Background
Tondguyan was born on 22 March 1938.
Tondguyan was born on 22 March 1938.
University of Tehran.
He was involved in opposition movement against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1967 and was detained and interrogated by the SAVAK. During this period he met Mohammad Khatami. Tondguyan worked for various oil companies in Iran until the 1979 revolution. After the revolution, he was appointed deputy science minister.
In September 1980, he became oil minister in the cabinet of Mohammad Ali Rajai, replacing Ali Akbar Moinfar in the post.
Tondguyan was captured by the Iraqi forces on his tour to the fronts on the Abadan road in Khuzestan Province on 3 November 1980 at the initial phase of the Iran-Iraq war which lasted from 1980 to 1988. His deputy and a ministry official were also captured with him.
They were reportedly taken to Baghdad. In October 1990, the Iraqi officials stated that he committed suicide two years after his captivity.
Tondguyan"s body was delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the Iran government in 1991.
ICRC reported that he was died of torture after eleven years of detention in Iraqi prisons.