He was soon conscripted into the army but returned to diplomacy in the post-war years, with assignments in France and Germany. By 1949, he had been appointed secretary to the Foreign Minister and later served with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. His international career culminated with a brief posting in Turkey, before he was summoned back to Iran.
Upon his return, Hoveida joined the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which was emerging as a critical institution in Iran’s economic landscape. His time at NIOC was instrumental in developing the administrative acumen and economic understanding that would define his later career. Rising to the board of directors by 1958, Hoveida developed a reputation as a competent, reliable administrator—precisely the kind of figure the Shah would later come to rely upon for managing Iran’s rapidly changing society.
In 1963, Hoveida was appointed Minister of Finance, and a year later, following the assassination of Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansour by an Islamic fundamentalist from the Fedayeen-e-Islam, he was named Prime Minister. Hoveida’s rise to the top of the Iranian political hierarchy was sudden, but he quickly became one of the most influential figures in the Pahlavi regime. His administration would oversee dramatic expansions in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and industrial development.
Yet Hoveida’s style of governance—technocratic, centralized, and bureaucratic—was both a strength and a liability. While it enabled efficient planning and implementation of projects like the expansion of state-sponsored retail networks, it also distanced the government from public opinion and popular needs. The city and village stores were designed to bridge this gap, serving as tangible proof that modernization could benefit everyone, not just the elite.