On 27 August 2017, Yazdi died of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 85 in Izmir, Turkey, where he was under treatment. His body is due to be transferred to Iran and buried in his hometown, Qazvin.
In a message on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offered his condolences to the family and relatives of Yazdi, and described him a prominent figure in anti-Shah struggles before the Revolution.
Zarif also wished that the former foreign minister would rest in peace in heaven.
Yazdi was born in Qazvin on 3 October 1931 among a religious family. He studied pharmacology at the University of Tehran. Then he received a master’s degree in philosophy again from the University of Tehran.
After the US-backed military coup of 1953, which deposed the democratically-elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh, Yazdi joined the underground National Resistance Movement of Iran, and was active in this organization from 1953 to 1960.
This organization opposed to the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Yazdi travelled to the United States in 1961 to continue his education and in the US, continued his involvement in political activities against the Shah. In 1967, he enrolled at Baylor University and received a PhD in biochemistry.
He was cofounder of the Freedom Movement of Iran, abroad, along with Mostafa Chamran, Ali Shariati, and Sadeq Qotbzadeh in 1961.
When the founder of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini moved to Neauphle-le-Château in Parisian suburb from Iraq in 1978, Yazdi also went to Neauphle-le-Château and began to serve as an advisor to Imam Khomeini. He was also his spokesperson in Paris.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Yazdi served Iran’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in the interim government of Mehdi Bazargan, until his resignation in November 1979.
After his resignation, Yazdi ran in parliamentary elections and served as a member of the Iranian parliament from 1980 to 1984.
Islamic Revolution under wise leadership of Imam Khomeini emerged victorious in an era when many people in the world believed that Islamic teachings were no longer viable, the late Imam proved that Islam was a living and practicable code of life.
The Islamic Revolution has reached such a level of evolution as to encourage other nations to follow the same course. It has been promoting Islamic teachings through defending the oppressed nations in the Islamic world, who have long been targeted by the global arrogance and colonial powers.
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