Talk:Flag of Iran

Green of the flag
The changing of green color to blue is such a lie. It will never happen. The green color in flag is used as a symbol of wellness, and you can see how stupid the opposition is to think the government will change the flag!!!

And about the green color of the opposition, they used that first as a symbol of "seyyed" (arabic word meaning sir, used in Iran for people of the race of the prophet. This ranking, when comes into action, won't change anything seriously), because moosavi is "seyyed", but they forgot they weren't supposed to be friendly with religion. Iran government is very religious. Now the opposition has forgot that too.

Green means much to muslims and much much to Shias. Shia is the one loving prophet's race very much. The reason green is seyyeds' color is the same as it's shia's color. The government and it's followers are 99.99% muslims and are most of them Shias. You see how stupid is to consider green a color of opposition and, to think government will notice this wrong issue and change it's favorite color (which the reason of being it in the flag is different than these at all!!!) to blue!!!!!!!!!!

You know, much of people in the opposition were getting news from VOA and Presian BBC, and were thinking these channels spend much of money required for an equipped TV, for their sake!! Their understanding of the politics is less than a duck. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.242.208.175 (talk) 01:50, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

It is discussed in the Persian/Farsi version of this Wiki article ( which I also heard as a child growing up in Iran) that green relates to the landscape of Iran & rebirth, just like the "Sabzeh" in "Haft sin". I don't have any sources in English for this, however I can also see that Islamic claim doesn't provide a source neither. Does anybody have more information on this?--

yes i do since the reunification of iran under the safavid dynasty - the green represented islam under which the nation of iran was united by (as shown by their distinct "green" flags).

some sources to consider: http://flagspot.net/flags/ir.html http://www.worldflags101.com/i/iran-flag.aspx http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/article/Iran/About-the-Iran-Flag/106

74.12.99.155 (talk) 03:04, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Uncategorised discussions
The pre-revolution flag should include the lion with a sun.

Don't erase the relation with the Sikh symbol. The world must know the iranian flag is a masquerade of obscurantism.

If it's a sword, so where's the handle?!!! No sword is used in a flag without handle ever. It's even funny. Sikh has always the same thickness all over it, and the shape isn't so. I've heard nothing about a sword or anything cutting (like what you call sikh) in the flag ever.

White, before anything else is a symbol of Islam. Even the opposition agrees with this, because they removed the color as a symbol of removing Islam, carrying a green and red flag, shouting for "The Republic of Iran" instead of "The Islamic Republic of Iran". That happend after losing the presidency election, right after failing in making the government to accept the proofless idea of a corrupt election, when they rised against the islamic republic.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.242.208.175 (talk) 01:42, 30 May 2010 (UTC)


 * A mention of the similarity to the Khanda is probably appropriate, but an accusation of ignorance or any other insulting language is not. Please read about Wikipedia's NPOV philosophy. Dayv 22:16, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

It's not insulting to explain the facts. You can't tell someone "it's an muslim symbol" and show it to the entire world without showing your ignorance. Go learn arabic you'll understand the symbol is not meaning the word "Allah" in this language with maximum stylizing as possible.

Response: The symbol commonly is described by both Iranian/Islamic and Western authors and intellectuals as representing the sword of Islam (the central part of the symbol) and a stylised representation of the tulip (the flower of martyrdom). By making negative comments about the democratically elected government of the Islamic Republic of Iran you are providing a clear signal that you are an anti-government activist. My understanding of the symbol is that it is a representation of both a sword and the tulip. In regards to the symbol representing Allah in Arabic this is possible. I do not represent myself to be scholar of either Arabic, Iranian history, Iranian politics or any such related topics. I merely deleted a clearly bias representation. Wikipedia is designed to be neutral and your statement is clearly not. Clearly there a similaraties to the Sikh symbol however these are visual and not symbolic. By stating that "The world must know the iranian flag is a masquerade of obscurantism" you show several things: poor grasp of the English language and a desire to discredit the democratically supported revolution, democratically elected government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a desire to corrupt the knowledge bank of Wikipedia with your personal views.

