Azizollah Zarghami
Azizollah Zarghami was an Iranian army officer. He served as the chief of staff of the Imperial Army in Iran in the period 1934–1941 during the rule of Reza Shah.
Biography
Zarghami was born in Tehran in 1884. His father was Hussein Pashakhan Zargham Al Saltanah, one of the leaders of the Shaqaqi tribe. Zarghami trained at the Cossack school. He remained with the Cossacks until he was promoted to captain.Later, he was transferred to the Gendarmerie and held several positions there, such as the head of the gendarmerie of Qazvin, Zanjan, and Soltanabad. After the formation of the Unified Army, he was transferred there and was assigned to establish the schools of the regime with the rank of colonel. He was there for two years when he was appointed as the head of the Army's stewardship office. Then he became the commander of the Makran Brigade and attained the rank of brigadier general. In 1920, he was appointed head of the Gendarmerie of the country. He was named the chief of staff in 1934. As the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran began in 1941, Reza Shah ordered Zarghami, as Army Chief of Staff, to deploy the Central Garrison to defend the capital, but offered no instructions for the divisions under attack. After Reza Shah finally ordered a cease-fire, much of the army disintegrated. When
Reza Shah abdicated Zarghami lost his position. Later Zarghami served as the senator and governor of East Azerbaijan.
In 1961 Zarghami and three other generals were arrested as part of the anti-corruption campaign of Prime Minister Ali Amini and were released soon. Zarghami died in Tehran in 1978 and was buried in the Imamzadeh Abdollah cemetery, Tehran. One of his children, Ezzatollah Zarghami, was also an army officer with the rank of brigadier general.