While Adel Shah was battling his rebellious younger brother Ebrahim Mirza, a party of Turkic, Kurdish, and Arab tribal leaders took advantage of his absence and installed Shahrokh on the throne.

Both Adel Shah and Ebrahim were eventually defeated and killed, but Shahrokh was not long afterwards overthrown by a party of dissident tribal leaders, who installed the Safavid pretender Mir Sayyed Mohammad (who assumed the regnal name of Suleiman II) on the throne.

A group of conspirators led by the Turco-Mongol tribal leader Yusuf Ali Khan Jalayir eventually deposed Suleiman II and restored Shahrokh to the throne.

The name of "Shahrokh" (Persian: شاهرخ‎, "king-to-rook") was given to him by his grandfather Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747) in remembrance of the namesake son and heir of the Turco-Mongol ruler Timur (r. 1370–1405).

The news reached the court in Isfahan on the day of Nowruz (Iranian New Year), with Nader Shah subsequently appointing Shahrokh the ruler of the city of Herat.

[10] In Mashhad, its civil governor and superintendent of the Imam Reza Shrine, Mir Sayyed Mohammad drove the Afghans out of the city, securing it for Nader Shah's nephew Ali-qoli Khan, who may have had a hand in his uncle's murder.

On 6 July 1747, Ali-qoli Khan ascended the throne and assumed the regnal name of Soltan Ali Adel Shah.

[15] Preferring to revel in Mashhad, Adel Shah appointed his younger brother Ebrahim Mirza as the governor of Isfahan and its surroundings.

[12][17] Soon thereafter, Ebrahim declared independence and joined forces with his cousin Amir Aslan Khan Afshar, the governor of Azerbaijan.

Contrary to Nader Shah, Shahrokh represented himself as an ardent champion of Twelver Shi'ism in his coins, seals, and documents.

Seeing no further progress in the negotiations, Ebrahim revealed his real agenda and went to the city of Tabriz in Azerbaijan, where he was crowned shah on 8 December 1748.

[21][17] Following the counsel of the tribal leaders, Shahrokh assigned Musa Khan Afshar Taromi with the task to defeat Ebrahim Shah.

Ebrahim Shah fled to the fortress of Qal'a-yi Qalapur, but was soon captured and given to Musa Khan Afshar Taromi, who had him blinded.

Shahrokh promised Behbud Khan to make him vakil (regent) in exchange for killing Mir Sayyed Mohammad.

Suleiman II, however, was against this and assigned the previous ishikaqasi bashi (chamberlain) Mohammad Reza Beg as the warden of the Chaharbagh palace where Shahrokh was imprisoned.

[24] Suleiman II soon started to grow unpopular amongst his subjects; he was in conflict with many tribal leaders due to the deposal of Shahrokh and wealthy landowners were discontent with a decree that exempted the people from taxation for three years.

Shortly after the restoration of Shahrokh to the throne, Ahmad Shah Durrani launched an invasion into Khorasan and captured Herat after a siege lasting several months.

The bitter cold wreaked havoc among his men and the resistance led by the governor Jafar Khan Bayat forced him to abandon the siege in early 1751.

[26] After Ahmad Shah Durrani's death in 1772, Shahrokh had become a pawn of the chieftains who had taken control of the surrounding cities and towns of the Afsharid capital of Mashhad.

Agha Mohammad Shah, ruthless and revengeful, and with a desire for treasures, disbelieved him, and had him tortured severely to confess the hidden locations of the last gems passed down to him from his grandfather, Nader.