"democratically elected government" ? mak me laugh. Hitler has been democratically elected too.

^Not sure who was discussing what, in the above. However, on the subject of all things 'Sikh', Sikh 'khanda' flag is a very recent invention (indeed, the Sikh does tend to appropriate and innovate in all matters) with no historical provenance whatsoever. The original Sikhs had no flag at all, and used simple coloured pennants sometimes with an image of a kattar (Hindu-style) dagger on it. This 'khanda' thing came into use by the Sikhs at the beginning of the 20th century at about the same time as the popular sikh reform movements (i.e. Singh Sabha, Bhasaurias, etc.) Where did they get it from? Most likely they drew it up from copying the Ad Chand (an ancient Hindu symbol that became widely popular in 18th-century India) mixed with the Sassanian Persian designs on coins and headgear. So that means they made it up. As for the suggestion that Ayatollah Khomeini was influenced by the 'khanda' which is an invented 1920s Sikh reformist design, the whole idea is too ridiculous to entertain. As for your tired habit of messing up Wikipedia pages with POVs: it's transparent who's doing this and why. I don't even have to offer a conspiracy theory, with your guys' track record. You people just make yourselves look bad with this ugly anti-Iran anti-Islam propaganda.--Zubedar (talk) 18:30, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

The khanda was not only adopted by Khomenie but so too was the spiritual aspect of sikhism, when the Khomenie first hit the limelight in 1979 a relation of his who was a sikh recognized his face in the papers, they lived in the city of Nawahshehr in Punjab, Khomenie called this family and told them on the phone that he did not recognize them or his past lineage, this is widely known amongst the sikhs. This is also widely known amongst iranian people who live in the balochi tribal areas of Iran, I suggest you talk to an iranian person from iran who has been brought up in that country, I have worked with iranians in LA and France, they have all confirmed this to me upon finding out that I am a sikh, I never evan had to initiate a conversation on the topic. Please try to look out of your revolution tinted glasses. Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.105.221.228 (talk) 18:12, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm creating a separate article for the Shirokhorshid flag
Shirokhorshid -- feel free to merge any information. -- Ķĩřβȳ ♥  Ťįɱé  Ø  06:46, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Hmmm. I don't know if we should have a full seperate article for the shir-o-khorshid flag. So much of the information is the same as in the present article. Perhaps a summary of what it is and a link to the Flag of Iran page... Any opinions? Tototom 18:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Where is the royal light blue flag?
Additionally, during the Pahlavi reign, a royal light blue Flag with a royal emblem (right) was developed for the sole purpose of representing the Pahlavi family.

This was in the article... but there was no accompanying flag to the right! -- Ķĩřβȳ ♥  Ťįɱé  Ø  07:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * This article needs major help --K a s h Talk 10:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * If you read through carefully you'll see that there are many more flags (other than the pahlavi blue) that are missing. There are also a couple of dynasties/periods that havn't been covered at all. Tototom 18:14, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

This article should focus only on the standard flag of Iran and of course the flag of Islamic Republic. Other flags need no focus here and should be moved to other articles. Khorshid 10:35, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think older flags are important too as they show the history of Iranian flags --K a s h Talk 10:37, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, this is true but for example, of what relevance is personal flag of Agha Mohammad Khan or any monarch here? They are not national flag of Iran, only of their dynasty or office. Mohammad Reza Shah also had his personal flag, but it does not belong here. We should focus on the history of the standard flag which is in reality an ancient symbol and then (as much as we might dislike) the current modificaiton of Islamic Republic flag. Khorshid 11:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't know the answer to your question sadly because I am not too knowledgable on the matter, there is a good book on the flags of Iran and their history which explains it all very well, I will try to get a copy some time --K a s h  Talk 11:54, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think that the current flag of Iran evolved over a number of dynasties - each adding their own little bit to the flag. Regardless of what we do with the article (split it or keep as one) I think it's important that we capture this evolution of the flag. My personal sentiment is to keep all the information about all the flags on one page (this one). Another important point is that 'national flags' didn't always exist in parallel to royal flags. At many times the royal and national flags were the same. Tototom 17:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * If that is true, that the personal flags of monarchs was the same as the national flag, then I agree with keeping it all here. But unfortunately like Kashk I am not well read on this subject. I think whatever is done it is important to provide just facts. Khorshid 23:16, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think if someone could find the book that Kashk mentioned perhaps there is also information there about Kurdish flag being derived from Iranian one. This is obvious to us but we need a good source so that others do not dispute or remove. Khorshid 23:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree. Perhaps we could glean some knowledge from Encyclopedia Iranica and or Britanica?

