Samsam ol-Saltaneh prime minister again

According to the British chronology of the war, on 20 June 1918 Ahmad Shah once again entrusted the office of Prime Minister of Persia to the chief of the Bakhtiari, Najafqoli Khan Samsam ol-Saltaneh, who according to the same chronology had resigned on 31 May. Persian lists of governments, however, know nothing of this interruption. They treat Samsam’s cabinet as a single government, lasting from 18 Ordibehesht to 15 Mordad 1297 in the Iranian calendar, that is, from the first ten days of May to the beginning of August 1918.

A cabinet reshuffle

The only trace of the June crisis in the Persian lists is a change at the Ministry of War. The post was then taken over from Lotf-Ali Khan Amir Mofakham, who had resigned, by another Bakhtiari khan, Gholam-Hossein Khan Sardar Mohtasham. His appointment is dated 28 Khordad 1297, that is, 18 or 19 June 1918 (conversions of Iranian dates from these years often differ by a day). Everything therefore suggests that on 20 June the prime minister did not return to power after a break, but presented a reshuffled government. The sources do not explain what caused the crisis.

A government under fire

The government’s position was difficult. The country was struck by a great famine; in the south the Qashqai chief Sowlat od-Dowleh had been fighting the British-led South Persia Rifles since the end of May, and the British accused Samsam of encouraging him. In mid-June the Turks took Tabriz, and units of General Dunsterville’s mission were crossing northern Persia towards the Caspian Sea. Samsam held on to power for another six weeks. At the beginning of August the Shah dismissed him and appointed the pro-British Vosugh od-Dowleh.