Shapour Bakhtiar was the last prime minister of the Pahlavi regime. During the Iran-Iraq War, he sided with Saddam Hussein and sought to confront the Islamic Republic.

Shapour Bakhtiar was born in 1915 in the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.⁠[1] He attended elementary school in Shahr-e Kord and then secondary school, first in Isfahan and later in Beirut, where he received his high school diploma in mathematics from a French school.⁠[2]  In the spring of 1939, he received a diploma in political science and a bachelor’ s degree in philosophy and law from the Sorbonne University in France.⁠[3]

Bakhtiar was married to a French woman in 1939. In 1940, during World War II, he voluntarily joined the French army.⁠[4] After the war ended, he earned a PhD in political science from the Sorbonne University and a PhD in international law from the University of Paris.⁠[5] Bakhtiar began his political activities in 1942 by joining the Iran Party. With the formation of the National Front and the rise of Mosaddeq’ s government, he collaborated with the party.⁠[6] In 1949, Bakhtiar became a member of the Central Committee of the Iran Party, and in June 1950 was elected to the Central Council of the National Front.⁠[7] Until 1964, Shapour Bakhtiar remained active as a critic of the Pahlavi regime, resulting in two unsuccessful attempts to enter the National Consultative Assembly and eight arrests on charges of anti-regime activities.⁠[8] His disagreements with other members of the Iran Party, which intensified in 1964, led to his effective sidelining from political scene, after which he turned to economic activities.⁠[9]

In 1977, Bakhtiar returned to the political scene by writing a critical open letter to Muhammad-Reza Pahlavi, which he co-signed with Karim Sanjabi and Dariush Forouhar.⁠[10] During this period, his main efforts focused on journalistic and media activities— issuing statements, giving press interviews, and appearing on television— which made him a prominent spokesperson for the National Front of Iran.

At the end of 1978, Muhammad-Reza Pahlavi, seeking to form a coalition government with his opponents, reached an agreement with Bakhtiar through Nasser Muqaddam (head of SAVAK). Bakhtiar received a vote of confidence as the Prime Minister from the National Consultative Assembly⁠[11] and remained in office until February 11, 1979.

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Shapour Bakhtiar spent six months in hiding in Iran. In July 1979, using a French passport under the name “ Franç ois” — provided by Michel Poniatowski, former French Minister of the Interior— Bakhtiar left Iran for France.⁠[12]

In France, Bakhtiar enjoyed full support from Western intelligence agencies and, with financial backing from Zionist circles, organized plots against the Islamic Republic.⁠[13] While in Paris, he established a headquarters that became a meeting point for monarchists, and agents of the United States, and Western governments seeking to undermine the Islamic Revolution.

In March 1980, along with Gholam-Ali Oveisi (military governor of Tehran under the Pahlavi regime) and Brigadier General Javad Moeinzadeh (a SAVAK member), Bakhtiar traveled to Iraq. The Iraqi government agreed to provide all necessary facilities for launching a radio broadcast against the Islamic Revolution. Subsequently, the “ Free Voice of Iran” radio station was launched.⁠[14] This radio station sought to separate the Iranian people and armed forces from the Islamic Republic and pave the way for Iraqi success in the Iran-Iraq War.⁠[15]

One of Bakhtiar’ s most significant actions in the months leading up to Iraq’ s attack on Iran was planning and financing the Niqab coup d' é tat, aimed at overthrowing the Islamic Republic in December 1980.⁠[16] Iraqi intelligence officers played a key role in this plot.⁠[17] Bakhtiar, together with Major Pilot Farhad Nasirkhani and Manouchehr Qorbanifar (key figures in the Niqab coup), met with Saddam Hussein and provided him with the operational plan and names of the coup participants. Iraq promised financial, political, military, and logistical support for the coup, as well as recognition of the new government following its success.

On the eve of Saddam’ s attack on Iran, in an interview with the BBC on July 24, 1980, Bakhtiar said: “ We will cooperate with anyone who helps overthrow the mullahs’ regime. We will resolve our disagreements with Saddam Hussein after the Islamic Republic is toppled”.⁠[18]

When Iraq invaded Iran, Bakhtiar supported the Baathist regime⁠[19] and sent a message to Saddam saying: “ Bring Iran to its knees; it does not matter if one or two million Iranians die”.⁠[20] According to the British Foreign Office analysis, one factor in Iraq’ s hasty attack on Iran was misleading information provided to Baghdad by some exiled Iranians, including Shapour Bakhtiar, suggesting that Iran is currently incapable of engaging in war.⁠[21]

Bakhtiar believed that an Iraqi attack would lead to the defeat of the Iranian Army within one week and the collapse of the Islamic Revolution within a month,⁠[22] after which he would take control of the occupied parts of the country.⁠[23]

In press interviews, Bakhtiar backed Iraq and claimed that Iran was the aggressor against Iraq. He openly spoke of shared interests with Saddam in opposing the Islamic Republic.⁠[24] On January 23, 1983, in an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah, he said that the three islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa did not belong to Iran and that disputes over them with neighbors were pointless.⁠[25]

Bakhtiar also served as an advisor to Saddam in managing the imposed war against Iran, suggesting that Iraq target Kharg Island to halt Iran’ s oil revenues.⁠[26]

Bakhtiar’ s ties with the Baathist regime extended beyond politics to intelligence and military cooperation. At the outset of the war, Saddam called on Iranian opponents to take positions behind Iraqi forces on the frontlines and to establish a government in territories occupied by Iraq.⁠[27] Officers from the Pahlavi-era army operating under Bakhtiar’ s direction were present among Iraqi commanders,⁠[28] providing military advice. Other activities by forces under Bakhtiar included propaganda among Iranian prisoners of war to recruit them for a coup against Iran, as well as sabotage operations inside the country.⁠[29]

Even after the Iran-Iraq War ended, Bakhtiar continued his activities against the Islamic Republic. For instance, in early 1990, he called on Iranians to gather in city parks to protest the government and listen to his message, which was to be broadcast on Radio Iran on March 20, 1990.⁠[30] However, at the time, Bakhtiar faced threats from his opponents. In August 1980, for example, a group of three individuals who had Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian passports entered his house on the outskirts of Paris but failed to assassinate him.

Finally, on August 6, 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar was murdered in his home in the Paris suburb. He was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.⁠[31]