Nematollah Nassiri (; 4 August 1910 – 15 February 1979) was an Iranian military officer and intelligence chief who served as the third director of SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency and secret police during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was also the Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan. Nassiri was among the 438 individuals arrested and executed in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution.
Early life and education
Nematollah Nassiri was born on 4 August 1910 in Sangussar, near Semnan. He was a rumored adherent of the Baháʼí Faith, despite denials by the religion of him being a Bahá’í. He received secondary education in Tehran. In 1929, he was enrolled in an army officer school. Nassiri was a classmate of then-Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which in turn played an important role in his career.
Career
Nassiri's career began in the rank of lieutenant of the 2nd class (rank), quickly rising through the ranks of the service in the ground forces.
In 1949, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, Nassiri became governor of Kerman province.
Nassiri served as the commander of the Iranian Imperial Guards during the Pahlavi era. He was arrested by the followers of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh when he delivered two decrees of the Shah to the prime minister. Nassiri was then appointed ambassador of Iran to Pakistan.
The proximity to the Shah and his entourage allowed Nassiri to quickly become one of the richest people in Iran. By the early 1970s Nassiri was already the richest landowner on the entire coast of the Caspian Sea.
Director of SAVAK
At the end of January 1965, the Shah appointed Nassiri to the post of director of SAVAK, after General Hassan Pakravan was removed from this post due to the fact that under his leadership, SAVAK was unable to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur.
Nasiri was removed from the office of Ambassador to Pakistan on 7 October 1978, where he had been transferred after being removed as Director of SAVAK.
Modernisation of SAVAK
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi gave General Nassiri instructions to restore the effectiveness of the SAVAK secret police and to properly serve the monarch.
General Nematollah Nassiri ideally coped with the task set before him by the Shah: in the shortest possible time, a rather complex and comprehensive system of total investigation and denunciation was created, which controlled all aspects of the political and public life of Iran.
The main focus of the activities of the Shah special services was aimed at combating the "red danger" of communism and socialism. At the same time, in 1968, Nematollah Nassiri showed interest in establishing contacts with the Soviet Union through the channels of special services, in particular in the acquisition of “counter-intelligence equipment” in the USSR.
One of Nassiri’s main achievements as head of SAVAK was the elimination of the Shah’s opponent, General Teymur Bakhtiar, the first director of SAVAK. The development of a special operation plan to eliminate Bakhtiar and its execution by the SAVAK agents was personally supervised by General Nassiri, directly agreeing with the Shah regarding all the details of this operation. On 12 August 1970, Teymur Bakhtiar was assassinated in Iraq by SAVAK agents sent there. His place was taken by Lieutenant General Nasser Mogadam, who for many years headed SAVAK's "Department III".
With the constant development of the Iranian Revolution, the Parliament as Shahpour Bakhtiar's reforms ordered the dissolution of SAVAK when Nassiri was called back from Pakistan by the Shah.