The Luri tribal insurgency in Pahlavi Iran was a series of military campaigns against several Lur tribes by the Iranian army under Reza Shah, who was initially the Minister of War for the Qajar government and later established the Pahlavi government. The campaign brought the Lurs, who had traditionally been nomadic pastoralists outside the control of the Iranian government, under direct Iranian control.
Background Throughout Iranian history, the Lur regions were largely outside of Iranian government control and controlled by the local Lur tribes. Before 1900, the majority of Lurs were nomadic pastoralists.Religious Fundamentalism in the Middle East: A Cross-National, Inter-Faith, and Inter-Ethnic Analysis, Mansoor Moaddel, Stuart A. Karabenick, 2013, pp. 103, By 1907, Luristan was completely out of state control and under local tribes, such as the Baharvand, Biranvand, Chagani, Judaki, Papi, Qalavand, Sagvand, and Salsalah. Qajar authorities were not allowed to enter. Each tribe and its land were an autonomous polity and all social, legal and political problems were settled within the tribe. The tribes did not unite to form a confederacy, nor was there any organized separatist movement, as the Lurs did not have a concept of nation. The tribes were primarily interested in themselves, clashing with the Iranian state and rival tribes alike.Amanolahi, Sekandar. “Reza Shah and the Lurs: The Impact of the Modern State on Luristan.” Iran & the Caucasus, vol. 6, no. 1/2, 2002, pp. 199. There was historically never any nationalist or separatist movement among the Lurs like there was among the Kurds and Baloch. The main reason was that the Lurs were Shia Muslim, like the majority of Iran, and also lacked ethnic or tribal connections outside of Iran.Iran and the Challenge of Diversity: Islamic Fundamentalism, Aryanist Racism, and Democratic Struggles, Ailreza Asgharzadeh, 2007, pp. 18, .Iran: At War With History, John W Limbert, 1986, pp. 25, .Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf, 2014, pp. 311, .
According to Ervand Abrahamian, by the time the Anglo-Russian Convention was signed in 1907, Iran was largely lawless and there was a split between the government in Tehran which contributed to the chaos in Iran. The Bakhtiaris were rapidly gaining power and influence, which led to the Boyerahmadi, Qashqais, Arabs, Baloch, and Khamseh to form an alliance to curb the Bakhtiari growth. Meanwhile, the Kurdish tribes of Luristan stopped paying taxes and began looting and disrupting communication lines.Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, Princeton Studies on the Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982). Pp. 105-107 There were some Kurds in Luristan including the Lak tribes in the north and other Kurdish tribes in among the Feyli in Posht-e-Kuh.Minorsky, V. (1986). "Lur". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume V: Khe–Mahi. Leiden: E. J. Brill. . The Bakhtiaris also rapidly gained prominence across Iran in 1909 after declaring that they joined the Persian Constitutional Revolution, which went on from 1905 to 1911.Foran, John. “The Strengths and Weaknesses of Iran’s Populist Alliance: A Class Analysis of the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911.” Theory and Society, vol. 20, no. 6, 1991, pp. 807, 809. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/657604. The Bakhtiaris held many powerful positions, and the anti-Bakhtiari alliance began to view the Persian Constitutional Revolution as a cover for Bakhtiari domination. The anti-Bakhtiari alliance prepared an attack in which Sheikh Khazal would advance on Mohammerah, the Baluch on Kerman, Boyerahmadis on Bushehr, and the Qashqais and Khamseh on Shiraz. Even the clergy had turned against the Bakhtiaris. The Bakhtiaris retained their powerful positions as the anti-Bakhtiari alliance quickly dissolved due to tribal rivalries, with the Baluchis fighting among themselves, the Arabs of Sheikh Khazal losing their cohesion, the Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmadi failing to coordinate and not capturing any towns, and the Qashqais and Khamseh turning against each other in Shiraz.Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, Princeton Studies on the Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982). Pp. 107-108
In 1912, Salar-od-Dowleh, brother of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, attempted to seize the Qajar throne by recruiting tribal warriors from Kurds and Lurs. Although Salar-od-Dowleh was quickly defeated in Hamadan in May 1912, the revolt encouraged Kurds and Lurs to further rebel against the Iranian government, and their regions remained unstable, with control of cities very often shifting back and forth between the government and rebellious tribes. The weakness of the Iranian military was further exacerbated by the deployment of troops to fight Simko Shikak.Iran at War: 1500-1988, Kaveh Farrokh, 2011, pp. 256-257, According to Claudius Rich, the Kurdish Jaff tribe protected sections of all tribes of Iranian Kurdistan and Luristan.Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan, Martin van Bruinessen, 1992, pp. 124, ISBN .
