Asef al-Dowleh
Allahyar Khan Devellu-Qajar Asef al-Dowleh (Persian: اللهیارخان آصفالدوله) was the prime minister of Qajar Iran under shah (king) Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834) from 1824 to 1828.
Asef al-Dowleh | |
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Portrait of Asef al-Dowleh | |
| Prime Minister of Qajar Iran | |
| In office 1824–1828 | |
| Monarch | Fath-Ali Shah Qajar |
| Preceded by | Abdollah Khan Amin ol-Dowleh |
| Succeeded by | Abdollah Khan Amin ol-Dowleh |
| Personal details | |
| Children | Hasan Khan Salar |
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Asef al-Dowleh was a hardline proponent of intensifying the Russo-Iranian War of 1826–1828, performed ineffectively on the battlefield, and was among the first to evacuate to the city of Tabriz. When the Russians captured Tabriz without an opposition, he was in charge of the men in the city's fortress. He was as a result placed under detention in his own house, and after being freed, Fath-Ali Shah ordered that he be publicly flogged for his "cowardly behavior". Asef al-Dowleh played a key role in inciting the population to oppose the Russian diplomat Alexander Griboyedov, which led to the slaughter of the Russian embassy staff in the Iranian capital of Tehran in 1829.