Nematollah Nassiri

General Nematollah Nassiri (1911 in Semnan — February 16, 1979), was the director of SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency during the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah. A personal friend of the Shah, he had gained notoriety for removing democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh from power (see Operation Ajax). Nassiri was appointed head of SAVAK following the failure of General Hassan Pakravan, the previous director, to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur on January 21, 1965.

In late 1978, at the encouragement of ambassador to the United States Ardeshir Zahedi and Martial Law Chief General Gholam Ali Oveissi, Nassiri was imprisoned with several other high-ranking officials, including Pakravan and former Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveida. When the Shah fled Iran on January 16, 1979, Nassiri remained in prison until the fall of Shahpour Bakhtiar's government on February 11. On February 16, he was executed by firing squad after a summary trial.

Further reading

• Hoveyda, Fereydoun. The Fall of the Shah. Trans. Roger Liddell. New York: Wyndham Books, 1980.
• All Fall Down: America's Fateful Encounter with Iran ISBN 1-85043-009-8

See also

Directors of Ministry of Intelligence of Iran

(1957–1979) Bakhtiar | Pakravan | Nassiri | Moghadam Islamic Republic (1984–present) Reyshahri | Fallahian | Dorri-Najafabadi | Younessi | Mohseni-Ejehei | Moslehi