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Nasrollah Entezam

Nasrollah Entezam (Persian: نصرالله انتظام; also spelled Naṣr-Allāh Enteẓām; 16 February 1900 – 19 December 1980) was a diplomat, politician, and minister, as well as Iranian Ambassador to the United States and France.[1][2] He was the first Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations from 1947 to 1950 and President of the UN General Assembly during its fifth session in 1950.[3][4]

Nasrollah Entezam

(1900-02-16)February 16, 1900
Tehran, Iran

December 19, 1980(1980-12-19) (aged 80)
Tehran, Iran

Abdollah Entezam (brother)
Hume Horan (nephew)

Ambassador
Diplomat
Politician
Minister

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Nasrollah Entezam was born in Tehran, Iran on 16 February 1900 into a Qajari family.[1][4] His father Al-Saltanah Entezam and older brother Abdullah Entezam were also diplomats and politicians and his grandfather was the Minister of Order under Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.[2][4][5] His mother, Khorshid Laqa Ghaffari, was descended from the Ghaffari family of Kashan.[4][6] Nasrollah and his brother both studied at the German Embassy School in Tehran.[7] Entezam then studied political science at the University of Tehran and law at the University of Paris.[1][5][4][8]

Career[edit]

In 1918, following World War I, Entezam joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before serving as the Secretary to the Iranian Legations in Paris, Warsaw, Bern, and London between 1926 and 1929.[1][4][2][9] He represented the Iranian government at the World Economic Conference in London in 1933 and was Iran's chargé d'affaires in Bern and deputy head of the Iranian delegation between 1934 and 1938.[2][1] During the Anglo-Persian Oil Company dispute in 1932-1933, Entezam served as secretary to the Iranian delegation and accompanied Ali-Akbar Davar and Hossein Ala' to Geneva to present Iran's case at the League of Nations.[2][7] Entezam left Bern in 1938 to return to Tehran, where he was the Director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for four years.[2][1]


During the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Iran during World War II, Entezam served in a number of positions, including Minister of Public Health, Minister of Post and Telegraph, Minister of Roads, and, in 1944-1945, Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Bayat.[2][1][4][5] Following the occupation and Reza Shah's abdication in September 1941, until the appointment of Mohammad Ali Foroughi as Court Minister in March 1942, Nasrollah was "fully in charge of the court" and developed close ties with Mohammad-Reza Shah.[7] In 1942, he was also appointed Grand Master of Ceremonies at the Imperial Palace.[10][11] He continued in foreign affairs following the war by representing Iran at the San Francisco Conference in 1945, the gathering that established the United Nations, and at the first session of the General Assembly in 1946.[2][1][4][12] In 1947, he became Iran's permanent representative to the UN and joined the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine,[13] and in 1949 "served 'with distinction' as chairman of the Assembly's Special Political Committee."[1][2][4] He also chaired a UN sub-committee about the permanent UN headquarters location and in 1949 was an initial candidate for president of the UN General Assembly.[1][2] He eventually withdrew from the election in favor of Carlos P. Romulo of the Philippines "in interests of Asian unity."[1]