Hoveida Becomes Prime Minister

January, 27, 1965 A.D.:
Hoveida Becomes Prime Minister

By: Mir M.Hosseini

Following assassination of Pahlavi Prime Minister Hasanali Mansour which was attributed to fanatic Islamists, Mohammad Reza Shah personally appointed Amirabbas Hoveida as Prime Minister and ordered him to form the cabinet of ministers. Hoveida had lived and served in foreign countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, France, Switzerland and Belgium and spoke French, Arabic, German and Spanish. While he served at the Iranian embassy in Paris, a group of Jews were given Iranian passports to escape from Nazi death camps. Hoveida served 13 years as Prime Minister. His term marked great achievements in economy and foreign affairs of Iran.
But his fate was not bright. As a scapegoat, he was arrested on corruption charges and become a prisoner during the last years of Shah's regime. After 1979, during revolutionary court proceedings headed by Ayatollah Khalkhali that usually ended with brief executions with the label Corrupter on Earth, the son of a well-known cleric shot him in the neck. This was in some ways to silent Hoveida who knew a lot. He had requested to be given time in order to write his memoires. His corpse was secretly flown to Paris after 3 months where he was buried with many mysteries about his life and death.

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KEY TERMS:Amirabbas Hoveida , Arab , Arabic , Ayatollah , Belgium , Corrupter on Earth , France , French , German , Hasanali Mansour , Hoveida , Iran , Iranian , Islam , Jew , Khalkhal , Khalkhali , Lebanon , Mohammad Reza Shah , Nazi , Pahlavi , Paris , Prime Minister , Reza Shah , Shah , Switzerland , Tur , Turk , Turkey

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