Zolfaqari, Naser

Browse oral history

Interview with Zolfaqari, Naser

Date

May 11, September 9 and 23, and October 5 and 28, 1989

Location

Paris, France

Interviewer

Ghaffari, Farrokh

Language

Persian

Abstract

Educational and family background; early career in the government; career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; on the Tudeh Party, its activities, and government reaction to it; recollections of the occupation of Iran during WWII; on brother Mahmud Zolfaqari’s armed struggle against “Ferqeh-e Demokrat” in Zanjan; Razmara government and the nationalization of oil industry; on the negotiations over nationalization of oil; recollections of Mosaddeq, the National Front and the events of 1953; political opinions of the National Front leadership in the 1950s; on the relations between the Shah, Ahmad Qavam, Mohammad Mosaddeq and Ali Amini; on Fereydun Keshavarz’s differences with the Tudeh Party; Soviet intrigues in Iran, and the activities of the Tudeh Party; recollections of armed conflicts between the Tudeh Party and government forces; relations between the armed forces and tribal groups in the post-war years; recollections of tenure of office as Mayor of Tehran; working of Tehran’s governmental structure; ministerial position in Amini’s cabinet; recollections of the Amini government and the White Revolution; on Iranian politics and its major actors following the events of 1953; reminiscences of the premiership of Hosein Ala’; on the development of radio and other communication facilities in Iran; recollections of various Iranian political leaders; on the formation of SAVAK; recollections of SAVAK’s earliest operations in the Persian Gulf; on economic planning and its political determinants in the early 1960s; recollections of Mansur’s premiership; on various Iranian political leaders.

Part 1