Adel Shah in the context of "Afsharid Iran"

Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (Persian: آقامحمدخان قاجار, romanized: Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (آقامحمد شاه), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, ruling as Shah from 1789 to 1797. Originally a chieftain of the Quwanlu branch of the Qajar tribe, Agha Mohammad Khan was enthroned as the king of Iran in 1789 and crowned shāhanshāh (“King of Kings”) in 1796, after leading the Unification of Iran (1779–1796). Agha Mohammad Khan is often renowned as a "shrewd and relentless" leader whose "iron will" and military campaigns were pivotal in the establishment of present-day Iran.

Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was castrated as a toddler upon his capture by Adel Shah Afshar and hence was childless. He was assassinated on 17 June 1797, and was succeeded by his nephew, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar.

Shahrokh Mirza (Persian: شاهرخ‌میرزا‎; 1734–1796), better known by his dynastic title of Shahrokh Shah (شاهرخ‌ شاه‎), was the Afsharid king (shah) of the western part of Khorasan (corresponding to the present-day Khorasan Province) from 1748 to 1796, with a two-month interruption.A grandson of the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), Shahrokh was the son of Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar and his Safavid wife Fatemeh Soltan Begom, who was the sister of Tahmasp II, the penultimate Safavid shah of Iran. Shahrokh's half-Safavid descent made him stand out amongst his Afsharid relatives and was used to bolster the legitimacy of his grandfather. After the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747, his nephew Ali-qoli Khan (who assumed the regnal name Adel Shah), ascended the throne in Mashhad and had all of Nader Shah's descendants in fortress of Kalat massacred. Shahrokh was spared in case his Safavid lineage would come of use and was instead kept in the fortress as a prisoner. While Adel Shah was battling his rebellious younger brother Ebrahim Mirza, a party of Turkic, Kurdish, and Arab tribal leaders took advantage of his absence and installed Shahrokh on the throne. Both Adel Shah and Ebrahim were eventually defeated and killed, but Shahrokh was not long afterwards overthrown by a party of dissident tribal leaders, who installed the Safavid pretender Mir Sayyed Mohammad (who assumed the regnal name of Suleiman II) on the throne. Shahrokh was soon blinded at the instigation of Mir Alam Khan Khuzayma and other leading nobles, much against Suleiman II's will.

A group of conspirators led by the Turco-Mongol tribal leader Yusuf Ali Khan Jalayir eventually deposed Suleiman II and restored Shahrokh to the throne.

After Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747, his nephew Ali Qoli (who may have been involved in the assassination plot) seized the throne and proclaimed himself Adel Shah (meaning: The Just King). He ordered the execution of all of Nader's sons and grandsons, with the exception of the 13-year-old Shahrokh, the son of Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar.

Meanwhile, Nader's former treasurer, Ahmad Shah Abdali, had declared his independence by founding the Durrani Empire. In the process, the eastern territories were lost and in the following decades became part of Afghanistan, the successor-state to the Durrani Empire. The Ottomans regained lost territories in Eastern Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The northern territories, Iran's most integral regions, had a different fate. Erekle II and Teimuraz II, who, in 1744, had been made the kings of Kakheti and Kartli respectively by Nader himself for their loyal service, capitalised on the eruption of instability, and declared de facto independence. Erekle II assumed control over Kartli after Teimuraz II's death, thus unifying the two as the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, becoming the first Georgian ruler in three centuries to preside over a politically unified eastern Georgia.

Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar (Persian: رضا قلی میرزا افشار; 1719–1747) was the eldest son of Nader Shah of Afsharid Iran. After his father's coronation in 1736, Reza Qoli, aged 17, became the Governor of the province of Khorasan. During his tenure, he subdued rebellious khans and marched up to Bukhara to put an end to the Khanate of Bukhara, his father's enemies. Before heading off to India, Nader Shah appointed Reza Qoli the regent of Iran. Reza Qoli ensured peace through harsh measures when collecting taxes and executed people for petty crimes. He had Tahmasp II and Abbas III, two pretenders to the throne, killed, which caused an uproar among the people. When Nader Shah returned from India, he dismissed Reza Qoli as regent, snubbing him for his actions during the regency.

Afterwards, Reza Qoli served as a commander in his father's army, but the relationship between the two had turned to bitterness. Reza Qoli, constantly humiliated by Nader, criticised his father, and Nader grew more distrusting of his son. Although he later regretted it, Nader blinded Reza Qoli after suspecting him to be behind an assassination attempt in 1742. Reza Qoli was confided in Kalat fortress until 1747, when he was executed by his cousin and the claimant to the throne, Adel Shah.

Ebrahim Shah (Persian: ابراهیم‌شاه; c. 1725 – after June/July 1749) was the Afsharid shah of parts of Iran from 1748 to 1749.

Born Mohammad-Ali c. 1725, he was the second son of Ebrahim Khan Afshar, the younger brother of the first Afsharid ruler Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747). In 1739, Mohammad-Ali adopted the name "Ebrahim Beg" following the death of his father during an expedition. In the 1740s, while serving as the sardar (military commander) of the Azerbaijan province, Ebrahim led a victorious campaign at Ardabil against Sam Mirza, a claimant to the Safavid throne. In 1747, Nader Shah was assassinated and succeeded by Ebrahim's elder brother Adel Shah.