Bakhtiar, Shahpur (1914–1991)

Iranian politician, the last prime minister under Shah Pahlavi, in 1979. He was a supporter of the political leader Muhammad Mossadeq in the 1950s, and was active in the National Front opposition to the shah from 1960. He lived in exile after the 1979 Islamic revolution, until his assassination by Islamic zealots at his home in Paris.

Bakhtiar was born and educated in France, and served in the French army during World War II. He returned to Iran in the 1940s to find that his father had been executed for treason by the Pahlavi regime headed by Reza Shah. Nevertheless, Bakhtiar became a civil servant and eventually director of the department of labour in the oil-rich province of Khuzistan. A social democrat, he had already joined the Iran Party, which subsequently affiliated with the National Front led by Muhammad Mossadeq. When Mossadeq became prime minister in 1951, Bakhtiar seemed likely to benefit, but the coup against Mossadeq in 1953 temporarily ended Bakhtiar's political career and he spent some time in prison.

By 1960 the National Front had been revived as a result of the unpopularity of the shah's government, and Bakhtiar became the Front's spokesperson on student affairs. As opposition to the Pahlavi regime increased, the shah looked for support from the Front, and in 1979 Bakhtiar, as a member of the executive willing to do a deal with the shah, was made prime minister in spite of having publicly criticized him. Soon afterwards, Ayatollah Khomeini came to power; Bakhtiar fled to France, where many attempts were made on his life, in spite of French government protection.