FREEMASONRY
v. IN EXILE
The Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile). Many master Masons managed to leave the country legally or illegally and emigrated to Europe, Canada, and the United States. In November 1982 seventeen past masters of Persian lodges sent a petition to Šarīf-Emāmī seeking permission to continue their fraternity as members of the Grand Lodge of Iran. The request was accepted, and the meeting of the Grand Committee of the Lodge was convened on 22 December at the Temple of the Grand Lodge of New York. Šarīf-Emāmī appointed Ḥosayn Daftarīān, his close confidant and grand secretary of the Grand Lodge, as the deputy grand master. On 1 April 1983 Šarīf-Emāmī installed Daftarīān as grand master of the Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile). Bāqer Hayʾat, was also installed as the Senior Grand Warden.
In order to resume its activities, the Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile) needed to be sponsored by a Grand Lodge in the United States. On 26th of March 1985, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts granted approval to the Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile) to conduct Masonic activities in the city of Boston. A year later, three lodges, of Mowlavi No. 2, Hafez No. 8, and Hatef No. 33 were established with some 120 members, and regular meetings were held in the Temple of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in Boston. The first meeting of the Grand Lodge of Iran (in-Exile) was convened on 3 May 1986 with Daftaṟīān seated on the pedestal of the grand master in the Boston Temple. In 1992 Moḥammad-Ḥasan Mošīrī was elected as the grand master, and in 1995 Moẓaffar Jandaqī succeeded him and was reelected in 1998. In 1995 Lodge Toos (Ṭūs) No. 35 was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile; Boettjer, p. 26; personal interviews; and the relevant files in the archives of the Grand Lodges of New York and Massachusetts in Boston). The Supreme Council for Iran in-Exile. On 3 July 1988, the Supreme Council for Iran (the Scottish Rite, granting 4th-33rd degrees) was officially reactivated in exile. It received a patent from the Supreme Council 33rd of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction (Boettjer, p. 28). Other Masonic Lodges. Bāqer Hayʾat, who was deputy grand master and a candidate in the 1992 election of the Grand Lodge of Iran (in Exile) left the Grand Lodge with a number of members after the election. They pursued their Masonic activities in Mehr Lodge No. 90, a Persian speaking lodge in Washington, D.C. which had been chartered by the Grand Lodge of District of Columbia in 1990. Also practicing under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia are the Lodge La France, which was chartered in 1992, working in French, and Hayastan Lodge No. 94, working in Armenian (personal interview; and Archive of the Grand Lodge of District of Columbia).
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