Hajji Hossein-Gholi Khan Noori (1849–1937), also known as Hajji Washington (Persian: حاجی واشنگتن), was an Iranian politician, cabinet minister, and diplomat and belonged to one of the oldest aristocratic families in Iran - the Khajeh Nouris, tracing their history back to over one thousand years.
He was appointed the first ambassador to the United States in 1889, where he kept a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings from the American press about the reigning monarch Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. He objected to how the Shah’s official visit to England in 1889 was covered by the press and he resigned from his post in protest. After his return from the United States, he served as the minister of public works ("favaayed-e aamme") and married Naser al-Din Shah’s daughter.
Diplomatic career
Haji Hossain-Gholi Khan was the Iranian Consul General to India. In 1885, when the Democratic Party took over the administration, Benjamin, the first US ambassador in Iran, resigned his post conforming with diplomatic practice. On 20 November 1885, President Cleveland appointed Fredrick H. Winston as Benjamin's successor. On 3 August 1886, Spencer Pratt was appointed as the third US Consul General in Tehran. At this time, Naser al-Din Shah decided to open a permanent Iranian embassy in Washington. Haji Hossain-Gholi Khan was appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to Washington
He selected his staff of ten of the English-speaking members of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. It took him and his staff a 2 month journey to arrive in Washington in which he managed to spark interest in Iran among American Orientalist.
Later years
He returned to live in Tehran after his mission to the US.
↑Iran and America: Re-kind[l]ing a Love Lost
By Badi Badiozamani, Badi Badiozamani, Ph.D.
Published by East West Understanding Pr., 2005
ISBN978-0-9742172-0-8
316 pages, PSRI
↑The first Diplomatic Relations Between Iran and America, Abbas Eghbal, Yadegar Magazine, 1944]
References
'Alí Rizā Awsatí (عليرضا اوسطى), Iran in the Past Three Centuries (Irān dar Se Qarn-e Goz̲ashteh - ايران در سه قرن گذشته), Volumes 1 and 2 (Paktāb Publishing - انتشارات پاکتاب, Tehran, Iran, 2003). ISBN978-964-93406-6-1 (Vol. 1), ISBN978-964-93406-5-4 (Vol. 2).
