Peter Khan Zendran is the Khan-e-Mazendaran, a direct descendant of Gil Gilanshah. Peter II is an Iranian Royalist/Soltani Talab leader the first Iranian aristocrat to have his title recognized by the Islamic regime by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was made an honorary Sipah Salar in May 2005. He is a royalist who works tirelessly to prevent war against Iran, to promote Iranian culture, and is active in Iranian political and military affairs.
The title Khan-e-Mazendaran is one that stretches back centuries.
After the Muslim invasion of Iran and the murder of Yazdegird III the only part of Iran which remained free from Muslim rule was Mazendaran, which was ruled by the Sassanian Gil Gilanshah. Though the rulers of Mazendaran would eventually adopt Islam around 732, Mazendaran retained a strong degree of independence. During the Mongol invasion the rulers of Mazendaran intermarried with the Golden family of the Mongols ruled by Genghis Khan, changing their title form Shah to Khan. In the 15th century Mazendaran came under the control of Uzun Hasan, a descendant of Gil Gilanshah. After Uzun Hasan's death in 1478 his descendants fought for control. His great grandson Ismail founded the Safavid dynasty of Iran in 1501. Once branch of Uzun Hasan's descendants fled into the Ottoman empire, becoming vassals of the Ottoman Sultans. The other branch fled to the Crimea, and lived there as guests of the Crimean Khan, still retaining the title Khan-e-Mazendaran and adopting the surname Zendran which is a slavicized version of Mazendaran, that branch is the one from which Peter II is descended from. That branch was displaced form the Crimea when Potemkin conquered the Crimea for Russia, and they eventually fled to the Habsburg empire, being ennobled by the Austrian Kaiser Franz. After the Austrian Kaiser was deposed after the First World War that branch emigrated to America in 1924.
Peter II is the second member of the Zendran line born in America. He is a former state official in Rhode Island, having served on the Board of Directors of a State organization and worked as an advocate in that position. Though having not worked in any government positions in America since 2000 and turned down a scholarship to the US Naval Academy offered by Senator John Chafee in 1996, Peter II continues to consulted privately by Political, Military, Academic, and Business leaders. He has dealt with military personnel from Iran, America, Russia, Germany, India, Great Britain, Denmark, Indonesia, Norway, Canada, Brazil. He has an extensive Archive of rare literature and books, numismatica, and artwork.
Peter II is also an accomplished author and scholar, being a former visiting fellow at the Middle East Studies department at brown university's watson institute for international studies from 2003-2008. He has spoken at Harvard, MIT, and Johnson and Wales University. He is the author of "Iran; The Lion of War" which is the first book to chronicle and alanyze Iranian military history from Kurush to the Iranian revolution, of "Victimization of the Farsi, Arab, Turanian, and Central and Western Asian Peoples", is Editorial Contributor Emeritus of Persianmirror, and has appeared in numerous publications and has been in the news often. In 2011 Time Magazine included Peter II in it's Person of the Year list for his involvement in protests.
The title Khan-e-Mazendaran is one that stretches back centuries.
After the Muslim invasion of Iran and the murder of Yazdegird III the only part of Iran which remained free from Muslim rule was Mazendaran, which was ruled by the Sassanian Gil Gilanshah. Though the rulers of Mazendaran would eventually adopt Islam around 732, Mazendaran retained a strong degree of independence. During the Mongol invasion the rulers of Mazendaran intermarried with the Golden family of the Mongols ruled by Genghis Khan, changing their title form Shah to Khan. In the 15th century Mazendaran came under the control of Uzun Hasan, a descendant of Gil Gilanshah. After Uzun Hasan's death in 1478 his descendants fought for control. His great grandson Ismail founded the Safavid dynasty of Iran in 1501. Once branch of Uzun Hasan's descendants fled into the Ottoman empire, becoming vassals of the Ottoman Sultans. The other branch fled to the Crimea, and lived there as guests of the Crimean Khan, still retaining the title Khan-e-Mazendaran and adopting the surname Zendran which is a slavicized version of Mazendaran, that branch is the one from which Peter II is descended from. That branch was displaced form the Crimea when Potemkin conquered the Crimea for Russia, and they eventually fled to the Habsburg empire, being ennobled by the Austrian Kaiser Franz. After the Austrian Kaiser was deposed after the First World War that branch emigrated to America in 1924.
Peter II is the second member of the Zendran line born in America. He is a former state official in Rhode Island, having served on the Board of Directors of a State organization and worked as an advocate in that position. Though having not worked in any government positions in America since 2000 and turned down a scholarship to the US Naval Academy offered by Senator John Chafee in 1996, Peter II continues to consulted privately by Political, Military, Academic, and Business leaders. He has dealt with military personnel from Iran, America, Russia, Germany, India, Great Britain, Denmark, Indonesia, Norway, Canada, Brazil. He has an extensive Archive of rare literature and books, numismatica, and artwork.
Peter II is also an accomplished author and scholar, being a former visiting fellow at the Middle East Studies department at brown university's watson institute for international studies from 2003-2008. He has spoken at Harvard, MIT, and Johnson and Wales University. He is the author of "Iran; The Lion of War" which is the first book to chronicle and alanyze Iranian military history from Kurush to the Iranian revolution, of "Victimization of the Farsi, Arab, Turanian, and Central and Western Asian Peoples", is Editorial Contributor Emeritus of Persianmirror, and has appeared in numerous publications and has been in the news often. In 2011 Time Magazine included Peter II in it's Person of the Year list for his involvement in protests.