The light blue flag is at Imperial Iranian Flags - AnonMoos 06:24, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

About the straight sword flag
Persians never used straight swords. They used something between arabic and western swords. The sword are well shown in the game prince of persia 1. Furthermore a lion do not need a sword, lions have claws and teeth, they would be clumsy with a sword in their hand. Also as shown in the article, persian flag did not have a sword in the lions hand before islam. --Spahbod 19:26, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Response:- Whether its in his hand or not, the sword WAS in the flag. And also, its like saying "what's the point of red, its only a colour" when you say that a lion would be clumsy with a sword in their hand etc...its also a stupid thing to say when you dont know the meaning...

I just can't believe you're basing the sword on a PS2 GAME...*threatens to strangle*

^I guess the guy was only joking with his comments. However, it's important to point out that Persians did in fact use straight swords. The earliest swords of ancient Iran were straight. The deeply curved sword came into vogue in the middle ages. Although these curved swords became very popular, the straight sword continued to be used by Iranian warriors concurrently. --Zubedar (talk) 15:20, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Color variants
Something should be said about the fact that during the early 20th century, the flag sometimes appeared in kind of light or pastel colors. AnonMoos 06:26, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Sword confusion
Different historical periods were host to different sword designs, and the use of straight or curved swords should not be "politicized" by the ilk of exiled Iranian monarchists. During the Achaemenian and Parthian periods, both curved (cutlass-type) and straight-edged swords were in use. During the Sassanian period, the curved sword was used primarily as a hunting sword, and to accompany the "heavy-cavalry" style of the army, straight blades were used for military swords.

The Persian word for sword reveals the long history of curved swords in Iran (Persia). "Shamshīr" comes from the Middle Persian "shafshēr" which means "lion's tail" because swords were curved like the tail of a lion.

Calling a curved sword a tāzī (Arab) sword is inaccurate, highly racist, and ignorant of history. Medieval Arab armies used curved swords primarily because they provide a superior swing to straight-edged swords and did not require heavier, straight-edged blades used in late-medieval Europe where soldiers may have been more heavily armored.

I believe the image of the straight-edged, exiled Iranian monarchist flag has no historical significance and should be removed. The image with no sword has no relevance as it was never the flag of any Persian empire (the Achaemenian, Parthian, and Sassanian flags were very dissimilar). The sword was not added; the entire lion, sun, tri-colored flag was developed under the Qajar dynasty and did not exist in pre-Islamic or Islamic times prior. Nakhoda84 21:24, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

No the flag did not exist, but the symbol was there, please take a look at the mithra image in the article. -- Spahbod  ☼  21:44, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

One astranged depiction does not amount to a national symbol, and I would thank you not to delete my comments if you are adding your own. Arguably the straight sword flag should be removed as well since it is not and never was a flag of Iran. Please refer to the Persian language version of this article for a more academic and less politicized discourse on the flags of Iran. Nakhoda84 14:06, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I have marked this article un-neutral until whomever repeatedly places the straight sword flag stops. This is the article about the flags of Iran. It is a historical article. It is a neutral article. A flag of the lion and sword with a straight sword has been deemed inaccurate per the discussion by myself above. Furthermore, for such flags that have never been a legal flag in Iran at any time in history, a separate article should be created.

