Mohammad Ali Varasteh
{{Short description|Iranian politician and governor (1896–1989)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name =
|image = File:Mohammad Ali Varasteh.jpg
|caption =
| office1 = Minister of Health
| term_start1 = 4 April 1950
| term_end1 = June 1950
| monarch1 = Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
| primeminister1 = Ali Mansur
| predecessor1 = Amir Alam
| successor1 = Jahanshah Saleh
|office = Minister of Finance
|term_start = March 1951
|term_end = 4 October 1951
| monarch = Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
|primeminister = {{ubl|Hossein Ala' | Mohammad Mosaddegh}}
|predecessor =
|successor = Mahmoud Nariman
|birth_date = 1896
|birth_place =
|death_date = {{death year and age|1989|1896}}
|death_place = Tehran, Iran
|party =
|spouse =
|occupation =
|alma_mater =
}}
Mohammad Ali Varasteh (1896–1989) was an Iranian statesman who held several cabinet posts in the 1950s and also, served as the governor of Isfahan province. He was the head of the regency council which was formed soon after the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left Iran in January 1979.
Biography
|page=123|pmid=17198470}} He served as the minister of health in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Ali Mansur between 4 April and June 1950.{{cite journal|title=Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=July 1950|volume=4|issue=3|page=337|jstor=4322192}} Varasteh replaced Amir Alam in the post, and his successor as health minister was Jahanshah Saleh. In March 1951 Varasteh was named as the minister of finance in the cabinet led by Hossein Ala'. However, his tenure ended on 27 April when the cabinet resigned.{{cite journal|title=Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology
|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Summer 1951|volume=3|issue=3|pages=342–343|jstor=4322297}} On 2 May Varasteh was appointed to the same post in the next cabinet led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.{{cite journal|author=Katayoun Shafiee|title=Technopolitics of a concessionary contract: How international law was transformed by its encounter with Anglo-Iranian oil|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|year=2018|volume=50|issue=4|page=631|doi=10.1017/S0020743818000909
|s2cid=158553099|url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/93572/7/WRAP-techno-politics-concession-law-Anglo-Iranian-oil-Shafiee-2017.pdf}} He became one of the members of the Committee of Expropriation which was founded by Mosaddegh in May 1951 to eliminate the control of Britain in Iran's oil industry.{{cite journal|page=119|author=Fariborz Mokhtari|title=Review of Iran's 1953 Coup: Revisiting Mosaddeq|journal=Bustan: The Middle East Book Review|year=2016|volume=7|issue=2|doi=10.5325/bustan.7.2.0113|s2cid=185086482}} Varasted was also head of the Iranian delegation which had been formed to implement this process.{{cite book|author=Alan W. Ford|title=The Anglo-Iranian Oil Dispute of 1951-1952|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBPkA6AhsHsC&pg=PA122|publisher=University of California Press|year=1954|page=122|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA}}{{cite web|title=No. 65 Editorial Note|access-date=31 January 2022|url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v10/d65|publisher=Office of the Historian}} He resigned from office and was replaced by Mahmoud Nariman as finance minister.
Following the coup in 1953 which ended the premiership of Mosaddegh Varasted was appointed the governor of Isfahan province.{{cite book|author=Manshour Varasteh|title=Understanding Iran's National Security Doctrine|publisher=Matador|year=2013
|isbn=978-1-78088-557-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AVR16hSwAwC&pg=PA176|page=176|location=Leicestershire}} Then he was made a senator.{{cite book|author=Fakhreddin Azimi|title=Quest for Democracy in Iran: A century of struggle against authoritarian rule
|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-674-02036-8|page=177|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gt-Gwo1w_AkC&pg=PA177
|location=Cambridge, MA; London|author-link=Fakhreddin Azimi}} In 1963 the protests led by religious figures intensified in Iran due to the policies of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Hossein Ala', Abdollah Entezam and Varasteh personally expressed their concerns about Shah's policies and their potential results which made all of them outsiders in the court of the Shah. In addition, Ala' and Entezam were dismissed from the Senate of Iran to which they had just been appointed.
Soon after the Shah left Iran a regency council was established to undertake the duties of the Shah in January 1979.{{cite news|author=R.W. Apple Jr.|title=A Regency Council is Named to Assume Duties of the Shah|work=The New York Times|date=14 January 1979|location=Tehran
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/14/archives/a-regency-council-is-named-to-assume-duties-of-the-shah-thousands.html|access-date=31 January 2022}} Varasteh was named as one of the members of the council.{{cite book|author=Sepehr Zabir|title=The Iranian Military in Revolution and War (RLE Iran D)|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcjmD51dFFMC&pg=PA52|year=2012|isbn=978-1-136-81270-5|page=52
|location=London; New York}} Initially Seyed Jalaleddin Tehrani was named as the head of the council, but he resigned soon.{{cite thesis|author=Mehrdad Khonsari|title=The National Movement of the Iranian Resistance 1979-1991: The role of a banned opposition movement in International Politics|page=111|location=London School of Economics|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2837/|degree=PhD|date=June 1995}} Varasted replaced him as the chair of the regency council. He died in Tehran in 1989.
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Varasteh, Mohammad Ali}}
Category:20th-century Iranian economists
Category:Finance ministers of Iran
Category:Members of the Senate of Iran