Hotaki forces under Mahmud Hotak took and sacked Kerman, signaling the beginning of a wider Afghan push into Safavid Iran during a period of Safavid political and military fragility.
Mahmud Hotak’s army defeated the larger Safavid field army near Isfahan, clearing the way for the Afghan advance on the Safavid capital and accelerating the collapse of central Safavid authority.
Following Gulnabad, Hotaki forces blockaded Isfahan. Lacking heavy siege equipment, they relied on starvation and isolation of the city, setting up a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe.
After months of starvation and breakdown inside the capital, Isfahan capitulated. Sultan Husayn abdicated, and Mahmud Hotak entered the city, marking the effective end of Safavid control over the capital.
As Isfahan’s position deteriorated, Sultan Husayn’s son Tahmasp proclaimed himself shah to rally Safavid loyalists and continue resistance from outside Afghan-held Isfahan.
Mahmud Hotak moved against Safavid forces in the north and took Qazvin, tightening Afghan control and pressuring Tahmasp II’s attempt to organize a counter-state.
As Safavid power collapsed and Afghan rule remained contested, the Ottoman and Russian empires concluded an agreement to divide large portions of Safavid territory between themselves, formalizing foreign occupation pressures on Iran.
Mahmud Hotak died amid a palace coup in Isfahan, and his cousin Ashraf Hotak assumed leadership, inheriting a violent occupation and deep Iranian hostility as well as growing Ottoman and Safavid challenges.
Nader (later Nader Shah) attached his forces to Tahmasp II and began rebuilding a field army capable of challenging Afghan occupiers and foreign encroachment, shifting the military balance against the Hotaks.
After fighting with the Ottoman Empire, Ashraf Hotak concluded the Treaty of Hamedan. The treaty accepted Ottoman annexations in western Iran while the Ottomans recognized Ashraf as ruler—trading territorial loss for diplomatic legitimacy.
Nader’s army inflicted a major defeat on Ashraf Hotak near Damghan (Mihmandoost), breaking Afghan momentum and opening the road toward central Iran and the recovery of the Safavid capital region.
During his retreat after Damghan, Ashraf attempted to halt Nader with an ambush at Khwar Pass; the failure of this attempt further destabilized Afghan control and hastened the fight for Isfahan.
Nader defeated Ashraf’s forces at Murche-Khort north of Isfahan. The result enabled the end of Hotaki control of the Safavid capital and reestablished a Safavid presence there under Tahmasp II’s claim, with real power increasingly concentrated in Nader’s hands.
Fall of the Safavid State and the Afghan Invasion (1720–1729)
