Manouchehr Eghbal

{{Short description|Iranian physician and politician (1909–1977)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Manuchehr Eghbal potrait 2.jpg

| birth_date = September 1909

| birth_place = Mashhad, Qajar Iran

| death_date = 25 November {{death year and age|1977|1909}}

| death_place = Tehran, Pahlavi Iran

| resting_place =

| office = Prime Minister of Iran

| term_start = 3 April 1957

| term_end = 1 September 1960

| monarch = Mohammad Reza Shah

| predecessor = Hossein Ala'

| successor = Jafar Sharif-Emami

| party = {{plainlist|

Nationalists’ Party (1957–1963)
Democratic Party (1946–1948)}}

| alma_mater = {{ubl|University of Tehran|University of Paris}}

| spouse = Alice Eghbal

| children = 3

}}

Manouchehr Eghbal ({{langx|fa|منوچهر اقبال}}; September 1909 – 25 November 1977) was an Iranian physician and royalist politician. He was the Prime Minister of Iran from 1957 to 1960.

Early life and education

Eghbal was born in Mashhad in September 1909,{{cite web|title=File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia|url=https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100061134244.0x000013|publisher=Qatar Digital Library|access-date=17 August 2023 |date=1948|quote=Citing from the British India Office Records and Private Papers}} and his family was from Khorasan.{{cite book|author=James A. Bill|title=The Eagle and the Lion. The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1988|location=New Haven, CT; London|isbn=978-0-300-04412-6|url=https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300159516-006|page=102

|doi=10.12987/9780300159516-006|s2cid=246116954}} He had an older brother, Ali.

Eghbal studied at Darolfonoon. He finished his advanced studies in medicine at the University of Paris in 1933.{{cite news|title=Irail's Ex-Strong Man: Manouchehr Eghbal|access-date=16 July 2023|work=The New York Times

|date=30 August 1960|page=3|id={{ProQuest|114933764}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/114933764}}

Career and activities

Image:Zargham2.jpg (far left), Teymur Bakhtiar (fourth from left), Manuchehr Eghbal (center), Jafar Sharif-Emami (left of Eghbal), Jamshid Amouzegar (right of Eghbal), Asadollah Alam (far right)]]

Following his graduation in 1933 Eghbal was employed as a physician in Mashhad. During the 1940s he was made deputy health minister. He was a member of the French Academy of Medicine. He was named as the undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in 1943. In 1950, Eghbal was appointed chancellor of Tabriz University. He was named as the governor of Azerbaijan in 1950 and held the post until 1952. He became chancellor of Tehran University in 1954. Five years later he became Iran's envoy to UNESCO. He then taught at Sorbonne for a while and became a member of the French Académie Nationale de Médecine. During this period he founded the Nationalists' Party{{cite book

|author=Leonard Binder|author-link=Leonard Binder|title=Iran|year=1962|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA|isbn=9780520317710|page=203|doi=10.1525/9780520317710|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520317710/html}} and served as the party's chair.{{cite journal|author=Helmut Richards|title=America's Shah Shahanshah's Iran|journal=MERIP Reports

|date=September 1975|issue=40|jstor=3011479|page=12|doi=10.2307/3011479}}

Eghbal was appointed minister of health in the cabinet led by Mohammad Sa'ed in 1944. He also held the same post in the cabinet led by Ahmad Qavam (1946). Then he served as the minister of education in the cabinet of Abdolhossein Hazhir (1948),{{cite journal|author=T. A. Votichenko|date=October 1948

|title=Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology|journal=The Middle East Journal|volume=2|issue=4|pages=454–455|jstor=4322013}} minister of transportation in the cabinet led by Ali Mansur, and interior minister in the cabinet of Mohammad Sa'ed between 1948 and 1950.

In April 1957, Eghbal became prime minister, replacing Hossein Ala' in the post.{{cite news|title=Iran premier will quit

|newspaper=Schenectady Gazette|date=2 April 1957|access-date=9 November 2012|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D081AAAAIBAJ&sjid=mIAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2022,164451&dq=manouchehr+eghbal&hl=en}}{{cite news|title=Iran minister resigns post|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vk8mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V_8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=998,5854304&dq=manouchehr+eghbal&hl=en|access-date=9 November 2012|newspaper=Gettysburg Times|date=3 April 1957|location=Tehran}} Eghbal was also named as the chief of Plan Orgazination in February 1959 when Abol Hassan Ebtehaj resigned from office.{{cite news|author=Jay Walz|title=Iran's Plan put under premier. Shah's siding with his foes led to resignation of development chief|access-date=16 July 2023|work=The New York Times|date=1 March 1959|page=36

|location=Tehran|id={{ProQuest|114686013}}|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/114686013}} His cabinet lasted until September 1960,{{cite book|author=Marvin Zonis|title=Political Elite of Iran|year=1971|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=129|location=Princeton, NJ|doi=10.1515/9781400868803|isbn=9781400868803|url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400868803}} and he was replaced by Jafar Sharif-Emami as prime minister.{{cite news|title=Iran teachers' protest Iranian premier from office|newspaper=The Press Courier|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2zhLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OyMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4222,832713&dq=manouchehr+eghbal+died&hl=en|date=5 May 1961|access-date=9 November 2012}} Until his death, he served as the chairman of the National Iranian Oil Company.{{cite journal

|volume=44|page=771|doi=10.1080/00210862.2011.570485|s2cid=145012971}} He was also one of the close aides to the Shah and also, served as a board member of the royal organization of social welfare headed by Ashraf Pahlavi.{{cite web|title=Ashraf Pahlavi|publisher=IICHS

|url=http://www.iichs.org/index_en.asp?id=1419&img_cat=90&img_type=0|access-date=4 March 2023}}{{cite web|title=Centers of Power in Iran|work=CIA|url=http://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/70712.pdf|date=May 1972|access-date=5 August 2013}}

Personal life and death

Eghbal married a French woman, Alice, during his studies in France. They had three daughters.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Manouchehr Eghbal|url=https://memim.com/manouchehr-eghbal.html|encyclopedia=Memim encyclopedia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108074309/https://memim.com/manouchehr-eghbal.html|archive-date=8 January 2022}} The eldest Nicole became a nun. The second, Monique, married a Swiss surgeon and had a daughter, Muriel Pedrazzini. The youngest daughter, Maryam Francoise, first married Prince Mahmoud Reza Pahlavi in October 1964 when she was 18 years old,{{cite news

|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vk8mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V_8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=998,5854304&dq=manouchehr+eghbal&hl=en|date=22 October 1964

|access-date=9 November 2012|newspaper=The Calgary Herald|title=People Make News}} but the marriage ended in divorce and she married Shahriar Shafiq.

Eghbal died of a heart attack on 25 November 1977 in Tehran, aged 68.{{cite news|title=Dr. Manouchehr Eghbal Iranian Ex‐Prime Minister

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/26/archives/dr-manouchehr-eghbal-iranian-exprime-minister.html|access-date=8 January 2022|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|date=26 November 1977|location=Tehran}}

=Honors=

Eghbal was given the title of honorary doctorate by the University of Paris in 1959. He was also awarded the same title by the University of Bordeaux.