Mansour Rouhani
{{Short description|Iranian politician (1922–1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| birth_date = 1922
| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|04|11|1922|df=y}}
| office = Minister of Water and Power
| termstart = 7 March 1964
| termend = ?
| primeminister = {{ubl|Hasan Ali Mansur|Amir Abbas Hoveyda}}
| office2 = Minister of Agriculture
| termend2 = 27 August 1978
| termstart2 = ?
| primeminister2 = Amir Abbas Hoveyda
| spouse = Parvin Rouhani
}}
Mansour Rouhani (Persian: 1922–11 April 1979) was an Iranian politician who held several government posts during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.{{cite news|title=Iran Announces Suit Against French Firm|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/18/archives/iran-announces-suit-against-french-firm.html|access-date=12 August 2021|work=The New York Times|date=18 July 1977}} He was one of the politicians who were murdered after the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Biography
Rouhani's father followed the Baháʼí Faith whereas his mother was a Muslim.{{cite web|title=To National Spiritual Assemblies|publisher=Bahai.org
|url=https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/19791017_001/1#699143535|access-date=12 August 2021|date=17 October 1979}}{{cite journal|author=Mina Yazdani|title=Towards a History of Iran's Baha'i Community During the Reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, 1941-1979|journal=Iran Namag|date=Spring 2017|volume=2|issue=1|page=85|url=https://encompass.eku.edu/fs_research/75/}}
On 7 March 1964 Rouhani was named as the minister of water and power in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Hasan Ali Mansour.{{cite journal|title=Chronology December 16, 1963 - March 15, 1964
|journal=The Middle East Journal|year=1964|volume=18|issue=2|page=218|jstor=4323704}} Rouhani served in the same post in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda from 26 January 1965.{{cite book
|editor=S. H. Steinberg|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1966-67|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|year=2016|isbn=978-0-230-27095-4
|page=1136|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdfMDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1136}} He also served as the minister of agriculture in the next cabinet of Amir Abbas Hoveyda.{{cite journal|author=Kaveh Ehsani|title=Rural Society and Agricultural Development in Post-Revolution Iran: The First Two Decades|year=2006|volume=15|issue=1|doi=10.1080/10669920500515143|page=85|journal=Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies|s2cid=145536026}} He was reappointed to the post on 13 September 1971.{{cite journal|year=1972|page=43
|volume=26|title=Chronology August 16, 1971-November 15, 1971|journal=The Middle East Journal|issue=1|jstor=4324874}}
Rouhani and many other leading figures close to the Shah were removed from the office in Fall 1978 shortly after the riots and protests occurred in rural parts of Iran.{{cite journal|author=James A. Bill|title=Iran and the Crisis of '78|journal=Foreign Affairs|date=Winter 1978–1979|jstor=20040117|volume=57|issue=2|page=326|doi=10.2307/20040117}} On 13 September 1978 Rouhani was arrested.{{cite journal
|title=Chronology August 6, 1978-November 15, 1978|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Winter 1979|volume=33|issue=1|page=49|jstor=4325819}}
He was in prison when a regime change took place in Iran in February 1979. He was tried by the newly established Islamic Revolutionary Court led by religious judge Sadegh Khalkhali. Rouhani was charged with treason and corruption on earth and sentenced to death. Rasoul Sadr Ameli, an Iranian journalist worked for Ettela'at, reported that when Rouhani learned these claims, he asked the judge how he engaged in war with God.{{cite web|author=Niloufar Rostami|title=Corpses on the Snow: Journalist Remembers Khomeini's Blessing for 1979 Execution|publisher=Iranware|url=https://iranwire.com/en/features/9571|access-date=12 August 2021|date=18 May 2021}} Khalkhali answered him: "You are a Baháʼí." Rouhani was also accused of having destroyed agriculture during his terms as minister of agriculture and minister of water and power.{{cite news|title=Total put to death stands at 101 11 Shah officials executed in Tehran|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/386986693|access-date=27 June 2023|work=The Globe and Mail|agency=Reuters|date=12 April 1979|location=Tehran|id={{ProQuest|386986693}}}}
Rouhani was 57 years old when he was killed by the revolutionaries on 11 April 1979.{{cite web|title=One Person's Story. Mansur Ruhani|url=https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/-3776/mansur-rohani|publisher=Abdorrahman Boroumand Center|access-date=12 August 2021}} The same day ten other senior figures, including former foreign minister Abbas Ali Khalatbari, were also executed.{{cite news
|title=Teheran executes 11 top ex-officials|location=Tehran|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/11/archives/teheran-executes-11-top-exofficials-dead-include-2-cabinet.html|access-date=12 August 2021|work=The New York Times|date=11 April 1979}}{{cite journal|title=Chronology February 16, 1979 – May 15, 1979|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Summer 1979|volume=33|issue=3|page=356|jstor=4325879}}
Personal life
His wife was Parvin Rouhani who left Iran before or after the Islamic revolution in 1979 and settled in the United States.{{cite web|title=Interview with Rohani, Parvin: Tape 01|publisher=Harvard Library|url=https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/iranian-oral-history-project/catalog/32-rohani__parvin01}} The family properties were confiscated by the Islamic government during that period.{{cite book|editor=M. E. MacGlashan|title=Iran-US Claims Tribunal Reports|volume=22|location=Cambridge|page=201|isbn=978-0-521-46456-7
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=99TlXz8g_R8C&pg=PA201|year=2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
Rouhani's son married an American woman, and they both left Iran in 1978.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{People executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouhani, Mansour}}
Category:20th-century Iranian politicians
Category:Agriculture ministers of Iran