Shahrukh Afshar

Shahrukh Shah Afshar, also spelled Shahrokh (Persian: شاهرخ) (c. 1730 – 1796) was a king of the Afsharid dynasty and a contemporary of the Zand kings. He reigned until 1796.^[1]

As the teenage son of Reza Gholi Mirza and Nader Shah's grandson, he was elected by the nobles following the assassination of Ebrahim Afshar. His fourth son, Nadir Mirza of Khorasan, became the prince of Khorasan. He made Mashhad the capital of his kingdom. Shahrukh was a contemporary of Mirza Mohammad, who was the son of shah Suleiman I Safavi's daughter and a clergyman.^[2] Encouraged by the nobles, he came to believe he was the true heir to the throne. Thus he captured and blinded Shahrukh capitalizing on the popular dissatisfaction with Shahrukh's rule, partly owing to the conduct of his Georgian favorite Rasul Beg, who scandalized Mashad by making free with the harem of his master.^[3] In 1749, during a struggle for power, the son of the Khan of Tabriz, Azad Khan Afghan, began a campaign for independence which removed the province of Atropatene (current Azerbaijan) from the Persian empire, while in the west the Qajar tribe led by Mohammad Hassan Khan took over the region of Mazandaran.

In 1750, Soleyman III was captured and blinded by the followers of Shahrukh, subsequent to which Shahrukh was reinstated as Shah.

In 1760 when Karim Khan took control of Persia, he did not try to depose Shahrukh out of respect for Nader, however, the realm of Shahrukh was reduced to the province of Khorasan.

In 1796 Agha Muhammad Khan conquered Khorasan and had Shahrukh tortured to death because he thought that he knew of Nadir's treasures.

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