Najaf-Qoli Khan Bakhtiari

Najaf-Qoli Khan Bakhtiari  also known as Saad al-Dowleh and Samsam al-Saltane (1846–1930), was a Persian Prime Minister and a leader of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. He was elected Prime Minister for two terms, first from 3 May 1909 to 16 July 1909 and again from 23 December 1912 to 17 January 1913, when he resigned from the office. He was a representative of Parliament of Iran from Tehran in the 4th Parliament. He was the older brother of Ali-Qoli Khan Bakhtiari, better known as Sardar Assad, Bibi Maryam Bakhtiari and Khosrou Khan, Sardar Zafar Bakhtiari. He died in 1930 in Isfahan.

Life
Najaf Gholi Khan, Samsam al-Saltaneh was the son of Hossein Gholi Khan Ilkhani and Bibi Mehrafrooz, the grandson of Jafar Gholi Khan Duraki and the granddaughter of Shafi Khan Bakhtiari.

After his father's death in 1902 (1281), he received the title of Samsam al-Saltaneh from Muzaffaruddin Shah and, after the death of his older brother Esfandiar, became the Ilkhani [Lord Chieftain] of the Bakhtiari clan.

Samsam al-Sultaneh threw his weight behind the opponents of Muhammad Ali Shah in the Constitutional movement and joined his brother Ali Qoli Khan, Sardar Asad, during the Constitution Revolution. Together with Bakhtiari armed horsemen, he captured Esfahan in 1908 and, for a while, took over the government of Esfahan.

Prime Minister
Samsam al-Saltaneh became the Minister of War on 26 July 1911 (1290) during the restoration of the cabinet of Sepehdar [General] Mohammad Wali Khan Tankabani.[2]. When Sepahdar's government fell, Samsam al-Saltaneh became the Prime Minister on August 2, 1911.

His first premiership was turbulent. He was defeated by the loyalist forces of Muhammad Ali Shah, who had re-entered Iran by way of Russia, supported by Russian and Turkmen cavalry. He also had to grapple with the forces of Salar al-Doula – Muhammad Ali Shah's brother – who was leading a rebellion in Kermanshah during this period.

The fall of Samsam al-Saltaneh's cabinet was precipitated by a Russia’s ultimatum which gave the Iranian government 48 hours to dismiss and expel Morgan Shuster, an American financial adviser, as well as his entire staff. The Russians also required that, in the future, the government of Iran should in advance seek the consent of the Russian and British embassies before employing foreign advisers. Finally, the Iranian government was ordered to pay the cost of the Russian deployment in Iran or otherwise the Russian forces – which had stopped in Rasht – would march on Tehran and the Iranians would be billed for the additional cost of this advance. Samsam al-Saltaneh’s cabinet was in favor of accepting Russia's demands, but the National Assembly rejected the ultimatum with an overwhelming majority. The Prime Minister tendered his resignation on 16 July 1909.

Samsam al-Sultaneh became prime minister again in May 1918 (1297) which coincided with the upheaval of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The new Soviet leader, Lenin, announced the abolition of all the colonial privileges of the former tsarist government to prove his goodwill towards the weaker nations of the world. Samsam al-Saltaneh took advantage of this opportunity and issued a statement on the 4 August 1918, canceling the 1828 Treaty of Turkmanchai and other privileges granted to Tsarist Russia.

On 8 August 1918, his cabinet passed a resolution cancelling all capitulation clauses, but three days later, Ahmad Shah summoned Samsam Ol-Saltaneh to the Golestan Palace and severely reprimanded him, ordering him to resign. Samsam al-Saltaneh refused and left the palace in anger. On the same day, Ahmad Shah appointed Wasthouq al-Dawlah to form a new cabinet.

He was reported to have been a member of the Moderate Socialists Party but he was favoured by the Democrat Party at the time appointed as the Prime Minister and formed a pro-Democrat cabinet.

Death
During his final years, Samsam al-Saltaneh was elected to represent Tehran in the fourth National Assembly. In 1921 he was declined the offer to become the governor of the troubled Khorasan province.

He was appointed governor of the Bakhtiari region in 1929, by Reza Shah – the first Pahlavi monarch – and a year later, in 1930, died in Esfahan and was buried in Takht Foulad in the Mausoleum of the Bakhtiari family.