Teimuraz I of Kakheti
Vakhtang V (Shahnawaz) followed the policy of his predecessor, managing to maintain a peaceful relationship with his Persian suzerains and to revive the economy of Kartli. Upon his accession, he made efforts to bring other Georgian polities under his control. In 1659, he had Zaal of the Aragvi, an anti-Persian rebel lord and virtual ruler of neighbouring Kakheti, assassinated and confiscated a large portion of his estates. Shahnawaz then intervened in bitter power struggles in western Georgia; he allied himself with the princes of Mingrelia, Guria, and Abkhazia, and put his son, Archil, on the throne of Imereti in 1661, but after the intervention of the Ottomans was to recall his son and to place him, with the shah’s permission, on the throne of Kakheti in 1664. In 1674, Erekle I, a grandson of the late king Teimuraz I of Kakheti, returned from exile in Russia to claim his succession. He was soon summoned to Iran by Shah Suleiman I. Archil thought that the shah would install Erekle as King of Kakheti and therefore attempted, though vainly, to seize the throne of Imereti. Unsuccessful in his efforts, he then fled, together with his brother, Luarsab, to Ahiska (Akhaltsikhe) in Ottoman territory. The shah reacted to this by ordering Shahnawaz to Isfahan. Shahnawaz left his son, George, to rule Kartli and himself began his journey to Persia. He died, however, on the road at Khoskaro, Ganja, in September 1675, and was buried in Qum, Iran.