Arteshbod Jafar Shafaghat (Persian: جعفر شفقت; c.1915 – February 4, 2001) was an Iranian General officer during the Pahlavi-era and was the last Minister of Defense in Shapour Bakhtiar's government (1978 — 1979).

[2] After graduating from primary and secondary school, with the help of his uncle Mohammad-Hossein Damavandi, he entered the Iranian College of Officers in 1933 (1312 Shamsi).

Jafar Shafaghat took several courses of command in France and the United States, and also received a doctorate in international law from the Sorbonne, and was also a military judge.

[7][8] The Tabriz uprising of February 1978, which was directed against the Shah's government, was suppressed by police and army units, resulting in casualties among the demonstrators.

The first steps in this direction were the dismissal of 9 high-ranking officials of the province, among them: the governor, local police chiefs and some employees of SAVAK.

[16] On March 7, the Shah's leadership announced that several SAVAK officials and police would be punished for allowing unrest in February to get out of control.

Immediately after the end of the meetings of the Investigative Commission in Tabriz, he was found guilty of the unrest and transferred to Tehran by decision of the council, and after that he never held high military and disciplinary posts.

The opposition claimed that the government forcibly drove people from various neighboring villages, and regime agents spread false rumors in advance that the Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari would personally be present at the pro-Shah rally.

[22] Then the choice fell on General Jafar Shafaghat, one of his closest assistants to the Shah and the former head of the Imperial Guard.

After the fall of the Shah's power and the establishment of an Islamic regime, it was falsely reported that General Shafaghat was detained, but after a while he was released.