Persian officials such as Malkam Khan had begun in 1858 to suggest in essays that the weakness of the government and its inability to prevent foreign interference lies in failure to learn the arts of government, industry, science, and administration from the advanced states of Europe.

In 1871, with the encouragement of his new prime minister, Mirza Hosain Khan Moshir od Dowleh, the shah establishes a European-style cabinet with administrative responsibilities and a consultative council of senior princes and officials.

In 1872 he grants a concession for railroad construction and other economic projects to a Briton, Baron von Reuter, and visits Russia and Britain.

Opposition from bureaucratic factions hostile to the prime minister and from clerical leaders who fear foreign influence, however, force the shah to dismiss his prime minister and to cancel the concession.

Nevertheless, internal demand for reform is slowly growing.

Moreover, Britain, to which the shah turns for protection against Russian encroachment, continues to urge him to undertake reforms and open the country to foreign trade and enterprise as a means of strengthening the country.