Aligholi Ardalan ( fa, علیقلی اردلان; also

Romanize Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

d as Aliqoli Ardalān; 25 January 1900– 2 August 1986) was one of the leading Iranian diplomats of his generation. He served as the minister of industry, the cabinet minister for foreign affairs and as ambassador to the United States, the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. He was also managing director of the

National Iranian Oil Company The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC; fa, شرکت ملّی نفت ایران, Sherkat-e Melli-ye Naft-e Īrān) is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Ir ...

for Southern Iran.

Biography

Ardalan was born in Tehran on 25 January 1900. From 1924 to 1927 he served as deputy of the Iranian embassy in Berlin. He received a Doctorate from Frederick Wilhelm University, Berlin (now

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

) having written his thesis on the 'Position of Iranians in the world economy' (dated 23 November 1929) in impeccable German. He joined the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the age of 30, and became Political Officer at the Persian Embassy in Washington DC. From 14 May 1958 to 16 March 1960 he functioned as Iranian Ambassador to the United States. Ardalan was the only Iranian diplomat during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

who served at the United Nations, Washington and Moscow during his tenure as diplomat. He was fluent in German, French, English, Kurdish and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Personal life

Ardalan married in 1939 to Mehri Esfandiary, grand-daughter of

Haj Mohtasham Saltaneh Esfandiari The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried o ...

, President of the

Majles The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Pa ...

for many years. She bore him two sons: Manoutchehr and Cyrus.

References

External links

* 1900 births 1986 deaths Ambassadors of Iran to the United States Ambassadors to West Germany 20th-century Iranian politicians Politicians from Tehran {{Iran-diplomat-stub