Regency Council (Iran)
{{Other uses|Regency Council (disambiguation){{!}}Regency Council}}
The Regency Council ({{langx|fa|شورای سلطنت|Šūrā-ye Salṭanat}}) of the Imperial State of Iran, was a nine-member body formed on 13 January 1979 by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to carry out his duties{{cite web|title=A Regency Council is Named to Assume Duties of the Shah|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/14/archives/a-regency-council-is-named-to-assume-duties-of-the-shah-thousands.html|date=14 January 1979|access-date=25 January 2017|author=R.W. Apple Jr|work=The New York Times|page=1}} after he left Iran amidst the Iranian Revolution and served as the symbol of his continued claim on power.
The council was practically dissolved within days, when its head resigned on 22 January 1979 to meet Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.{{cite web|title=Head of Iranian Regency Council Resigns in Paris|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/01/23/head-of-iranian-regency-council-resigns-in-paris/0739eae9-1046-4e1c-9bad-42d4ab1d979c/|date=23 January 1979|access-date=25 January 2017|author=Ronald Koven|work=Washington Post}}
Background
= 1953 Regency Council =
On 28 February 1953, it was reported that in a meeting with Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, the Shah had agreed that during his absence in Iran a regency council consisting of Mosaddegh, Gholamreza Pahlavi (Shah's brother) and Hossein Ala (Minister of Royal Court) should be appointed to act as the regency council.{{citation|title=Chronological Summary of Events, 19 February–4 March 1953|journal=Chronology of International Events and Documents|volume=9|number=5|page=148|date=1953|publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs|jstor=40545381}}
1979 Regency Council members
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" | |||
| # | Name{{cite book|author=Sepehr Zabir|title=The Iranian Military in Revolution and War (RLE Iran D)|date=2012|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-136-81270-5|pages=52–53}} | Latest Office | Position in the Council |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jalaleddin Tehrani | Former Senator | {{center|Head}} |
| 2 | Mohammad Ali Varasteh | Former Minister of Finance | {{center|Deputy}} |
| 3 | Shapour Bakhtiar | Prime Minister
|rowspan=7|{{center|Member}} | |
| 4 | Mohammad Sajjadi | President of the Senate | |
| 5 | Javad Saeid | Speaker of the Parliament | |
| 6 | Gen. Abbas Gharabaghi | Chief of the Joint Staff of the Imperial Iranian Army | |
| 7 | Aligholi Ardalan | Minister of the Royal Court | |
| 8 | Abdullah Entezam | Former Chairman of National Iranian Oil Company | |
| 9 | Abdolhossein Ali Abadi | Former Prosecutor-General |
Due to the tensions between Jalaleddin Tehrani and Abbas Gharabaghi Tehrani resigned from the post.{{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|location=The London School of Economics and Political Science
|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2837/|archive-date=20 May 2021|page=111|degree=PhD|date=June 1995
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520130824/http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2837/}} He was replaced by Mohammad Ali Varasteh as the head of the council.