Mirza Hosein Khan Moshir od-Dowleh

Who was Mirza Hosein Khan Moshir od-Dowleh?

Mirza Hosein Khan Moshir od-Dowleh Sepahsalar was the prime minister of Naser od-Din Shah Qajar of Iran between 1871 and 1873.

After a successful career in the Iranian foreign service, beginning in India and later serving in Tiflis, Mirza Hosein Khan was made ambassador to Istanbul during the great Ottoman reform period after 1856. He seems also to have been influenced by at least two reformist thinkers - Fatali Akhundov, whom he got to know well in Tiflis, and Mirza Malkam Khan, whom he met in Istanbul.

On becoming prime minister, he persuaded the Shah to grant a concession for railroad construction and other commercial development projects to Baron de Reuter. Opposition from bureaucratic factions and clerical leaders, however, forced the Shah to dismiss his prime minister and cancel the concession.