in June 1963. People were demonstrating peacefully but the Shah had ordered troops to shoot and kill. The council of elite statesmen were: Ala himself, Abdollah Entezam, General Morteza Yazdanpanah, & Sardar Fakher Hekmat. After the four officials carried their foreboding to His Majesty, it was reported that the Shah was infuriated. Ala was relieved of his duties as minister of court, Yazdanpanah was dropped from the inspectorate, Hekmat was forbidden to campaign for the parliament & Entezam was retired from the National Iranian Oil Company and sent 'home'. Entezam then set up an ironmongery workshop from which he earned his living for the next 15 years. In 1978 the Shah realising his mistake begged him to return and accept the post of Prime Minister but it was too late. Entezam was too old and a revolution was well under way. There was nothing Entezam could do to dissuade the striking oil workers, despite the warm welcome that he received at the now in-turmoil oil company. p944 Raz e Bozorg. He advised the Shah to remain in the country and not flee to the West. Once again his advice was not heeded. Patronage and freemasonry According to Abbas Milani's book The Persian Sphinx, he was the mentor of the Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveida who referred to him as arbab (the boss). Milani said in The Persian Sphinx (page 115): "In the mid-1950s when the Shah began to demand absolute obedience from all those around him, and as a token of this submission expected everyone to kiss the royal hand at each audience, Entezam was one of very few people in government who refused to comply." He was also a Freemason, and in 1960, apparently at his behest, Hoveida (spelt Hoveyda by Milani) joined the Foroughi Lodge, newly created in 1960 with Entezam as its grand master. In Ismail Raeen's (also spelt Ra'in) book on Freemasonry in Iran, Faramooshkhaneh va Faramasonery dar Iran Vol3, p505, Hoveida is listed as a Freemason and Entezam as the grand master of the Independent Grand Lodge of Iran. In Religion and politics in modern Iran : a reader, Lloyd V J Ridgeon on p. 150 states that "several Masonic Iranian Lodges connected to the United Grand Lodges of Germany operated from the premises of the Safi Ali Shahi Brotherhood Society in Tehran and Entezam had been a founder member in Tehran since 1960 of one