Tahmasp II
While he was stationed in Van, Köprülü was the commander of the Ottoman forces during parts of the campaigns of the ongoing Ottoman-Hotaki War of 1722–27. In 1723, the Safavid Shah Tahmasp II of Iran made an agreement with the Russians, ceding major parts in the Caucasus and the Caspian littoral to the latter. Since this was against Ottoman interests in the region, an army under Köprülü was dispatched and had easily taken Nahçıvan, Merend, Ardabil, Tabriz, and Karabagh. Köprülü became the governor of the new (but short-lived) eyalet of Tabriz in 1724/25.