National Will Party

Not to be confused with Will of the Iranian Nation Party.
"Vatan Party" redirects here. For Similarly named party, see Vatan Partisi and Watan Party.
National Will Party
LeaderZia'eddin Tabatabaee[1]
ChairmanNayyer-al-Molk Hedayat[1]
FoundedSeptember 1943[2] as Vatan Party
19 January 1944[1] as National Will Party
DissolvedNovember 1951[1]
NewspaperRaʿd-e emrūz[1]
IdeologyIranian nationalism[3]
Fascism[2]
Conservatism[3]
Anti-communism[1]
Political positionRight-wing[4]

The Party of the National Will or National Will Party (Persian: حزب اراده ملی, romanized: Ḥezb-e Erāda-ye Mellī), formerly named Vatan Party (Persian: حزب وطن, romanized: Ḥezb-e Waṭan, lit. 'Fatherland[2] or Homeland') and Halqa Party (Persian: حزب حلقه, romanized: Ḥezb-e Ḥalqa, lit. 'ring, circle, link'),[1] was an Anglophile[1][5] political party in Iran, led by Zia'eddin Tabatabaee. The party played an important role in anti-communist activities, specifically against Tudeh Party of Iran, and was rival to other leftists and civic nationalists who later emerged as the National Front.[5]

Widely regarded as dedicated to promote British influence in Iran, it enjoyed support from Embassy of the United Kingdom and British agents such as Robert Charles Zaehner.[5] After the British indecisive policy as a result of the Labour Party victory in the 1945 elections, the party was demoralized and went on hiatus in February 1946 when its key members were arrested by Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam.[1] The party returned in September 1951 to oppose Mohammad Mosaddegh and the nationalization of the Iran oil industry movement, but collapsed after two months.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Yaḡmāʾī, Pīrāya (December 15, 1998) [December 15, 2011]. "ERĀDA-YE MELLĪ". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Fasc. 5. Vol. VIII. New York City: Bibliotheca Persica Press. pp. 533–534. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Abrahamian, Ervand (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press. pp. 193–194. ISBN 0-691-10134-5.
  3. ^ a b Keddie, Nikki (2003). Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution. Yale University Press. p. 109. ISBN 9780300121056.
  4. ^ Gheissari, Ali (2010). Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century. University of Texas Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0292778917.
  5. ^ a b c Gasiorowski, Mark J. (2004). Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 coup in Iran. Syracuse: Syracuse Univ. Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 0815630182.