Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar

Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar, also spelled Muhammad Hassan (1715-1759), chief of the Qoyunlu branch of the Qajar tribe of Turkomans in the Caspian coastlands around Astarabad, was the son of Fath-Ali Khan Qajar and the father of Hossein Qoli Khan Qajar and Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who founded the Qajar dynasty of Iran. Mohammad Hasan Khan was an Iranian politician and military commander who fought several Iranian dynasties and tribes, including the Afsharids, Devellu Qajars, Zands, and Afghans, and captured and used the Safavid puppet king, Ismail III, to rule over all Iran. By 1757, he conquered several Iranian territories, such as Gorgan, Mazandaran, Gilan, Isfahan, Urmia, and Tabriz, and minted gold coins in his name in Isfahan and Tabriz. Due to the treachery of his own subjects and advantages of his rivals, Mohammad Hasan Khan lost all the conquered territories. Finally, he was killed in the battle of Astarabad in Mazandaran.