AFGHAN INTERLUDE

(1722-30), period in Iranian history that began with the Afghan conquest of Iran and ended with the defeat and death of the Afghan ruler Ashraf. In 1722 Mahmud, an Afghan notable and former vassal of the Safavids, attacked and captured Esfahan, the Safavid capital in Iran. The capture of Esfahan marked the eclipse of the Safavid dynasty. Mahmud proclaimed himself ruler of Iran in 1722, and in 1723 he put to death Shah Soltan Hoseyn, the former Safavid ruler. Mahmud consolidated his gains in southern and southeastern Iran, and in 1725 he was succeeded by his cousin Ashraf. Ashraf attempted to conciliate the Iranians, but he was always regarded as the hated foreign invader. In the meantime, Peter I the Great of Russia, who had long contemplated establishing a trade route to India via the countries east of the Caspian Sea, invaded the north of Iran in 1722, ostensibly because of losses suffered by some Russian merchants during a tribal uprising there. At this the Ottomans moved into western and northwestern Iran to prevent the Russians from taking over Iranian territory next to Turkey. The confrontation threatened to blow up into war, but a settlement was negotiated in 1724. Russia held much of Iran's north and the Ottomans the west, with the northwestern regions partitioned between them; this was perhaps the first such imposition of precise boundaries by European powers on an Islamic state. In the north, Tahmasp II-the representative of the ousted Safavid dynasty-controlled the provinces of Mazandaran and Gilan. In 1727 Ashraf negotiated a treaty with the Ottomans, accepting their annexation of western Iran; in return the Ottomans recognized Ashraf as ruler of Iran. In 1727 Tahmasp II was joined by Nader Qoli Khan, a leader of the Afshar tribe. Nader (later reigned in 1736-47 as Nader Shah) set out to expel the Afghans and to reunify the former Safavid domains. A brilliant general, Nader defeated the Afghans in a series of battles; Ashraf was killed, and Nader installed Tahmasp II as shah in Esfahan (1729). He continued operations against the Afghans until they were finally routed and expelled from Iran in 1730.