Amir-Abbas Hoveyda - Soldier and Foreign Ministry Official

Soldier and Foreign Ministry Official

Upon his return to Iran in 1942, Hoveida rested for a few months before enlisting as a soldier in Iran's national army. His plan at the time was to use his experience as a conscript to supplement his seniority at the Foreign Ministry where he applied for employment prior to being drafted. Because of his higher education, Hoveida was able to bypass boot camp and directly enter the Officer's Academy. Iran's modern Prime Ministers, until that point, were able to avoid military service, but Hoveida voluntarily chose to enlist. Although rooted in aristocracy himself, Hoveida's decision is portentous in the sense that resources that were readily available for his predecessors were often scarce for the young government official.

The Foreign Ministry dispatched a message eight months later confirming Hoveida's appointment. To some, the quick application process is evidence enough to suggest that there were influential forces that helped expedite Hoveida's subsequent employment. These claims, however, are often based on hearsay rather than substantiated facts. During his time in the Ministry, Hoveida befriended many elements of Iranian high society, including the likes of Sadeq Hedayat and Sadeq Chubak. His affinity for the country's intelligentsia is clearly observed in his earlier strategy as PM. By trying to consolidate the partnership between the monarchial regime and the intellectual opposition, Hoveida believed that the incremental reforms he desired would bear fruit. Others like Jalal al-e Ahmad, writer and social and political critic, saw Hoveida's ‘infiltration’ of Iran's intellectual ranks as a form of sycophancy. On the other hand, Hedayat and other eccentric characters were quick to identify and repel opportunists who were attempting to leech off their social status. Hedayat and others never distanced themselves from Hoveida, symbolizing the latter's authenticity.

As Hoveida garnered more experience, opportunities within Iran's governmental apparatus were becoming available to him. In August 1944, for instance, he accepted a position to accompany Zein al-Abedin Rahnema, Iran's minister plenipotentiary, to France. Being an avid Francophile, Hoveida would enjoy his time as an embassy official, but he would soon be entangled in an international scandal that would taint him for the rest of his life. The "Paris Story" recounts the illegal importation of financial assets, stored in Swiss banks during the war for security purposes, from Switzerland into the coffers of wealthy French businessmen in 1945. To avoid border taxes, diplomatic personnel were persuaded to act as the intermediary, simply because embassy vehicles were, by law, unable to be searched. Although Hoveida never had anything to do with the illegal transfers, his mere association with some of those indicted was enough for him to be used as a scapegoat in the affair.

Aside from experience, patronage from the likes of Abdullah Entezam, an independent minded diplomat of "sterling reputation", served to aid Hoveida's ascendance to the upper echelons of public office. With the autocratic mandate of Mohammad Reza Shah seeping through every crevice of Iranian society, the only way to obtain high ranking positions in any societal position was through crucial internal patronage, reinforcement Hoveida sufficiently lacked prior to working with Entezam. The two first got to work together when Hoveida was stationed in Stuttgart, West Germany. While there in 1947, Hoveida was assigned with the task of negotiating over deals made between Iran and Germany. The most notable case involved Iran's purchase of factory equipment required for the construction of a steel mill, in which the transaction of the material components were never successfully completed.

In 1950, Hoveida returned to an ever changing Iran once again. This time, he would be caught in one of the most tumultuous periods of Iran's modern period. As Hoveida toiled away at a notably boring job as assistant director of the public relations office at the Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Mossadegh was mobilizing nationalist sentiment as he rose to power. During this period, Entezam was appointed as minister of foreign affairs, allowing Hoveida to assume a more intellectually stimulating role as Entezam's executive secretary. His tenure did not last long before Mossadegh was appointed Prime Minister, dissolving the former cabinet along with Hoveida's job.

Leaving Iran once again in 1952, Hoveida was able to secure a position with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees through the help of his European contacts. As a liaison officer, he was given the task of visiting various continents, including Asia, Africa, and the Americas, promulgating the plight of refugees and in effect receiving several commendations from high ranking UN officials.

The Iranian embassy in Turkey would serve to be Hoveida's final official position outside Iran's frontiers. Assistant to the ambassador, who so happened to be the father of his good friend, Hassan-Ali Mansour, Hoveida would make a quick exit after Mansour's father was replaced by an authoritarian army general in 1957.