Mirza Aqa Khan-e Nuri

Mirza Aqa Khan-e Nuri (Persian میرزا آقاخان نوری) was an Iranian politician and the chancellor of the Qajar court from 1851 to 1857. He has been accused of assisting the Queen Mother, Mahd-Oliya, to remove Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir from chancellorship in 1851. The diaries of a French count^[1] and the Crown Prince, however, refute this. Sources will be cited shortly.

Mirza Agha Khan was born Nasrollah Nuri, son of Mirza Assadollah Khan Nuri, around 1807. His father was among the first people to join the armies of the conquering Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Qajar Dynasty. Mirza Assadollah was part of the administrative hierarchy of the army and soon managed to become a member of the court of both Agha Mohammad Khan and his nephew and successor, Fat′h-Ali Shah Qajar.

His early career was formed in service of Allah-Yar Khan Asaf al-Daula, a maternal relative of Mahd Oliya, the wife of Mohammad Shah, the successor of Fathali Shah, and the mother of the future king Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. He was an accomplished scholar and found himself raised through the ranks of the Civil Service to that of Premier or Grand Vazier (equivalent of the modern post of Prime Minister) and part of the king's privy council.

Gossip and rumour spread by those who tried to implicate him in the overthrow of Mirza Taqi Khan and tried successfully to link him in the minds of Iranians to having contacts with the English colonial administration in India and Iran, leading to his Anglophile reputation.

He died on 12 Shawwal 1281 AH = March 10, 1865.

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