Öljaitü,[a] also known as Mohammad-e Khodabandeh[b] (24 March 1282 – 16 December 1316), was the eighth Ilkhanid dynasty ruler from 1304 to 1316 in Tabriz, Iran.

Öljaitü was born to Arghun and his third wife, Keraite Christian Uruk Khatun on 24 March 1282 during his father's viceroyalty in Khorasan.

[1] Various c. Same source also mentions that it rained when he was born, and the delighted Mongols called him by the Mongolian name Öljeitu (Өлзийт), meaning auspicious.

[11] Rashid al-Din wrote that he adopted the name Oljeitu following Yuan emperor Öljeitu Temür enthroned in Dadu.

He undertook an expedition to Herat against the Kartid ruler Fakhr al-Din in 1306, but succeeded only briefly; his emir Danishmend was killed during the ambush.

It was a success thanks to combines forces of emirs like Sutai, Esen Qutluq, Irinjin, Sevinch, Chupan, Toghan and Mu'min.

Despite initial success, his commander-in-chief Qutluqshah was defeated and killed during the campaign, which paved way for Chupan to rise in ranks.

Despite Mar Yahballaha's best efforts to avert the impending doom, the citadel was at last taken after a siege by Ilkhanate troops and Kurdish tribesmen on 1 July 1310, and all the defenders were massacred, including many of the Assyrian inhabitants of the lower town.

[17] An important change in administration happened in 1312 when Öljaitü's vizier Sa'd al-Din Savaji was arrested on charges of corruption and executed on 20 February 1312.

[11] After repelling Chagatai armies, he appointed his son Abu Sa'id to govern Khorasan and Mazandaran in 1315 with the Uyghur noble Amir Sevinch as his guardian.

Another descendant of Jochi Qasar, Baba Oghul arrived from Central Asia in the same year, pillaging Khwarazm on his way, causing much disturbance.

Upon protests from Golden Horde emissaries, Öljaitü had to execute Baba, claiming he was not informed of such unauthorized acts.

[15] Mamluk historian al-Safadi mentioned in his biographical dictionary Aʻyan al-ʻAsr that Oljeitu had once again became Sunni in the last few years before his death in the Ramadan of 716 AH.

In 1309, Öljeitu founded a Dar al-Sayyedah ("Sayyed's lodge") in Shiraz, Iran, and endowed it with an income of 10,000 Dinars a year.

[26] According to Marco Polo, Tabriz was specialized in the production of gold and silk, and Western merchants could purchase precious stones in quantities.

In April 1305, he sent a Mongol embassy led by Buscarello de Ghizolfi to the French king Philip IV of France,[27] Pope Clement V, and Edward I of England.

[30] Another embassy was sent to the West in 1307, led by Tommaso Ugi di Siena, an Italian described as Öljeitu's ildüchi ("Sword-bearer").

A memorandum drafted by the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers Guillaume de Villaret about military plans for a Crusade envisaged a Mongol invasion of Syria as a preliminary to a Western intervention (1307/8).

[34] Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II gave a daughter in marriage to Oljeitu and asked the Ilkhan's assistance against growing the power of the Ottomans.