Those symbols made by private individuals such as a flag with a straight sword or no sword have no legality, historical precedent, or endorsement by the present or previous governments of Iran. They do not belong in an article about the historical flags of Iran. --Nakhoda84 19:48, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Colours representative of social classes
Hey. Well, I had a corse at the university with a title of "the history of old languages (of Iran)" or something like that where things like the origin of the name "Iran" and the flag were discussed since they were related. I remember that the same colours of our todays flag represented the different social classes of the society in the past: green standed for farmers' (dehghanan), white for the clerics' (mubedan), and red for craftmen's (san'atgaran). I do not remember any reference or sourse for this information, but perhaps some of you may have access to a library to check for its accuracy. Thanks a lot. --Nimak 13:53, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Old Persian Flag
Old Persian Flag.


 * to 1906 : http://worldstatesmen.org/irn_pers.gif
 * State Ensign(1906-1933) : http://www.fotw.net/images/i/ir~17s.gif
 * War Ensign (1906-1933) : http://www.fotw.net/images/i/ir~17w.gif

Additional flags can be found here:

--96.23.173.165 (talk) 02:09, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Ancient Persian Flags: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ir-pers.html
 * Current and historical flags: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ir-index.html
 * Persia (Iran): Pre-Islamic flags: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ir_preis.html
 * Pictorial History of Iranian Flags: http://iranpoliticsclub.net/flags/
 * Controversial Iranian Flag: http://persian-heritage.net/?p=7355

Plz Add my flag
I've uploaded a flag of iran from the before the islamic revolution. plz add it to the article. Oren neu dag 19:09, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Left-to-right image
The infobox says the flag should be flown right-side at mast, but the image shows the flag flying left-side at mast. Could a simple reversing of the image resolve this? --rannṗáirtí anaiṫnid (coṁrá) 10:38, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Wrong hex/pantone codes
I came here to grab some colours and it seems under Modern interpretation of colours they are mixed up. #138808 and 362C are greens, for example, but they're under red in the chart. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.80.175.250 (talk) 10:55, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Bakhtiar Flag
I added the flag that was briefly used under the Bakhtiar ministry. It is of historical importance. A neutral flag without emblem. Even today such flags are used culturally so to avoid political debate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kmehrabi (talk • contribs) 19:25, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Government Replacing Green with Blue
Recently at a Official Event Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the Government Produced Backdrop featured the Iranian Flag but with the Green Changed to a Light Blue, Also it should be noted since this appeared in Iranian State Media, Protesters have taken notice and started using this Version of the flag to represent the Government. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.31.160.206 (talk) 05:33, 7 February 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.31.181.125 (talk)
 * Actually that was a picture taken at the wrong angle and whoever thought of it as a replacement of green was too conspiratorial.     most probable scenario was that the light was reflected at the flag (which was on a shiny surface by the way) and the photographer took the picture and the camera caught it as a blue (when it was green), if this flag replacement of green with blue was associated with the government then they would often use that flag in rallies and other state/official occasions, whereas the blue in the flag was only seen in one picture and was exagerrated by some protestors.

Flag timeline?
Please refer to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Flag Template. Some clarification would be helpful about which flag variants ought to be used in Template:Country data Iran, used by flag, flagicon et. al. Thanks — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 17:25, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Original Research
The article is tagged as possibly having original research within it. Can anyone point out the offending section? WizOfOz (talk) 17:42, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Tri-Color design
Is there any source that backs the claim that Amir Kabir himself actually designed the tri-color flag? I have not seen any primary source material that would back such a claim. brilliancetime 05:18, 15 January 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kmehrabi (talk • contribs)

