Habibollah II was driven from the throne by Mohammad Nader Khan and his brothers, distant cousins of Amanollah. On Oct. 10, 1929, Habibollah II was executed along with 17 of his followers. A tribal assembly elected Nader Khan as shah, and the opposition was bloodily persecuted.

Nader Shah produced a new constitution in 1931 that was modeled on Amanollah's constitution of 1923 but was more conservatively oriented to appease Islamic religious leaders. The national economy developed in the 1930s under the leadership of several entrepreneurs who began small-scale industrial projects. Nader Shah was assassinated on Nov. 8, 1933, and the 19-year-old crown prince, Zahir, succeeded his father.