Hassan Akhavi

Akhavi was born in Tehran in 1908.^[1][2] Following his graduation from the officer's college he joined the Imperial Iranian Army.^[1] He held various military posts, including chief of staff in Khuzestan.^[1] In the 1940s, he was a member of the Aria Party led by Hasan Arfa.^[1] Akhavi was the leader of its military wing.^[3]

Hossein Fardoust in his memoirs published in 1978 argued that Akhavi was one of the major liaisons between the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and army officers who were planning a coup against the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953.^[4] During this period Akhavi's military rank was colonel, and he was heading the military intelligence unit of the army.^[4][5] He was part of the pro-British group among the coup planning army officers.^[5] The major members of Akhavi's group were the following: General Hassan Arfa, Brigadier General Teymur Bakhtiar and Colonel Hedayatollah Gilanshah.^[5] On 15 August 1953 Akhavi was among the coup supporters who were arrested by the forces loyal to Mosaddegh.^[5]

After the success of the coup Akhavi was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became the deputy chief of staff of the army.^[1] In this post he served as one of the deputies of Nader Batmanghelidj, army's chief of staff.^[6]

Then Akhavi served as a military attaché in Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia for a short term.^[1] In 1956 he returned to Iran and became the head of the Forestry Organization and the commander of the Forest Guard.^[1] Akhavi was appointed minister of agriculture in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Manouchehr Eghbal on 4 April 1957.^[2][7] He was also promoted to the rank of major general the same year.^[1] Akhavi was removed from the office due to his opposition to the land reform plan in 1959.^[1][8] Jamshid Amouzegar replaced him as minister of agriculture.^[8]

After his removal Akhavi retired from both politics and army.^[2][8] He left Iran for the United States after the end of the Pahlavi rule in 1979.^[1] He died of natural causes in Orange County, California, on 17 April 1997.^[9]

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