Talk:Pahlavi Iran

Standardized lion-and-sun

I'm told that at least since 1973, Iran used this version of the lion-and-sun symbol as the standard in passports, postage stamps, birth certificates, official documents in general, and yes, even in flags. Though I can't find any specific legislation laying out the proportions of the symbol, it appears to have indeed been the case that this was the standard, or at the very least the most common rendering of the symbol during the (late) Pahlavi era. With that taken into account, shouldn't we use this version of this flag for 1906-1979 (or at the very least 1973-1979) Iran? Pescavelho (talk) 09:43, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

I second this.

Though blazons generally allow for some wiggle-room in renditions, de-facto standards should be used when available.

I have not been able to definitely locate the origins of the current design, but as far as I can tell it is based on the [[commons:File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Pahlavi_dynasty.jpg|design on commemorative plates from 1971]. Many peapole popsang this year. Snpok (talk) 11:38, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Do not add this back to the article, as there is no specified variant for the pahlavi flag. 🗽Freedoxm🗽(talk • contribs) 05:12, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• ShahVaRohanioon1.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:52, 11 July 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 February 2026

KatumbalGang (talk) 06:15, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

So where is the "complete and specific description of the request"? There's no point in making an empty request. Please try again, with a request in the form ""please change X to Y". Bishonen | tålk 06:44, 10 February 2026 (UTC).

I'm sorry. This is my first try on an edit request. I didn't know how to do it. What I wanted to change is a typo I found.

| GDP_PPP_per_capita = US$3,844 ($23,568.06 as of 2023)

Here's my edit request:

| GDP_PPP_per_capita = US$3,844 KatumbalGang (talk) 11:10, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Can you explain why you think what is there now is wrong? meamemg (talk) 15:02, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

What I wanted to remove is the one that says "($23,568.06 as of 2023)" because there already a efn-ua that mentioned "23,568.06 (as of 2023)". Plus, on the efn-ua, I saw an error where there is no dollar sign after "23,568.06 (as of 2023)". But I guess there's no need to fix because Deacon made a new one and removed the old mention. KatumbalGang (talk) 12:40, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

 Not done, but Fixed –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 15:03, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Okay. Good enough. Thanks! KatumbalGang (talk) 12:35, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Official name

The introduction states "officially known as the Imperial State of Persia until 1935". I have never read this before, are we certain is it correct? I always thought it was officially just called The Imperial State of Iran. Firestar47 (talk) 11:15, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Flag Needs Changed

File:State flag of Iran (1964–1980).svg needs to be replaced with File:Flag of Iran with Official Lion and Sun emblem stylized 1970s.svg This article is about Iran 1925–1979. The file description of File:State flag of Iran (1964–1980).svg states "This design was never used before 1979 but since 2012 has become a widely used version." It is a modern creation and was not used historically. Myself and User:The Great Mule of Eupatoria both made such edits but were reverted by User:Tameful. That design may align with descriptions of the flag and similar to some flags in use, however this version can be seen in video and photo. The emblem used can also be seen on | passports as well. The user who created this version User:Shfarshid did excellent research here: User:Shfarshid/sandbox LoneShadow42 (talk) 01:12, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

at first I had left the other flag as I understood there was no official variant, however as I was looking through all of the historical flags in parades, interviews, logos it always showed the black outline with the specific lion design. The one currently on Iran is a modern interpretation often used by the diaspora and also monarchists. @Tameful please do revert the edit, the flag currently shown in the infobox did not exist during the Pahlavi era The Great Mule of Eupatoria (talk) 05:44, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Upon asking my father which grew up in iran, and reaching out to my grandparents which have access to internet at the moment, they didn’t recognize the flag. My Aunt, a heavy Pahlavi supporter hadn’t recognized the flag, despite owning nearly every variation. Allow me some time to further research and I’ll report back and if it is a known, proper used flag I’ll restore it. As of now, there are many variations of the lion and the sun with negative meaning. Tameful (talk) 06:56, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Smith 1975 p. 241 and Smith 1980, p. 106 show an official variant of the Lion and Sun used during the Pahlavi era, so I will likely vectorize that and upload it to Wikimedia Commons. However, as supported by those sources, in addition to Evans 1970 p. 106 and Barraclough 1978 p. 194, the use of the civil tricolor was most common in Iran, and so I would recommend adding that to the infobox of this article. Clapasaurus (talk) 15:28, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Upon looking into this more, and looking at all the Pahlavi-era passports in our home, this isn’t a flag that represents the Pahlavi-Era. The person mentioned in that photo, was a transitional government member that well obviously was with the Islamic Republic.

