Darioush Bayandor

Darioush Bayandor is a former Iranian diplomat and official who worked for the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Following the Iranian Revolution, he left Iran to work for the United Nations in the 1980s and 1990s before retiring to Switzerland where he writes and consults.[1]

Born in Iran, Bayandor served as a senior diplomat of the Iranian government in New York City and Tehran in the 1970s. He was the director of the regional bureau for the Americas in the Iran foreign ministry and served as foreign-affairs adviser to two prime ministers of Imperial State of Iran. From 1975 he served on Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations (UN).[2][3] In 1980, Bayandor joined the UN and led several regional offices in Asia, Europe and Africa. In the 1990s he was the regional coordinator for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees[4][5][6][7] in refugee-heavy areas such as Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and he served in the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.[8]

In 2006, Bayandor wrote "Hafez: A Face-Off With Virtue" about the famous 14th century Iranian lyric poet, Hafez.[9] His book Iran and The CIA: The Fall of Mosaddeq Revisited, was published in 2010.[10][1] The book has received mixed reviews, with the Economist and Washington Times describing it as "revisionist".[1][11] Homa Katouzian, a historian and political scientist, dismissed the book as "political". [12] Washington Times criticized the book stating that "a careful reading of Mr. Bayandor's book, along with the CIA history and Mr. Roosevelt's memoir, shows that there is a very thin element of truth in his revisionist theory".[11] However, The Economist and World Affairs were more complimentary, the former noting that "Bayandor's scepticism is a useful antidote to Roosevelt's self-aggrandising, which some later writers have mimicked uncritically".[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Iran in the 20th century. Fall guy, How a prime minister was brought down". The Economist. 13 May 2010.
  2. ↑ Delegations to the General Assembly 30. United Nations. 1975. p. 140.
  3. ↑ Permanent missions to the United Nations. 238–239. United Nations. 1976. pp. 86–87.
  4. ↑ "AUSTCARE Report on Burma Refugees". Burma.net. June 1992. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "Decisions Adopted by the Executive Board at its 149th session" (PDF). UNESCO. 28 May 1996. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  6. ↑ "Decisions Adopted by the Executive Board at its 145th session" (PDF). UNESCO. 29 November 1994. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Decisions Adopted by the Executive Board at its 142nd session" (PDF). UNESCO. 10 December 1993. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 25". Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 26 June 1999. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  9. ↑ Bayandor, Darioush (Fall 2006). "Hafez: A Face-Off With Virtue". Journal of Middle Eastern and North African Intellectual and Cultural Studies (Binghamton, New York: Binghamton University) 4 (2).
  10. ↑ Spook Story: What Really Happened to Mossadeq? Roya Hakakian, World Affairs, July August 2010
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Book Review: How the shah came to power, By Joseph C. Goulden - The Washington Times, August 16, 2010
  12. ↑ http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f4_Homayoun_Katouzian_coup_28_mordad/2131844.html

External links