History Immediately after becoming Minister of War in 1921, Reza Shah launched several campaigns against the Lur tribes, aiming to settle them, detribalize them, and bring them under direct state control. The 1920s and 1930s were full of conflict between the Lurs and the Iranian government. Among the campaigns of Reza Shah were separate campaigns against the tribes of Lorestan, the Bakhtiari tribes, and the Boyer-Ahmadi and Mamasani tribes.The Concept of Identity in Iran: Religion, National Disintegration, and Radicalism in Post-Revolutionary Iran, Reza Talebi, 2026, pp. 40, . Furthermore, the borderlands between the Lur tribes were historically dangerous and turbulent, as there were frequent clashes between the Luristani and Bakhtiari tribes,August 1941: The Anglo-Russian Occupation of Iran and Change of Shahs, Mohammad Gholi Majd, 2012, pp. 299, . and between the Bakhtiari and Kuhgilu tribes.Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan (RLE Iran D), Richard Tapper, 2012, pp. 353, . Unlike the Bakhtiari confederation which had an established hierarchal structure, the Lur tribes of Lorestan did not form a confederation and their leaders only exerted limited influence.
Luristan campaign By early March 1922, Iran was ready to confront the Kurdish rebels, first defeating the rebel leader Rasheed Khan in Ravansar in March 1923, afterwards he fled to Turkey, but was pardoned and returned to Iran where he revolted again in June 1923, and was defeated in April 1924. The Iranian army heavily relied on Rasheed Khan's Kurdish rivals to defeat him. As Simko rapidly grew his region, he boosted the morale of the Kurdish tribes, who increasingly accepted his authority. Simko called on the Lurs to join his revolt, and received Lur support. In addition to his main support base of the Shikak, Herki, Mamash, Mangur, Dehbokri, Piran, Zarza, Gewrik, Feyzullabegi, Pizhdar, and the smaller tribes around Baneh, Simko was supported by several Lur tribes as far as southern Luristan.Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan (RLE Iran D), Richard Tapper, 2012, pp. 388, The Clash of Empires and the Rise of Kurdish Proto-Nationalism, 1905–1926: Ismail Agha Simko and the Campaign for an Independent Kurdish State, Mehrdad Kia, 2023, pp. 199, The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran: Pastoral Nationalism, F. Koohi-Kamali, 2003, pp. 80, In summer 1922, when Simko declared an open revolt against Iran and captured Maragheh, the Lurs joined Simko and revolted in Luristan.The Kurdish Struggle, 1920-94, E. O'Ballance, 1996, pp. 17, Reza Shah initially was unable to suppress the Lurs due to the intensity of the war against Simko. In spring 1922, after weakening Simko, Reza Shah led a bloody campaign against the Lur tribes which supported Simko, and initially failed, although he subdued them by summer.British Documents on Foreign Affairs--reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: From the First to the Second World War. Series B, Turkey, Iran, and the Middle East, 1918-1939, Great Britain. Foreign Office. pp. 34. 1985. In 1924, Reza Shah had recruited Kurdish tribal irregulars to fight against Simko Shikak, and some of them were sent to fight the Vali of Posht-e-Kuh later the same year. A year earlier, Reza Shah had used the Kalhors to help fight the Lurs when he realized the difficulty of the campaign.A Modern History of the Kurds, David McDowall, 2007, pp. 223, Simko Shikak and the Vali of Posht-e-Kuh were both defeated and fled to Iraq."The Evolution of the Iran-Iraq Boundary", Lawrence G. Potter, pp. 70, in "The Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921", 2004, . However, in 1926, Simko had returned to Iran and revolted again as the Iranian army was busy suppressing another revolt by the Lurs. Simko was killed in 1930.Martin van Bruinessen, ‘A Kurdish Warlord on the Turkish-Persian Frontier in the Early Twentieth Century: Isma`il Agha Simko, pp. 21, in Touraj Atabaki (ed.), Iran and the First World War: Battleground of the Great Powers. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006, pp. 69-93.The Clash of Empires and the Rise of Kurdish Proto-Nationalism, 1905–1926: Ismail Agha Simko and the Campaign for an Independent Kurdish State, Mehrdad Kia, 2023, pp. 237, With the main defeat of Simko in 1922, the Iranian government consolidated control over Kurdistan, although sporadic revolts continued and some areas temporarily fell to Kurdish rebels from time to time until 1931 when it stabilized. By 1935, the Kurdistan Brigade of the Iranian army had upgraded to an entire division. When Simko was defeated in 1922, the pro-Simko Luri rebels were deported to other parts of Iran along with the Kurdish rebels.The Kurdish Struggle, 1920-94, E. O'Ballance, 1996, pp. 17,