Ardeshir Zahedi

Ardeshir Zahedi
Ambassador of Iran to the United Kingdom
In office 1962–1966
Preceded by	Mohsen Rais
Succeeded by	Abbas Aram
Personal details
Born	(1928-10-16)16 October 1928[1][2] Tehran, Persia (now Iran)
Died	18 November 2021(2021-11-18) (aged 93) Montreux, Switzerland
Spouse	Shahnaz Pahlavi ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1964)​
Children	Zahra Mahnaz Zahedi[3]
Parent(s)	Fazlollah Zahedi Khadijeh Pirnia
Alma mater	Utah State University

Ardeshir Zahedi, GCVO (Persian: اردشیر زاهدی; 16 October 1928 – 18 November 2021) was an Iranian politician and diplomat who served as the country's foreign minister from 1966 to 1971, and its ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life

Born in Tehran on 16 October 1928,

Zahedi received a degree in agriculture from

; the marriage ended in divorce in 1964.

Political life

Zahedi served as ambassador to the United States from 1960 to 1962 and to the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1966.

.

Zahedi again became ambassador to the United States from 1973 until the

of a federal building in Washington, Zahedi and two other ambassadors from Muslim nations were able to talk the hostage-takers into surrendering and releasing 149 hostages.

Over the course of 1978, it was reported in some circles that Zahedi urged the Shah to appease the rioters by making scapegoats of several high-ranking officials, including Amir Abbas Hoveida (then Prime Minister) and

for the ailing Shah and the Imperial family in Panama, Mexico, Morocco and finally Egypt. He was present at the Shah's death bed and funeral in Cairo in 1980.

Later years

Zahedi lived in retirement in Montreux, Switzerland.

in Peru. In December 1976, in a ceremony held in Washington D.C., Zahedi was awarded the Kappa Sigma Fraternity 'Man of the Year' Award. In 2002, he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Honor of the Utah State University College of Agriculture. He received many awards and honors from nations around the globe for his humanitarian service and record in international affairs.

He died at his residence in Montreux, Switzerland, on 18 November 2021, aged 93.[9]^[10][11]

Zahedi's papers are held in the collection of the Hoover Institution.^[12]

Views

In an interview in May 2006, Zahedi voiced his support for

Honours

National honours

• Order of the Crown, 1st Class (Imperial State of Iran)
• Order of Humayoun, 1st Class (Imperial State of Iran)

Foreign honours

• Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) of the United Kingdom^{[citation needed]}
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of West Germany (27 May 1967)
• Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant
  of Thailand (22 January 1968)
• Honorary Grand Commander of the Most Esteemed Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (SSM) of Malaysia (1968)^[14]
• Order of the Sacred Treasure of Japan (1969)
• Grand Cross of the
  Royal Order of Vasa
  of Sweden (1971)
• Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle
  of Mexico (1975)
• Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta
  (24 February 2016)

References

Further reading

• Ardeshir Zahedi, The Memoirs of Ardeshir Zahedi: Volume One [English Language], (ِIbex Publishers).
  ISBN 978-1-58814-073-9
  .
• Ardeshir Zahedi, The Memoirs of Ardeshir Zahedi: Volume Two [English Language], (ِIbex Publishers).
  ISBN 978-1-58814-099-9
  .
• Ardeshir Zahedi (اردشیر زاهدی), The Memoirs of Ardeshir Zahedi: Volume One [Persian Language] (Khaterat-e Ardeshir Zahedi -خاطرات اردشیر زاهدی), (ِIbex Publishers).
  ISBN 978-1-58814-038-8
  .
• Ardeshir Zahedi (اردشیر زاهدی), The Memoirs of Ardeshir Zahedi: Volume Two [Persian Language] (Khaterat-e Ardeshir Zahedi -خاطرات اردشیر زاهدی), (ِIbex Publishers).
  ISBN 978-1-58814-065-4
  .
• '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 964-93406-5-3
  (Vol. 2).
• Fereydoun Hoveyda, The Fall of the Shah, translated by Roger Liddell (Wyndham Books, New York, 1980).
  ISBN 978-0-671-61003-6
  .
• "The 38 Hours: Trial by Terror". Time. 21 March 1977. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.

External links

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Ardeshir Zahedi

• Media related to Ardeshir Zahedi at Wikimedia Commons
• Register of the Ardashir Zahidi papers