Islamic cleric who traveled a lot and in one of his trips he visited a Bakhtiari khan (Sepahkhan) who took Mirza Zirak with him to

, where Ahmad was born. Later his family migrated to a Bakhtiari town,

Shahrekord Shahr-e Kord ( fa, شهركرد, also Romanized as Shahrekord and Shahr Kord) is the capital city of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran. It is the largest city in the province, and is 90 km away from Iran's third largest city, Isfahan ...

, which was called Dehe Kord at that time. After the

Iranian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution ( fa, مشروطیت, Mashrūtiyyat, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a par ...

, some of the Bakhtiari khans decided their sons to go to France to study in western universities and see the western culture which was considered an honor at that time, so they chose Mirza Zirak to go with their children as an elder and Mirza Zirak took his older son Gholamhossein with him. After Gholamhossein returned from Europe to Iran he talked to Ahmad about

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

and

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

which he had seen in France and these ideas and thoughts had a great effect on Ahmad’s later political life.Ahmad Zirakzadeh, Unanswered questions in exceptional years,with the effort of Dr.Abolhasan Zia Zarifi, Niloofar Press, Tehran,Iran 1997. ()

Education

In 1925 Ahmad Zirakzadeh went to

to Dar ul-Funun high school. After one year he won a scholarship from Iran ministry of defense and went to Polytechnic university of Paris to study

marine engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

where he saw a totally different world from Iran.

Political life

After returning to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 1935 he had to work for navy because of his scholarship so he went to

Khorramshahr Khorramshahr ( fa, خرمشهر , also romanized as ''Khurramshahr'', ar, المحمرة, romanized as ''Al-Muhammerah'') is a city and capital of Khorramshahr County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 170,976, in ...

and worked there as a navy officer and in 1941 was transferred to ministry of transportation in Bandar Anzali. After the strike of engineers in 1943 he felt that he “had to change something” so he went to

and was elected as a head member of center of engineers ( fa, کانون مهندسین)l. Zirakzadeh, Farivar, Shafagh, Moazemi and some others founded Iran party which was a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

party and considered as one of the most important columns of

and the backbone of Mohammed Mosaddeq's government and Zirakzadeh became the secretary general of the party. The first Iran party’s newspaper was Shafagh( fa, شفق) with the management of Dr.Jazayeri and the second newspaper was published by Zirakzadeh with the name of Jebhe( fa, جبهه). Later the Iran party formed an alliance with Tudeh party which defaced its reputation. After the election of Mosaddeq as the prime minister of Iran in 1951, Zirakzadeh became the economy ministry deputy. Later, in 1952 parliament elections his name was put in National Front of Iran list with other eleven members and he was elected as a member of 17th parliament for the people of

and continued to work on nationalization of oil with Mosaddeq,

Hossein Fatemi Hossein Fatemi ( fa, حسین فاطمی; also Romanized as Hoseyn Fātemi; 10 February 1917 – 10 November 1954) was an Iranian scholar. A close associate of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, he proposed nationalization of Iranian oil and gas ...

, Makki, Hasibi, Asghar Parsa and other members of National Front of Iran.

The 1953 coup and after

He was in Mosaddeq's house in 1953 coup -which was triggered by CIA - and broke his leg while he tried to escape there. After the coup he hid from the government for about 2.5 years then he was arrested and was in prison for about five months. After release he established a private business. He was arrested again in 1957 because Shah who was in power again after the 1953 coup suspected that he was working against the government. He became a member of the second National front of Iran after release but he was not as active as the past in this new political party as he himself has said “I did not have the Heat that I used to have before”. He went to the United States in 1980 one year after the Islamic revolution and lived there for many years before his return to Iran. Before his death he made a will to establish a science foundation with his money which is now operating under the name of Zirakzadeh Science foundation in Tehran. He died in 1993 at the age of 86 in Tehran and is buried in Beheshte Zahra.

References

External links