Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri

Aqa Khan-e Nuri was born in Nur as the second son of Mirza Asadollah Nuri, who served as the chief army accountant (Persian: لشکر نویسی باشی, romanized: laškarnevīs-bāšī) during the reign of two subsequent Qajar rulers: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar and Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.^[1] Their family, known as the Khajeh Nouri family, were part of the local nobility of the Nur region in Mazandaran, and were prominently visible both in the bureaucracy of the state as well as the army since the mid-18th century.^[1]

Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri was appointed Prime Minister on 1 December 1851, following the dismissal of Amir Kabir, on the occasion of the Shah’s birthday. At Naser al-Din Shah’s request, before assuming the premiership, he renounced his British citizenship by writing a letter to the British minister plenipotentiary in Iran^[9] and accepted the position on two conditions. First, that Amir Kabir be eliminated and second, that his life be spared in the event that he was found at fault in the conduct of his duties as prime minister. Naser al-Din Shah agreed to both conditions.^[6][7][10]

Under heavy pressure from Britain, Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri signed an 1853 agreement restricting Iranian interference in Herat. When Iran subsequently launched a military campaign to capture of city in 1856, the British responded by invading southern Iran. This forced Iran to withdraw, recognize Afghanistan's independence and permanently surrender its claims over Herat under the Treaty of Paris (1857).^[15][16][17]

Following his dismissal from the premiership in 1858, Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri was spared execution because Naser al-Din Shah had signed a royal pledge prior to his appointment promising that his life would be protected. He was subsequently exiled, spending periods in Varamin, Arak, Yazd, and Isfahan, before eventually being settled in Qom. He lived for six years after his downfall^[18] He died in Qom on 10 March 1865 at the age of 59.^[a][1] His remains were later transferred to Karbala and buried in a mosque complex funded by one-third of the estate of his predecessor and rival Amir Kabir.

Fath-Ali Shah was an ideal monarch in Nuri's eyes. As is evident from many of his letters, Nuri longed for the period of his reign and wished for a return to those days. His attachment to luxury, titles and decorations was likewise shaped by the environment of Fath-Ali Shah's court. At the same time, he paid considerable attention to preserving courtly formalities and the hierarchy of the bureaucracy.^[19] Arthur de Gobineau, who met Nuri in 1856, described him in his travel account as follows:

[Nuri] sleeps only a few hours and works throughout the day and almost the entire night. He wants to oversee everything—domestic affairs, foreign affairs, finances, criminal matters and commerce. The other ministers are ministers in name only and have little importance; the prime minister performs their duties. A group of secretaries is constantly gathered around him; he issues orders, and they write them down in his presence. He then seals them and personally entrusts them to the courier… There is hardly a household in Tehran or elsewhere about which he does not know some amusing anecdote. Since he has an admirable memory and a cheerful disposition, and knows all the families and their relatives and connections throughout Iran, he is one of the most entertaining and lively storytellers one could sit and listen to.

^[20]

Mirza Aqa Khan's salary as Minister of War was 42,000 tomans per year, equivalent to £27,993. At the same time British prime minister's annual salary was £5,000, meaning that Aqa Khan received more than five times the salary of the British prime minister.^[21]

Mirza Aqa Khan had many children, some of whom held official positions during his lifetime and others after his death. Among them;^[22]

• Mirza Kazem Khan Nizam al-Mulk, who was appointed as deputy to Amir Nezam, the first crown prince of Naser al-Din Shah.
• Hosaynqoli Khan Sadr al-Saltaneh (Haji Washington), who became Iran’s first ambassador to the United States.