Mohammad-Javad Bahonar

Hojatoleslam Mohammad Javad Bahonar (Persian: محمدجواد باهنر, 5 September 1933 – 30 August 1981) was an Iranian scholar, Shiite theologian and politician who served as the Prime minister of Iran from 15 to 30 August 1981 when he was assassinated by Mujahideen-e Khalq MEK, also known as PMOI and KMO. He is the first Iranian cleric Prime Minister.

Early life

Mohammad-Javad Bahonar was born on 5 September 1933 in Kerman, Iran. He was a cleric who was imprisoned for anti-government activities during the 1960s. However, he had not been active in politics for a long time before the Revolution, but was co-authoring textbooks in Islamic studies.

Political career

After Islamic Revolution

It was only after the revolution that he became a founding member of the Islamic Republic party and an original member of the Council of Revolution of Iran. He was chosen as the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance under Mohammad Ali Rajai's prime ministry in March 1981, and continued efforts to purge Iranian universities of secular influences, in what became known as the Islamic Cultural Revolution.

Prime minister and assassination

When Rajai became President on 4 August 1981, he chose Bahonar as his prime minister.

After Mohammad Beheshti was assassinated on 28 June 1981, Bahonar became the secretary-general of the Islamic Republic party, but he didn't last long in that position, nor in the position of Prime Minister, as he was assassinated after less than two months in these offices, along with Rajai and other party leaders, when a bomb exploded at his office in Tehran. The assassin was identified as Massoud Kashmiri, an operative of The People's Mujahedin of Iran (also known as the MKO, MEK and PMOI), who had infiltrated the Prime Minister's office in the guise of a state security official.

External links

• Iran: Will The New President Have A Big Tent? Radio Liberty