'Shahrokh Shah Afshar' (
Persian: شاهرخ, c. 1730 -
1796) was a king of
Afsharid dynasty and a contemporary of Zand kings. He reigned until
1796.
As the teenage son of Reza Gholi Mirza and
Nader Shah's grandson, he was elected by the nobels following the assassination of
Ebrahim Afshar. His fourth son,
Nadir Mirza of Khorasan, became the prince of Khorasan. He made
Mashhad the capital of his kingdom. Shahrokh was a contemporary of Mirza Mohammad, who claimed to be
Soleyman III of
Safavid, son of shah
Soleyman I Safavi's daughter and a clergy man. Encouraged by the nobles, he came to believe he was the true heir to the throne. Thus he captured and blinded
Shahrokh.
In
1749 During struggle to power, the son of Khanate of Tabriz,
Azad Khan Afghan began a campaign for independence, which rubbed the province of Atropatene (current Azerbaijan) off the Persian empire, while in the west the
Qajar tribe led by
Mohammad Hassan Khan took over the region of
Mazandaran.
In
1750 Soleyman III was captured and blinded by the followers of Shahrokh, subsequent to which
Shahrokh was reinstated as Shah.
In
1760 when
Karim Khan took control of
Persia, he did not try to depose Shahrokh out of respect for
Nader, however, the realm of Shahrokh was reduced to the province of
Khorasan.
In
1796 Agha Muhammad Khan conquered
Khorasan and had Shahrokh tortured to death because he thought that he knew of
Nadir's treasures.