Hossein Ghods-Nakhaï ( fa, حسین قدس نخعی‎;

GCVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

1894–1977) was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, cabinet minister, diplomat, and poet.

Early life

He was the son of the Iranian clerk, Hajj Agha Hasan Nakhai. His brother was Muhammad Nakhaï, who served as the Secretary of Persian Legation in Brussels starting in 1928. Like his father, Hossein's surname was initially Nakhaï. In his youth, he was the editor of a literature magazine, called Ghods, and so became known as "Mr. Ghods" to everyone. He then added the word Ghods to his surname. He was married to the daughter of the first Iranian ambassador to U.S., Sadr es-Saltaneh, also known as Haji Washington.

Diplomatic and political career

He held the position of the

minister of foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

between 1961 and 1963. Before that he was ambassador to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

, London, Tokyo (October 1956 to January 1958), and to Washington, D.C. (in the 1960s, during

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

administration). Afterwards, he was appointed as the minister of the royal court, a post he held until 1968. He was replaced as the minister of court by Amir Assadollah Alam. Afterwards, he became the ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

(Vatican). He was the chairman of the committee that negotiated with 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 ...

on return to Iranian gold deposited with the government of the

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Literary life

Nakhaï wrote extensive volumes of poetry (including his Rubaiyat), and prose (including "Trail lost in heaven"). Some of his works have been translated into English and other languages.

References

External links

* , he can be seen behind president Kennedy 20th-century Iranian politicians 20th-century poets 1894 births 1977 deaths Ambassadors of Iran to Iraq Ambassadors of Iran to Japan Ambassadors of Iran to the United Kingdom Ambassadors of Iran to the United States Ambassadors of Iran to the Holy See Foreign ministers of Iran People from Sari, Iran {{Iran-poet-stub