Reuter concession is withdrawn

A group of Bábís attempted to assassinate the Shah near Niyavaran. The attempt failed; state reprisals followed against Bábís and others, including the killing of Táhirih and the torture and execution...

After Qajar forces took Herat, Britain declared war and framed its intervention through the defense of Afghanistan and British India. The episode reflects the imperial strategic logic of the “Great...

British forces landed at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf during the Anglo-Persian War. The coastal campaign brought the war to Iranian territory and put pressure on the Qajar government to withdraw from...

Under the treaty, Iran agreed to evacuate Herat and renounce claims over the city and Afghanistan; Britain agreed to withdraw its forces. The settlement privileged British strategic objectives and...

Nasir al-Din Shah granted Baron Julius de Reuter sweeping privileges involving railways, mines, irrigation, forests, and other resources. The concession was exceptional in scope and provoked...

During Nasir al-Din Shah’s third European tour, the government granted Major G. F. Talbot a monopoly over Iran’s tobacco production, sale, and export; it was ratified in 1890. The concession...

A new concession authorized a British-backed Imperial Bank of Persia, which received note-issuing privileges and became a major foreign financial institution in Iran. The deal illustrates how...

Merchants in Shiraz organized against the monopoly, connecting local commercial grievances to wider criticism of foreign concessions. Authorities exiled the cleric Sayyid Ali Akbar Fal-Asiri in May;...

After criticizing the tobacco monopoly, cleric Fal-Asiri was exiled by provincial authorities. Thousands gathered at the Shah Cheragh shrine in response. The episode shows how local religious...

A fatwa attributed to Mirza Hasan Shirazi circulated in Iran, forbidding tobacco consumption while the concession remained in force. The boycott linked religious authority with merchants, consumers,...