Career
Gharabaghi served as the gendarmerie commander until 1979. He was appointed chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces on 7 January 1979. His role was to support the Shah until the Shah left Iran, and then to support the civilian government the Shah left behind led by Prime Minister Bakhtiar.
However, after much strife on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere, on 11 February 1979 Gharabaghi, along with 22 other senior military leaders, withdrew support of Bakhtiar, thus tacitly supporting the revolutionary Islamic republic.
Works Gharabaghi published his account of the revolution in his books Haghayegh Darbareye Bohran-e Iran ("Facts About the Iran Crisis", 1983), and Che Shod Ke Chonan Shod? Gharabaghi died in Paris in 2000.