Ali-Qoli Khan Qajar

[2] According to the later court historian Mohammad-Taqi "Lesan ol-Molk" Sepehr, he was Mohammad Hasan Khan's ninth and last son, a rank possibly inherited because his mother was of non-Qajar origin, rather than being connected to his actual age.

[1] Ali-Qoli Khan rarely matched the military prowess of his older brothers and was never able to obtain an independent position in the Qajar tribe.

This region was the seat of the rival Develu clan of the Qajar tribe, whose loyalty and support were deemed essential for tribal unity.

This factor may have added to Agha Mohammad Khan's decision to designate nearby Tehran as his capital several years later, in 1795.

Having abandoned Agha Mohammad Khan, he made peace with the Zand chiefs, which, as the modern historian Abbas Amanat explains, was perhaps intended to gain authority over central Iran.

Much of his success in Kohgiluyeh was not necessarily due to his military tactics or prowess, but because the tribes were willing to repudiate their allegiance to the unstable Zands and submit themselves to the Qajars.

However, after taking tribute (kharaj), Ali-Qoli Khan left Mostafa Khan-e Talesh in his post and moved back to Tehran.

According to the French naturalist Guillaume Antoine Olivier, who was travelling through Iran at the time, Ali-Qoli Khan had first proclaimed himself Shah in Mazandaran.

Other sources, however, suggest that Ali-Qoli Khan left Erivan and marched down via Khoy, Tabriz and Maragheh towards Tehran, with the intention of seizing the newly established capital.

The claim, however, was void from the start because, in the contemporaneous Qajar system of power, concepts of kinship and "purity" of blood were major focal points in the transmission of right and dignity.

In addition, under the earlier Qajars, a "legitimate" claim to the Iranian throne had to be imposed by military and political power—qualities that Ali-Qoli Khan did not possess.