Taghi Riahi

Timsar
Taghi Riahi
تقی ریاحی
Riahi in 1979
2nd Minister of Defense
In office
31 March 1979 – 18 September 1979
Prime MinisterMehdi Bazargan
DeputyEzatollah Nooraei[1]
Supreme LeaderRuhollah Khomeini
Preceded byAhmad Madani
Succeeded byEzatollah Nooraei (acting)
Mostafa Chamran
Chief of the Joint Staff
In office
28 February 1953 – 19 August 1953
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterMohammad Mosaddegh
Preceded byMahmoud Baharmast
Succeeded byNader Batmanghelidj
Personal details
Born1911
Chaleshtar, Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Qajar Iran
Died4 August 1988(1988-08-04) (aged 77)
Nice, France
PartyIran Party
Other political
affiliations
National Front
EducationOfficers' University
Saint-Cyr
Military service
Allegiance Pahlavi Iran
Iran
Branch/serviceGround Force
Years of service
1926–1953
1979
Rank Brigadier General
Brigadier General
CommandsArmy Ordnance Department (1951–1953)
Battles/wars

Mohammad Taghi Riahi Chaleshtari (Persian: محمدتقی ریاحی چالشتری) (1910–4 August 1988) was an Iranian senior military officer in the Iranian Imperial Army.

Biography

Riahi was born in Chaleshtar neighborhood in 1910 to a landowning family. He graduated from Dar al-Fonun in Tehran.[2] Then he attended the officer's college and was sent to France for further studies in mechanics and military sciences together with a group of students.[2] While studying in France, Riahi became acquainted with fellow Iranian students, including Kazem Hassibi and Ahmad Zirakzadeh, who later became prominent members of the National Front and supporters of Mohammad Mosaddegh. Following graduation he joined the Imperial Army.[2] In 1951 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general was appointed head of the Army Ordnance Department.[2]

He was named as Chief of Staff of the Army appointed by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh replacing Mahmoud Baharmast in the post.[2][3] His tenure lasted from 1 March to 19 August 1953 when a coup d'état occurred.[4] From The New York Times:[5]

The operation, the secret history says, "still might have succeeded in spite of this advance warning had not most of the participants proved to be inept or lacking in decision at the critical juncture." Dr. Mossadegh's chief of staff, Gen. Taghi Riahi, learned of the plot hours before it was to begin and sent his deputy to the barracks of the Imperial Guard. The deputy was arrested there, according to the history, just as pro-shah soldiers were fanning out across the city arresting other senior officials.

Although Riahi was sentenced to death, he was released from the prison after three years.[2] Then he involved in business.[2]

After the Revolution, Riahi left Iran and settled in France.[2] However, upon the request of Mehdi Bazargan who led the interim government Riahi returned to Iran and took office as the minister of national defence for a short time.[2][6] Following the end of his tenure Riahi went to France and died in Nice[2] in 1988.

References

  1. ↑ "Commander of Air Force changed". Kayhan (10779). University of Manchester Library. 11 August 1979.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Morteza Mir Hosseini. "مرگ سرتيپ رياحي". Etemad (in Persian). Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Ahmed S. Hashim (Fall 2012). "The Iranian Military in Politics, Revolution and War, Part Two". Middle East Policy Council. XIX (3).
  4. ↑ "List of Persons", Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954. Iran, vol. X, Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, retrieved 15 January 2017
  5. ↑ "The C.I.A. in Iran: First Few Days Look Disastrous". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Nikola B. Schahgaldian; Gina Barkhordarian (March 1987), The Iranian Military Under the Islamic Republic (PDF), RAND, p. 114, ISBN 0-8330-0777-7, retrieved 15 January 2017
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