Zahedi, playboy Iran ambassador to US under shah, dies at 93

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s flamboyant ambassador to Washington during the rule of the shah has died. Ardeshir Zahedi was 93. That’s according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and other Iranian outlets. The reports say he died on Thursday, with several outlets saying he had suffered from an illness. Zahedi charmed both Hollywood stars and politicians with his lavish parties until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. That stopped the parties at the embassy on Washington’s Massachusetts Avenue. Zahedi in recent years had criticized the pressure campaign launched by then-President Donald Trump. He had urged America and Iran to take steps to repair their relationship, damaged over 40 years of mutual distrust.