Please keep the flag as-is in the meantime, until I reach out to my professor for more information today. Tameful (talk) 07:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm unsure what you mean by "isn’t a flag that represents the Pahlavi-Era" see additional sources from the uploader of this version here: User:Shfarshid/sandbox#Modernist_stylized_design_of_the_1970s LoneShadow42 (talk) 18:22, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Agreed. Restored edit. Clapasaurus (talk) 20:13, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

maybe referring to the initial revert (the modern variant) which did not exist during the Pahlavi era The Great Mule of Eupatoria (talk) 11:30, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

The issue is that non-informed readers might not be familiar with this historical version. The Flag of Iran and Lion and Sun flag pages already use the modern standardised design. Not to mention that the 70s version was only used for 8 years and never even fully adopted by the government at that. We should prioritise historical accuracy as well as accessibility, and we already have the dual-flag template for that. I will be restoring the two flags and adding an explanatory footnote to explain context to readers. ConflictFan (talk) 23:02, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

Also we should note that the file for the 1970s flag is using the post-1979 IR colours and therefore isn't even historically accurate ConflictFan (talk) 23:07, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

I don't think the colors are wrong. See the vexillological book sources from the time period posted by User:Clapasaurus a few comments up. LoneShadow42 (talk) 02:42, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I see 👍 ConflictFan (talk) 15:09, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm not completely opposed to having both on the page, however, I feel this borders on WP:CIRCULAR. People are familiar with that version because of Wikipedia. I am reminded of this incident: | Incorrect Vatican Flag LoneShadow42 (talk) 02:50, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I personally don't think this issue concerns WP:CIRC, but I think the best approach is to provide as much context as possible. The 2012/modern design is a completely separate version and makes no claim on being the historical Lion and Sun flag design ConflictFan (talk) 15:11, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

I’m not opposed to the idea, considering the popularity of the 2012 design, but would the civil flag work better in its place? It was the flag most commonly seen throughout Pahlavi Iran. Regardless of the flag issue, I’d also like this article to be filled out more, as it’s currently lacking a lot of information! Clapasaurus (talk) 00:25, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

I don’t know much about this, but I just saw the article and I wanted to ask about this: I see a note that says the second flag was not actually used during the period/regime the article is about. So I don’t understand why the second flag (2012 one) is even there? I think that’s very strange. Sorry if I’m bringing my ignorance into this discussion. Slomo666 (talk) 12:26, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

We're keeping the 2012 one because that's the standard design used on Wikipedia. The 1972 flag was in use for only a few years and wasn't ever fully adopted in that time either. So there is no "true" historical flag we could put to represent Pahlavi Iran. As for the tricolour we could potentially add that too if precedent says we can add civil flags to state infoboxes ConflictFan (talk) 16:36, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

I don’t understand why “this is the standard used on Wikipedia” though? This seems, sorry for the harsh language, completely insane. How does this not conflict with everything Wikipedia stands for wrt WP:V and WP:NPOV?

The lack of explanation of why it is in the infobox, especially with the note that is currently placed there, imo make this a major issue. (To be clear, the note is not the issue, the issue is not acting in line with the content of the note)

I think there were earlier concerns raised about WP:CIRC, and I also think that with the lack of explanation on why this is here, we could be in extreme danger of that here, as this will be the first thing many people see when looking up things about the era/regime/state.

I hope I’m overreacting and there is a good explanation for this (apparent at least) graphic anachronism.

