While Karim was ruler, Iran recovered from the devastation of 40 years of war, providing the war-ravaged country with a renewed sense of tranquillity, security, peace, and prosperity.

[3][4] The Zands were concentrated on the villages of Pari and Kamazan in the Malayer district but were also found roaming in the central Zagros ranges and the countryside of Hamadan.

Furthermore, he was also deprived of money, which made him commit theft—told by John R. Perry, in summary, as follows:"He used later to tell how, as a poor cavalryman in Nader's employ, he once stole a gold-embossed saddle belonging to an Afghan officer from outside a saddler's shop, where it had been left for repair.

The saddler's wife was the first to discover; she fell on her knees, calling down blessings on the unknown thief who had a change of heart, praying that he might live to own a hundred such saddles.

"[5] Nader Shah was later murdered in 1747 at the hands of his own men, which gave the Zands under Karim Khan the opportunity to return to their former lands in western Iran.

[6] In May 1750, they stormed the gates of Isfahan—its governor Abu'l-Fath Khan Bakhtiari and other prominent residents assembled to protect the fortress of the city, but agreed to surrender and collaborate with them after Ali Mardan's reasonable proposals.

[6] Ali Mardan then took the title of Vakil-e daulat ("deputy of the state")[7] as the head of the administration, while Abu'l-Fath maintained his post as governor of Isfahan, and Karim Khan was appointed commander (sardar) of the army, and was given the task of conquering the rest of Iran.

However, a few months later, while Karim Khan was on an expedition in Kurdistan, Ali Mardan began breaking the terms which they had promised the inhabitants of Isfahan—he greatly increased his shakedown on the city, which New Julfa suffered the most from.

[9] A year later, in early 1753, Ali Mardan together with a former Afsharid diplomat and a son of the former Safavid shah Tahmasp II (r. 1729–1732) had returned to Iran and began assembling an army in Luristan, and received the support of the Pashtun military leader Azad Khan Afghan.

[13] Suleiman Agha, who was the commander of the fort of Basra, resisted Sadeq Khan's forces with resolve, which made the latter establish an encirclement, which would last over a year.

Henry Moore, who belonged to the East India company, assaulted some of Sadeq Khan's stockpile boats, tried to block the Shatt al-Arab, and then departed to Bombay.

A few months later, in October, a group of ships from Oman gave supplies and military aid to Basra, which considerably lifted the morale of its forces.

However, their combined attack the next day occurred to be wavering—the Omani ships eventually chose to withdraw back to Muscat during winter, in order to avoid further losses.

In February 1775, before the announcement of the siege of Basra had approached Istanbul, and while the Zagros front was temporarily peaceful, the Ottoman ambassador, Vehbi Efendi, was sent to Shiraz.

When Hosayn Qoli Khan reached Damghan, he immediately began a fierce conflict with the Develu and other tribes to avenge his father's death.

He was not embarrassed of his modest descent, and never desired to attempt to pursue a more distinguished lineage than that of the leader of a formerly little-known tribe that roamed in the Zagros ranges of western Iran.

[20] Karim Khan had modest preferences in clothes and furniture, having the tall yellow cashmere Zand turban on the top of his head, whilst sitting on an inexpensive carpet rather than a throne.

[20] During his reign, Karim Khan achieved in reviving an unexpected rate of considerable good fortune and harmony to a country that had suffered from impair and turmoil by his predecessors.

Although his integrity is considerably enlarged due to the cruelty and authoritarianism of Nader Shah and Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, his unusual mixture of vitality and ambition with rationality and goodwill created, for a short extent of time in a notably fierce and anarchic century, a balanced and virtuous state.

[23] In the words of John Malcolm, "The happy reign of this excellent prince, as contrasted with those who preceded and followed him, affords the historian of Persia that kind of mixed pleasure and repose, which a traveler enjoys on arriving in a beautiful and fertile valley during an arduous journey over barren and rugged wastes.

It is pleasing to recount the actions of a chief who, though born of an inferior rank, obtained power without crime, and who exercised it with a moderation that, for the times in which he lived, was as singular as his humanity and justice.

He was backed by a vizier and a chief revenue officer (mustaufī),[25] who, however, had minimal influence and authority, due to Karim Khan's practice of rigidly handling the political affairs by himself.

Governorship of provinces went for the most part to tribal chieftains from Fars and its surroundings—a minister who was experienced in the administration and the income of tax regularly escorted the governor.

[1] Karim Khan had the burial places of the prominent Muzaffarid ruler Shah Shoja (r. 1358–1384), and the celebrated Persian poets Hafez and Saadi renovated.

[1] Unlike the Safavids, Karim Khan did not seek the approval of the ulama (clergy), who were "formerly the bulwarks of the shah's authority as viceroy of God and the Imams".