Mahmud Mir-Djalali

Mahmud Mir-Djalali
محمود میرجلالی
Vice Chairman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
In office
1955–1957
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
ChairmanAbdollah Hedayat
Preceded byposition established
Deputy Minister of War
In office
12 March 1951  27 April 1951
MonarchMohammad Reza Pahlavi
Prime MinisterHossein Ala'
Personal details
Born28 January 1898
Tehran, Sublime State of Iran
Died3 May 1983(1983-05-03) (aged 85)
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
SpouseFakhr Azam Darai
ChildrenFereydoun
Bahram
Elahe
Aliyeh
Alma materMošir-al-Dawla Military School
École spéciale militaire de Fontainebleau
National War University
Military service
Allegiance Imperial State of Iran
Branch/serviceImperial Iranian Army
Years of service1920–1957
RankMajor General
CommandsPersian Cossack Brigade
Iranian Armed Forces
Battles/warsAnglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Abadan Crisis
1953 Iranian coup d'état

Major General Mahmud Mir-Djalali (Persian: محمود میرجلالی; 28 January 1898 – 3 May 1983) was an Iranian military commander who served as Vice Chairman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Initially starting his career with the Persian Cossack Brigade in 1920 and playing a critical role in the 1921 Pahlavi coup, Mir-Djalali led the establishing of the Mechanized Artillery Forces and Military Industries of Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi with the Czechoslovak Arms companies Škoda Works, ČKD, and Zbrojovka Brno, building out key sites like Base J, Saltanatabad Arms Factory and the Parchin Chemical and Explosives Factory.

For this, General Mir-Djalali was known within the Imperial Military as the "Father" of Iran's Armored Forces and Military Industrial Complex. He is also the maternal grandfather of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, whose purchase of PayPal in 2002 would jumpstart the rise of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.