Kamal Habibollahi

Mir-Kamaloddin Mir-Habibollahi^[2] (Persian: میرکمال‌الدین میرحبیب‌اللهی‎) (born 1930 Astara - died 2016 Reston) also known as Kamal Habibollahi (Persian: کمال حبیب‌اللهی‎) was the last Commander of the Imperial Iranian Navy until the Islamic Revolution and was the last CNO under Pahlavi dynasty.^[3] He also several held minister postitions in the military government of Gholam Reza Azhari in 1978.

Early life

Kamal was born in 1930 in Astara, Iran. He was orphaned at a very young age but was mainly raised by a kind grandmother. He was a top student in school and an avid reader. From a relatively young age after living through the Soviet occupation of Iranian Azerbaijan, as well as seeing the growing influence of political Islam, he gained a deep distrust for both Communism and Islamic institutions as any capable forms of government.

Career

He was a graduate of the Royal Navy Officer Program, U.S. Naval Post Graduate School, and U.S. Naval War College.

He rose through the ranks of the Navy and ultimately served as CNO, resigning his post upon the collapse of the Bakhtiar government. During his tenure, he was applauded for engaging in a rapid modernization and growth of the Iranian Navy and its capabilities, along with rooting out corruption from its ranks. An outspoken critic of the incoming Khomeini regime and radical Islam, he resigned his post was forced to flee the country.

In August 1981, he led a group of people loyal to a Free Iran in seizing the Tabarzin, an Iranian navy missile cruiser, off the coast of Spain, in order to draw attention to the continued resistance to Khomeini and Radical Islam.^[4] After the revolution, he resided in the Washington D.C. area of the United States and continued to promote attention to free Iran causes, as well as warn against the dangers of global Islamic extremism and terrorism through speeches at universities, military academies, panels, and both US and Iranian media outlets.^[3]

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