August 20, 1953
New Iran Premier Lifelong Royalist
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
aj. Gen. Fazollah Zahedi, leader in yesterday's uprising in Iran against the Government of Premier Mohammed Mossadegh, will have reached the peak of an impressive military and political career if the pro-Shah forces consolidate their victory.
His ascendancy will probably be met with mixed feelings by the Western world. The British would have little reason to greet with jubilation his entrenchment in his office. He has a long record of Anglophobia which, during World War II, contributed largely to his arrest and internment by British forces.
While he was not directly responsible for the nationalization of British oil interests in Iran, he was Minister of the Interior in the Cabinet under which the nationalization took place.
Washington's attitude toward General Zahedi is not known. He is a strong nationalist. As such he might not be particularly warm toward any foreign interests and that would apply to the Americans, as well as to the British and the Russians. Washington sources said yesterday they had no record of any friendship on the part of the new Premier with the Communists.
Always a Loyal Royalist
Through the general's entire career there is a strong thread of loyalty to the monarchy, beginning with Mohammed Riza Shah and continuing with that ruler's successor and son, the present Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi.
General Zahedi was born in 1897. At the age of 23, as a company commander, he led his command successfully against Bolshevik-supported forces in the northern provinces. Two years later, in 1922, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
In that year he was captured by Kudish outlaws, apparently escaped and received a high award from the Shah. In the same year he directed a military campaign against Sheikh Kazal.
In 1926 he was named by Riza Shah to be military governor of Khuzistan, the province in which Abadan, hub of the nation's present oil industry, is located. In 1932, he was appointed chief of police of Teheran, one of the nation's top internal posts. He left this position in 1941 to become commanding general of the Isfahan Division.
He was arrested in 1942 by British forces and placed in internment in Palestine. The formal charge was that he dealt with the Nazis. He returned home after the war and in 1946 appeared back in his military role as divisional commander of Fars Province in Southern Iran. He was retired from the Army in May, 1949, but in November he was again named chief of police of Teheran.
He was appointed by the Shah as a Senator in February, 1950, a post he resigned in 1951 when he was made Minister of the Interior.
While he is fervently nationalistic, little is known of his political temper other than that of a moderate leaning toward conservatism.
Known as a Ladies' Man
General Zahedi's home community is Resht, in the northern part of the country, where he occupied himself as landlord of his extensive properties.
General Zahedi has been married twice, but it is not known here whether his second wife is living. By his first wife he had two sons, one of whom, an air force officer, was killed in a crash. The other had been employed until some months ago by the United States Point Four Administration in Iran.
In his home country, these sources said, his reputation is that of a boulevardier with a penchant for gambling and for beautiful women, one of whom committed suicide just after the news of his exile became public during the last war.
Mohammed Mossadegh
Of a wealthy family, Dr. Mossadegh is reputed to be one of Iran's largest landowners, but he has consistently backed liberal reforms. Although he served as a financial agent of the Crown in Iranian provinces in his early years, he has been a consistent critic of Iranian Governments of recent years.
Dr. Mossadegh is known as a deeply religious man. Despite his wealth, he led a simple, almost ascetic life. He was highly emotional. In Parliament and other public places he frequently broke into tears and more than once punctuated political orations with fainting spells.
He was educated in France, Belgium and Switzerland and is the holder of a Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Neuchatel, in Switzerland. Dr. Mossadegh was married to Princess Zia Saltaneh in 1903 and they had five children.
Dr. Mossadegh's age is his own secret. In 1951 it was given officially as 69 years, but people who knew him said then that he was at least 74, possibly 76 years old.