Happy editing,

Slomo666 (talk) 22:16, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

You certainly aren't wrong about the second flag being an anachronism, and I agree that it is inappropriate for accurately representing a historical state. The only reason it seems to be included is for recognizability, which is irrelevant compared to historical accuracy. Personally, I believe the one on top is sufficient for this article, as there is ample evidence that it was used in official government contexts at the time; flags, documents, passports, and so on, which is why it's still recognized by many in the Iranian diaspora.

Even so, I found a high quality, official standardized version of the Pahlavi-era flag that aligns with the flag books by Smith (1975) and Smith (1980), as well as the 1959 flag regulations established by the Imperial government. It appears to be hand-drawn, so if any graphic artists here are willing to clean it up and vectorize it, that would be great. We could then use it in the article to resolve any flag disputes.

Here’s Reza Pahlavi (likely in the late 1970s) posing with another variant of the Lion and Sun flag that upon close inspection seems to correspond with the flags depicted during Richard Nixon’s state visit to Iran in 1972. Again, if anyone wants to vectorize this version and potentially put it on the article, feel free. Clapasaurus (talk) 03:59, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, these pictures from a 1910 flag regulation also back up the design seen in your vexillological book sources. It would be good for representing the flag prior to the 70s design. The 2012 version is a nice modern version, but I dont think it should be used for a historical page (prior to its creation). It's only widespread and recognizable now because of Wikipedia (WP:CIRC). I feel we have an obligation to correct this (similar to Flag of Vatican City#Incorrect_version I mentioned earlier). It is unnecessary to continue to include/promote a version created and popular in the modern era for a page about a historical era, with a note most people probably won't read. LoneShadow42 (talk) 15:26, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

We could also yes use the civil tricolor. Flags of the World shows the civil tricolor and the design seen in the regulation/books here LoneShadow42 (talk) 15:46, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

A discussion at Talk:Lion and Sun flag brought up the point we can't even ultimately confirm who, where, when the modern one came from. LoneShadow42 (talk) 20:44, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. I agree with everything said after my previous comment, but I would like to add that if anyone happens to have an idea what kind of flag was used prior to the flag currently used on the article, I would strongly support using both that one and the one currently used, to refer to the two periods of flag usage respectively. I think there should then also be a note in the infobox explaining this. Slomo666 (talk) 20:18, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

It would be a nice addition. There has yet to be a version like that uploaded to wikicommons unfortunately. LoneShadow42 (talk) 20:23, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Working on uploading the 1950s version to Wikimedia. Or maybe, would the civil flag work better, considering its more widespread usage? Clapasaurus (talk) 05:17, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I don't feel strongly either way. As long as it is WP:V historically used during the time period, which the civil flag and 70s design state flag are. LoneShadow42 (talk) 05:32, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I have no idea how busy all of you are, but someone probably needs to change the Lion and Sun page to match this page now. 🚂ThatTrainGuy1945 ^{Peep peep!} 23:43, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

Why exactly? I think the general concept of a lion and sun flag is not burdened by the findings made on this page about a historical flag on a page about a historical regime. Slomo666 (talk) 15:18, 14 April 2026 (UTC)

^^ The Lion and Sun flag is not just a historical flag, it is a flag being used by millions today. For this page it makes sense to use a historically attested flag, but for the flag page itself it doesn't make sense to apply the same logic when much fewer people use this design compared to the modern one. ConflictFan (talk) 15:27, 15 April 2026 (UTC)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_flag_of_Pahlavi_Iran.png Areallycoolperson (talk) 17:06, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Unfortunately, we cannot verify this image that you uploaded either. Slomo666 (talk) 22:04, 8 July 2026 (UTC)

Motto and coat of arms.

I am a bit confused about some parts of the infobox, namely the coat of arms displayed and the motto. Part of this is inspired by the earlier discussions about flags. (Which we know can suffer from origin issues. There are many confusing cases like this on Wikipedia still.)

