However, the Persian government managed to install Sultan Ahmad Khan as the puppet ruler of Herat prior to the ratification of the peace treaty with Britain.

[3] Faced with mounting British threats to break diplomatic relations and occupy Kharg island as they did during the 1837 campaign, the Persian army withdrew from Herat in January 1852.

[6] Of note among his characteristics, Soltan Morad Mirza's anti-British sentiments supported his candidacy given Tehran's diplomatic fallout with London at the time.

[6] Thus, the Qajar Imperial Court decided that an army under Morad Mirza Hesam o-Saltaneh was to push forward with all speed to secure Herat and avoid its potential capture by Dost Mohammad Khan.

With this narrative, Tehran claimed that its actions were only in defense of its own institutions and the maintenance of its territorial integrity and that the army dispatched to Herat was to "rescue that Kingdom from the grasp of Dost Mohammad.

[2] Amanat references an irate letter from Chancellor (Sadr-e A'zam) Mirza Aqa Khan Nuri to Hesam o-Saltaneh, in which he berates the siege's slow progress despite an army of 15,000 at the general's disposal.

[12] Mohammad Yusuf ordered the commander of the fort at Ghurian, Ahmad Khan Qale-Kahi to avoid the bombardment and sortie to meet Hesam o-Saltaneh's incoming army at its encampment.

[16] In a letter to Hesam o-Saltaneh, Mohammad Yusuf Khan petitioned that he had been a long-time servant under the Qajar government and that his hesitation at welcoming the Persian army was due to the opposition of Herat's elders and clergy.

[18] In return, the ruler of Herat requested that the Persian army fall back sufficiently from the city's walls so that the prince could safely visit the Iranian general in person.

[20] In a desperate attempt to alleviate mounting pressures from both east and west, Mohammad Yusuf Khan declared Herat a vassal of the United Kingdom and hoisted the British flag.

[22] Under this narrative, Mohammad Yusuf was coerced into confession before the Shah, who promptly ordered his beheading, but Nuri interceded and managed to reduce the sentence to imprisonment.

The Shah was growing increasingly restless, but Chancellor Nuri convinced his highness of the arduous conditions Hesam o-Saltaneh dealt with on the front lines.

[19] To motivate a breakthrough, the Shah threatened Hesam o-Saltaneh with a criminal charge and the personal reimbursement of the expeditionary budget if Herat did not fall within a certain number of days.

[9] Between the start of the siege and the final breakthrough into the citadel of Herat, the Qajar administration in Tehran dispatched several divisions of reinforcements to join Hesam ol-Saltaneh's expeditionary force.

[28] Inside the city, Amir Abbas Herati, a prominent courtier whose loyalties lay with the Qajar government, made a covert visit to the Persian camp.

[29] Under the orders of Sartip Heidar Qoli Khan and Mirza Hossein, the Mostofi of Herat, Amir Abbas was to deliver news that a coalition of the city's Shia and Farsi-speaking population planned to realize the Qajar army's entry.

The night of the coalition's information, Hossein Khan enforced the general's strict command that no regiment was to mobilize and that all soldiers should remain at their posts.

[31] While panic swept through some in the Qajar rank and file, Col. Abdol Ali Khan ordered his artillery to fire close-range shots at the charging Afghan infantry.

[31] Following the failed breach of Herat, the Persian general commissioned Alexandre Boehler to lead the army's engineers in digging a network of tunnels and fracturing the city's walls.

[32] Boehler ordered the creation of several explosive mortar shells, which the Persian artillery fired at strategic Afghan defensive positions.

To avoid further bloodshed and raise the prospects of a peaceful occupation, Hesam o-Saltaneh agreed to the terms and prepared to withdraw his army back to Ghurian.

[35] Once the battle within Herat's walls drew to a close, Hesam o-Saltaneh dispatched infantry squads to climb above the city's towers and broadcast the message: “nasr men Allah va fath qarib “(victory from God and the conquest is nigh).

A ceremonial procession was held there, and the Herati nobles loyal to the Qajar dynasty paid respects to Hesam o-Saltaneh, who assured them of the Shah's praises.

When Herat fell on the 11th of Safar, prior to receiving the Chronicles of the Conquest (Fathnameh), false rumors of Hesam o-Saltaneh's death spread across Tehran from an uncertain source.

[37] Najmi states that Hasan Beig, the official treasurer of the Persian army, was dispatched to deliver the Chronicles of the Conquest to the Qajar Court.

[37] In the margin of a Persian translation of Louis de Bourrienne's Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Shah wrote: “Thanks to Murtaza 'Ali's blessings, peace be upon him, this was a praiseworthy victory and the eyes of the enemy, particularly the British, turned blind [with jealousy].

He instructed Farrokh Khan not to succumb to excessive British demands and assured him that the Qajar army can successively capture Qandahar, Kabul, and push into Punjab with “no grave hassle.”[38] Despite the rambunctious reaction to Herat's conquest from the Persian court, Tehran's strategy remained the same as before.

[40] Naser al-din Shah did not interpret the message as London intended and was rather inclined that Britain would concede more favorable concessions should the Persian army appear unwavering at Herat.

[41] This ultimatum reached Tehran by 19 November, bringing much anxiety to the Qajar court as it outlined that an expedition had been dispatched to the Persian Gulf to await orders for an invasion should Iran provoke further retaliation.

[42] Muhammad Najaf had predicted the Indian Mutiny, and while the Shah found his suggestion compelling, the British declaration of war constrained his capacity to test such a prospect.