Regions of Iran


has been divided into regions in a number of different ways historically. It has been divided into five administrative regions since 2014.

Current administrative regions

Iran's thirty-one provinces were grouped into five regions on 22 June 2014, based on a decision of Ministry of Interior. In this change, the adjacency, geographical location and similarities of the provinces were considered.
The Constitution of Iran does not provide for regions and they are not the constituent units of the country but exist purely for the convenience of governmental administration.
According to Javad Naserian, Ministry of Interior's Management Development and Human Resources Vice-Minister, the purpose of this grouping of provinces was the creation of synergy, transfer of experience, information exchange, and regional development. Also, it now provides an intermediate level where provinces can discuss their problems among themselves, instead of going immediately to Tehran.
The intention was for each region to have regularly scheduled meetings of the constituent provinces' Governors-general, rotating the meeting place through the provincial capitals. The host province would provide the chairman of each meeting.
A regional secretariat would be established in the capital city of the main province of each region, with a coordinating bureau in the Ministry of Interior headquarters in Tehran.

Historical regions

In 1937 the territory of Iran was divided into 10 administrative regions:,,, etc. For example, or "Seventh Province" corresponded to present-day Fars Province per the "Territorial Subdivision Act of 1316 Š./1937."
Histories, travel books and economic analyses often refer to less formal, more historical or geographical, Iranian regions. The borders of these are not fixed and often have changed over time, and even overlapped at the same time.