The fourth son of the former crown prince Abbas Mirza, his career in Iran was marked by several governorships, including the province of Azerbaijan (1841–1847).

In 1845, riots and other disturbances started occurring in Iran as its unstable state and the illness of Bahman Mirza's full brother and sovereign Mohammad Shah Qajar (r. 1834–1848).

He was ultimately granted sanctuary by Mohammad Shah in Tehran, but was treated in a hostile manner by him, and also continued to be worried by the schemes of the grand vizier Haji Mirza Aqasi.

He had been granted asylum there, since the Russians considered sheltering an Iranian prince as a crucial component of their foreign policy with Iran.

[5] Even though Bahman Mirza was ultimately granted sanctuary by Mohammad Shah, he was treated in a hostile manner by him, and also continued to be worried by Aqasi's schemes.

[5][7] There he requested asylum in Russia, which was granted by the Russian government, since they considered sheltering an Iranian prince as a crucial component of its foreign policy with Iran.

[5] The Russian government provided Bahman Mirza shelter and support, allocating 30,000 silver rubles as an annual stipend and another large sum under a different category each year.

He also claims that the descriptions by Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat and Mohammad Taqi Sepehr of Bahman Mirza's ambitions were motivated by their desire to appease the shah.

Nicholas I felt particularly upset at the Iranian premier Amir Kabir since the latter seemed to be "following the footsteps of his predecessor" in filling "the royal mind with the dislike .

In reality, though, Nicholas I wanted to restore the pro-Russian Bahman Mirza as governor of Azerbaijan in order to balance out Amir Kabir's pro-British leanings.

[8] Bahman Mirza had privately appealed to Naser al-Din Shah, citing his "former friendship" with him and declaring his willingness to serve him honorably.

[9] Amir Kabir came to the conclusion that permitting Bahman Mirza's return would necessitate doing the same for the Anglophile Asef al-Dowleh, who was at the time living in exile in Ottoman Iraq.

In Azerbaijan and Khorasan, respectively, Bahman Mirza and Asef al-Dowleh were well-liked, and thus "the shah would be a mere puppet in their hands" argued Amir Kabir.

The Iranian historian Abbas Amanat states that; "In Amir Kabir's argument there was a clear desire to stress the vitality of a powerful and centralized monarchy for Iran.

[11] Bahman Mirza also commissioned the English merchant Edward Burgess to write the geographical work of Joghrafiya-yi Alam ("Geography of the World"), which also included some historical histories of modern Europe.

[16] One of them was Darab Mirza Qajar, who during the Russian occupation of northern Iran in 1909 attempted to conquer Zanjan, but was defeated by the constitutionalist forces.