Ali Amini

Ali Amini was born in 1905 in Tehran. His father was Mohsen Amini and his mother was Ashraf Fakhr al-Dawlah (the grandson of Muzaffar al-Din Qajar). Amini completed primary education at Rashidieh School and High School Education at the Dar al-Fonoun School. His mother recommended that he go to Najaf Ashraf for continuing his education in Islamic studies but he didn’t accept and instead he went to Paris in 1926.
Ali Amini graduated from the law school at Gronabal University and obtained a bachelor’s degree. In 1931, he completed his studies at the University of Paris and received a Ph.D. in economics. He returned to Iran in the same year and worked at the Ministry of Justice.
Ali Amini married Batoul Vosouq (the daughter of Vosouq al-Dawlah) in 1933.
Later on, Amini became the head of the Customs Department and in 1939 became the General Manager of the Ministry of Finance. Hasan Mosharraf-Nafisi was Amini’s brother-in-law, two years later, when Hasan Mosharraf-Nafisi became the finance minister, Ali Amini became the deputy minister.

In August 1946 he became the deputy of Ahmad Qavam in political affairs. Ahmad Qavam was Amini’s wife’s uncle. With the help of Amini, Ahmad Qavam was able to establish the Democratic Party of Iran.
When the Economic Council was established, Ali Amini became the General Secretary of the council. In March 1946, he became the minister of the Industrial Bank. At this time, the American government loaned Iran $250 million, and this money was to be spent on construction projects, Ali Amini was chosen as the head of a seven-year plan and was in charge of spending that money to build Iran.
Ali Amini was elected as the first representative of the people of Tehran in the fifteenth parliament with the help of Ahmad Qavam in the 15^th parliamentary election. In March 1950, he was nominated by Hasan-Ali Mansour (the prime minister) as the Minister of National Economy and remained in the same position in 1951 by Mohammad Mosaddeq (the prime minister), but because of a lack of coordination with Mosaddeq and his ministers, after a few months, he was dismissed from his job by Mosaddeq.
After the coup of August 19, 1953, General Zahedi’s government had two main duties. The first duty of his government was to repress popular revolutions, and the second duty of the general’s government was related to the issue of oil. Ali Amini and General Zahedi were selected to solve these two problems. Ali Amini, who was introduced by General Zahedi as the Minister of Finance, was elected to solve the oil problem as the representative of Iran.
A contract was signed between Ali Amini and Howard pitch, which was originally made between the Iranian government and the International Oil Consortium. The contract was signed on August 5, 1954, which was also the anniversary of the Constitutional Revolution in Tehran. The contract was signed in Iran by Amini and Howard. Howard was the representative of the oil companies. The contract was designed by the government of the United States of America, which was able to take legal control over Iran’s oil resources through the deal. Ali Amini made a lot of money through this deal.
After the collapse of General Zahedi’s government and his prime minister, Hoseyn Ala, Ali Amini was reinstated as the Ministry of Finance, after two months he became the Minister of Justice, in January 1956, Ali Amini was chosen as the Ambassador of Iran’s embassy in the United States and established political relations with American political societies in the United States.
In 1959, after returning to Iran and continuing his political activities, and after Jafar Sharif-Emami Resigned from his work, Amini became the Prime Minister with the support of the United States on May 6, 1961. Prime minister was the highest position that he gained.

Within a year and a half, when Amini became prime minister, was the most thunderous and controversial period of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s rule. At the beginning of his term as the prime minister, he arrested five military commanders for inappropriate use of the treasury and handed over land reform orders to Hasan Arsanjani (the Minister of Agriculture) and declared the activities of political parties free. It was exactly at this time that the Freedom Movement party was established.
Amini went to Qom in January 1962 and met with Ayatollah Khomeini. Imam Khomeini reminded him of the important duties that the prime minister has against the people and the country.
Because of what Amini did during he was the prime minister, the Shah was worried about his situation, and during a visit to the United States, he convinced President Kennedy to not support Amini, and instead of this, the Shah would implement the social and economic reforms that Kennedy had ordered himself. He named this reform “The White Revolution.”

Amini disagreed with the shah about the total state budget and was forced to resign. He resigned on July 17, 1962. Asadollah Alam replaced Amini, Ali Amini went to Europe and left the political scene in Iran.
After Jimmy Carter was elected as the president of the United States, Ali Amini returned to Iran as his last attempt to enter politics and came to Tehran at the beginning of 1977.
On July 27, 1978, he published a declaration and officially began his political career. Amini believed that a National Coalition Cabinet should be formed and that to prevent crisis, the Shah should be sent out of the country for a while (for a not limited time), the SAVAK and the Rastakhiz Party should be dissolved, the two chambers of the National Council and the Senate should be closed and free elections should be held immediately.
In the months that the Islamic Revolution soared, Amini advised Mohammad Reza Shah, although at the same time he knew that the Shah has to go, but he still attended the imperial court and advised the Shah. Even Amini asked for a meeting with Imam Khomeini to preserve the kingdom, but Imam Khomeini did not accept a meeting with him.
When the Islamic Revolution was about to reach victory and just two days before the fall of the Pahlavi’s regime, Amini went to France and established his group called “Rescue” and spent the last years of his life to confront the Islamic Republic, and was paid $180,000 per month by the CIA.
He wrote two books named “The Memoirs of Ali Amini,” one of them has been published by Harvard University in the oral history section and the other by the Office of the Islamic Revolution’s Literature the Department of Art. Amini died in Paris in 1992.