Amir Khosrow Afshar

Born in 1919 in Tehran,^[1] Afshar was a career diplomat. At the beginning of the 1950s, he was the political joint secretary at the foreign ministry.^[2][3] He later assumed the posts of the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy foreign minister.^[4][5] In 1960, he was the acting minister of foreign affairs.^[6]

While serving as the deputy to Ardeshir Zahedi, Iranian foreign minister, Afshar was named as the chief Iranian negotiator on the Bahrain question in 1968.^[7][8] Next, he was appointed ambassador of Iran to the Court of St James's on 6 November 1969, succeeding Abbas Aram in the post.^[9][10] He held this position until December 1974 when he was replaced by Mohammad Reza Amir Teymour in the post.^[11][12]

Afshar also served as the ambassador of Iran to West Germany and to France.^[6] He was appointed foreign minister to the cabinet led by Jafar Sharif-Emami on 27 August 1978, replacing Abbas Ali Khalatbari in the post.^[13][14] He retained the post when a military government led by Gholam Reza Azhari was formed on 6 November 1978.^[13][15] His term ended in January 1979, and Ahmad Mirfendereski replaced him in the post.^[1][14]

In the 1960s Afshar was among the Iranian statesmen who favoured Iran's close relations with the U.S. and other Western countries in order to secure the survival of the Pahlavi dynasty.^[3] He left Iran before the revolution in 1979 and died in 1999.^[1]

Afshar was the recipient of Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George^[12] and a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.^[16]