Mohammad Javad Tondguyan
Minister of Petroleum
In office
25 September 1980 – 17 August 1981[Note 1]
Prime MinisterMohammad Ali Rajai
Preceded byAli Akbar Moinfar
Succeeded byMohammad Gharazi
Personal details
Born(1950-06-16)16 June 1950
Tehran, Iran
Died16 December 1991(1991-12-16) (aged 41)[Note 2]
Iraq
Resting placeHafte Tir Mausoleum
Political partyIndependent
SpouseBatoul Borhan Ashkevari
Children4
Alma materPetroleum University of Technology (B.Sc.)
Iran Center for Management Studies (M.Sc.)

Mohammad Javad Bagher Tondguyan (Persian: محمدجواد تندگویان; 16 June 1950 – 16 December 1991) was an Iranian engineer and petroleum minister under Prime Minister Mohammad-Ali Rajai from 2 September to 3 November 1980 when he was captured by the Iraqi forces in November 1980 during Iran-Iraq war.

Early life and education

Tondguyan was born on 16 June 1950.[1]

He was involved in opposition movement against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1967 and was detained and interrogated by the SAVAK.[1] During this period he met Mohammad Khatami.[1] From 1968 to 1972 Tondguyan studied oil engineering at the Abadan Technologic Institute, now Petroleum University of Technology, where he was head of the Islamic Association.[2] The association hosted Ali Shariati, one of the philosophical and political leaders of the Islamic revolution, as a speaker during the 1960s and 1970s.[2] Tondguyan was also one of the figures who disseminated the views of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Abadan during this period.[2]

Career

Following his graduation, Tondguyan began to work in the Tehran refinery.[2] Then he worked for various oil companies in Iran until the 1979 revolution.[1] After the revolution, he was appointed deputy science minister.[1]

In September 1980, Tondguyan was named oil minister replacing Ali Akbar Moinfar in the post and served in the cabinet of Mohammad Ali Rajai.[1] His successor as the minister of oil was Mohammad Gharazi.[3]

Captivity and death

Tondguyan was captured by the Iraqi forces on his tour to the fronts on the Abadan road in Khuzestan Province on 3 November 1980 at the initial phase of the Iran-Iraq war which lasted from 1980 to 1988.[4][5][6] His deputy and a ministry official were also captured with him.[7] They were reportedly taken to Baghdad.[8]

In October 1990, the Iraqi officials stated that he committed suicide two years after his captivity.[5] In November 1990, his wife and father denied this report.[4] Tondguyan's body was delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Iran government in 1991.[6] The committee reported that he died of torture after eleven years of detention in Iraqi prisons.[6]

Personal life

Tondguyan was married and had four children.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ After Tondguyan's capture, Iranian Government did not announce a replacement for him until one year. At the time of his imprisonment at Iraqi jails, Mohsen Sadat was the acting minister.
  2. ↑ Date and place unclear, not any official death date and place announced by Iraqi government.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Joint Crisis: Supreme Defense Council of Iran, 1980" (PDF). Harvard Model United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Peyman Jafari (2019). "Linkages of oil and politics: oil strikes and dual power in the Iranian revolution". Labor History. 60 (1): 27–28. doi:10.1080/0023656X.2019.1537018. hdl:11245.1/cf873983-78d2-4054-aef3-00ffa6a7a6c3. S2CID 158258218.
  3. ↑ Nader Habibi (June 2014). "Can Rouhani Revitalize Iran's Oil and Gas Industry?". Middle East Brief (80): 4.
  4. 1 2 3 "Former Oil Minister's Family Appeals for His Release" (PDF). Kayhan. 5 November 1991. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Iraq Claims Captive Iranian Ex-Oil Minister Committed Suicide". Associated Press News. Nicosia. 23 October 1990. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 "Former minister family seeks compensation from Iraqi national authority". Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. Tehran. BBC. 25 December 2003. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  7. ↑ Randy Shipp (6 November 1980). "Red Cross asks for report on Iran official's capture". The Christian Science Monitor. Geneva. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  8. ↑ David Balderstone (4 November 1980). "Free minister, says Iran". The Age. Tehran. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
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