Amanullah Jahanbani

Amanollah Jahanbani
File:Sepahbod jahanbani.jpg
Native name	سپهبد امانﷲ جهانبانى
Born	1895 Iran
Died	1974 (aged 78–79)
Rank	Lieutenant General (Persian: سپهبد‎‎)

Sepahbod (Lieutenant General) Amanollah Jahanbani (1895–1974) (Persian: سپهبد امانﷲ جهانبانى‎‎) was a member of the Qajar dynasty and a senior general of Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Early life and education

Jahanbani was born in 1895. He was the great grandson of Fath Ali Shah. At the age of 10, Jahānbāni was sent to St. Petersburg for schooling, where he attended the Mihailovsky Artillery College and the Nikolaevsky War Academy. He returned to Iran as a ranked military officer in World War I.

He furthermore served in the Persian Cossack Brigade and was a pivotal figure in the 1921 Persian coup d'état.

Career

During a second trip, after completing his studies in Europe, Jahanbani became major general in the Armed Forces. He was appointed the chief of the staff with the rank of brigadier general at the beginning of the 1920s. In 1928, he led the army in Balochistan attack to control the resistance. His path of success continued until 1938, when he fell out of favor and was suddenly thrown into the Qasr prison by Reza Shah Pahlavi. However, in 1941 he was interior minister.

With Reza Shah's abdication during World War II, his political life saw some luck again and he was appointed to the Senate during the era of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi where he served during five consecutive periods.

Personal life and death

Jahanbani married twice. He had nine children. His first wife, Helen Kasminsky, bore him four children; Nader, Parviz, Khosrow, and Mehr Moneer. Nader became the deputy head of the Imperial Iranian Air Force, Parviz was an officer in the Imperial Iranian Marines, and Khosrow is the second husband of Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi. Amanullah is the father-in-law of Captain Nasrollah Amanpour, the father of CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour.

Jahanbani died in 1974 at the age of 83.

Other sources

• 'Alí Rizā Awsatí (عليرضا اوسطى), Iran in the Past Three Centuries (Irān dar Se Qarn-e Goz̲ashteh - ايران در سه قرن گذشته), Volumes 1 and 2 (Paktāb Publishing - انتشارات پاکتاب, Tehran, Iran, 2003). ISBN 964-93406-6-1 (Vol. 1), ISBN 964-93406-5-3 (Vol. 2).