The Republic of Mahabad, also referred to as the Republic of Kurdistan[5][6][7][8] (Kurdish: کۆماری کوردستان, romanized: Komara Kurdistanê; Persian: جمهوری مهاباد, romanized: Jumhuriye Mahâbâd), was a short-lived Kurdish self-governing unrecognized state in present-day Iran,[9][10] from 22 January to 15 December 1946.

The state encompassed a small territory, including Mahabad and the adjacent cities of Bukan, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr and Naghadeh.

[13] In the town of Mahabad, inhabited mostly by Kurds, a committee of middle-class people supported by tribal chiefs took over the local administration.

[14] In 1946 UNSC passed resolutions 2, 3 and 5, urging and eventually facilitating the removal of Soviet forces still occupying Iran.

However, the Republic's close relationship with the USSR alienated it from most Western powers, causing them to side with Iran's central government.

He portrayed this notion as a lie fabricated by the Iranian military authorities, and added that his ideals differed greatly from those of the Soviets.

[17][need quotation to verify] Contemporaries – both friends and foes – tended to exaggerate the Soviet role in the Republic of Mahabad.

While Kurdish nationalist leaders Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and Jalal Talabani stressed Soviet friendship and support, others like Robert Rossow, Jr., the American chargé d'affaires in neighboring Azerbaijan, and historian William Linn Westermann branded the republic a Soviet puppet state.

They encouraged Qazi's administration by practical benevolent operations such as providing motor transport, keeping out the Iranian army, and buying the whole of the tobacco crop.

On 26 March 1946, due to pressure from Western powers including the United States, the Soviets promised the Iranian government that they would pull out of northwestern Iran.

On 5 December 1946, the war council told Qazi Muhammad that they would fight and resist the Iranian army if they tried to enter the region.

Roosevelt later recounted that the order to have the Qazis killed was likely issued "as soon as our ambassador had closed the door behind him," adding with regard to the Shah: "I never was one of his admirers.

The officers were condemned to death upon returning to Iraq and are today honored along with Qazi as heroes martyred for Kurdistan.