Something is wrong.
The corners in the white section are not like that in ANY of the flags seen in Iran. The ISIRI source also shows a flag without those strange-looking corners. From everything that I have seen (as well as on ISIRI), the Takbir goes all the way to the edges. Please fix this. It is humiliating, to be honest. 75.167.5.217 (talk) 15:54, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Standardized Lion and Sun
Dear Mattia, the official design of Lion and Sun is depicted on the file that I have put on the article. You can see some evidences here. Shfarshid (talk) 17:33, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Dear Shahin, I disagree your edit. Please pay attention to the in the late constitutional monarchy and the early islamic republic era. I hope you agree to undo it. The lion and sun design that you preferred is just a wikipedian design and does not look like any official design before 1979 revolution. Shfarshid (talk) 03:01, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Military flags of the Islamic Republic
The current Iranian military flags should be displayed on this page as well. I would've added a list of the military flags but the page is locked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sheikh25 (talk • contribs) 21:48, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 October 2022
hello - what you have listed here as the Alt-Flag (the one with the Lion) should infact be the main flag, because this is the real flag of Iran. Boonzadeh (talk) 12:38, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:03, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 October 2022
Change 

To  The flag is used by the groups opposing the peoples mojahedin of iran, not by them, you can also see their flags in their wikipedia page. 24.133.244.47 (talk) 01:50, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Semi-protection-unlocked.svg Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. MadGuy7023 (talk) 23:23, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 November 2022
Please remove red link to Derafsh Shahbaz as it is non-existent. Thank you. 143.44.165.14 (talk) 02:13, 1 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Semi-protection-unlocked.svg Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. MadGuy7023 (talk) 23:23, 2 November 2022 (UTC)

Opposition flag
I see that recently there has been some edit-warring over what should be "real" flag of Iran. Iran is a country, and the current government (i.e Islamic Republic of Iran) is universally recognized as representative of Iran by most UN-members; in fact, we don't list the Islamic Republic at List of states with limited recognition. If sufficient RS cover opposition flags, then these can be included in a section in the article, while the lead should display the flag of the universally recognized Iranian government.

I also want to point out that we should include all significant opposition flags, not just the Pahlavi flag. For example, recent Iranian protestors have chosen just the tricolor flag, without the lion and the sun in LA, in Berlin. Using the simple tricolor without the lion and the flag is especially popular with those in the Iranian opposition who oppose the Pahlavi monarchy (The Making of Exile Cultures p 133). Arash (singer) used a flag that uses as its emblem neither the lion and the sun, nor Allah, but simply "Iran" (The State of Resistance, p 101). Yet others inside Iran use Iran's "Islamic flag without the 'Allah' emblem at the center" (Contesting the Iranian Revolution, p 125) - this presumably means they retained takbir written 22 times on the flag. Some Iranian protestors (in Greece) even use the Kurdish flag.VR talk 00:22, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Flag colors meaning
All of the Greenish-white-Reddish national flags, adopted through the global Age of Revolutions broke in France in 18th century with the Age of Enlightenment introducing the concept of a united nation, and by the ideal of Modernity as opposed to previous monarchical Theocracy, mean to represent loyalty towards national unification of varying religious cultures under the unifying State power, or simply: constitutional cultural diversity.

For some reason though I noticed all similar pages (Mexico=Native and European, Ivory Coast=Islam and Christianity, Ireland=Catholicism and Protestantism, Niger=African and Islam, Italy=Catholicism and Orthodoxy, Tajikistan=Orthodoxy and Islam, India=Islam and Hinduism) portray a different image of the meaning behind these colors. 113.172.88.157 (talk) 06:39, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

And moreover, I believe national flags of Blue and Red instead, mean to represent exactly the Age of Revolutions and Enlightenment, Red and Blue meaning "revolutionary people's blood" through the "Enlightenment", respectively.

The following could explain Germany's flag too, for example: "conceding" Black as darkening after the Western (France) Enlightenment which prevailed over the millennial German Holy Roman empire, while Yellow and Red represent a delighting heritage.113.172.88.157 (talk) 07:31, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

As well, I believe all Greenish-yellow-Reddish (Ethiopia=Islam and Christianity) national flags must be following the same exact rule. 113.172.88.157 (talk) 16:57, 3 December 2022 (UTC)

"Sahrang" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sahrang&redirect=no Sahrang] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 06:13, 15 March 2024 (UTC)