Pouyajabbarisani

Pinging contributors in the lion and sun talk topics (LoneShadow42—Clapasaurus—Tameful—ConflictFan—The Great Mule of Eupatoria—Pescavelho—Snpok—Freedoxm) Slomo666 (talk) 12:13, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Re-pinging @NeoSyria because of a change in account name Slomo666 (talk) 13:18, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

coat of arms

My first question here is about the wikilink employed there. It links to emblem of Iran, (Not even the specific emblem of Iran#imperial state of Iran subsection) which discusses the establishment of a standardised lion and sun emblem but not much specifically about this coat of arms. The subtitle says this was from 1933 to 1979, which leads me to ask what the coat of arms was between 1925 and 1933. Additionally, the infobox has a “emblem” which shows the standardised lion and sun, and links to the lion and sun article (so not to the emblem of Iran page, which also describes this specific standardised emblem) and I’m not sure that’s necessarily the right route.

Another question I have about this is about the actual image used. It was created by Pouyajabbarisani and the source was labelled “own work”. It is hard from that to tell if it accurate/how accurate it is. It mentions only “The latest version has been modified to have the correct colour and standard features based on the available historic photos.” (But fails/neglects to link to said photos) The source used on the infobox on the present page looks a bit different in terms of colour at least. (But this source was not cited as a source on commons) (on top of that by the way, the page in the book linked also has a quite different “state arms” (as well as the aforementioned “imperial arms”. About which we may want to consider if the state arms are not better than/alongside the imperial arms?) image than we use here or on the lion and sun pages) so I am not sure how accurate it is. That also applies for its downstream usage in images of imperial standards used on Wikipedia. (At least one of which I saw has (slightly?) different colours than this one, all created by different commons users).

Slomo666 (talk)

motto

Here, I am also wondering when it was adopted and if it was adopted only in 1933 (as I suspect) what was used before it. I also find the source used (farahpahlavi.org) quite suspect. The citation does not include an author, only a link to the page, which claims to be by the private office of Her Majesty (etc etc). That page has a title of “The Imperial Standards of Iran (Persia)” and not surprisingly includes imperial standards flags (that look) quite similar to the cleaned up ones used on Wikipedia. It starts by mentioning this motto (well, a different transliteration of it than used on the present page?) as the “imperial motto of Iran” with two translations. By the way, also mentioned on this page is Ey Iran “anthem”, which according to our page also is regarded as a de facto national anthem of Iran. I am not sure if the video on the source website is the same version as mentioned on the Wikipedia page. Should we also include this “de facto national anthem” in the infobox alongside the three anthems already listed there?

Regardless, those were the questions I had. I hope some of you know more about this and we can make some progress on clarifying this.

Slomo666 (talk) Slomo666 (talk) 12:13, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

At one point, I did change the Coat of Arms to wikilink to Emblem of Iran#Imperial State of Iran but another user reverted it. I will happily change it again if we all agree. I don't see a problem with the Lion and Sun emblem linking to Lion and Sun. Smith 1975 uses synonyms, "state arms" = emblem, and "imperial arms" = coat of arms. For the "imperial arms", I only found a darker version here: File:Imperial Coat of Arms of Iran.svg. The "state arms" is a pre-70s design Lion and Sun, we don't have as much info on it.

I don't have another source for the motto yet, but it is inscribed on the imperial arms. I oppose the inclusion of a de facto anthem when there's an official anthem. Especially not to overcrowd the infobox Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Infoboxes.

I don't have information on a 1925-1933 coat of arms or motto, if there was any. Anyone with reliable information can expand. LoneShadow42 (talk) 18:22, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

The main issue for me with all of this (including the motto) is RS and WP:Verifiability of the contents. Especially with (at least for Iran) these coats of arms and flags there’s a plethora of creations on commons, but it’s very hard to find out what is based on what, and thus verifiable, because uploaders rarely make clear what they used for the photo/vectorisation etc. IMO for this historical stuff, we really need to stick to things we can prove the origin of. Sidenote: did you see my edit on the article's infobox? I think we might want to switch around some of the anthems a bit to make use of the existing parameters in the template. --Slomo666 (talk) 19:14, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

I definitely agree with RS and V. The coat of arms matches this 1971 ceremonial plate . As for the motto, I don't doubt it, but i'm fine with removing it if that's consensus. I will take a look at the parameters. LoneShadow42 (talk) 19:28, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Oh that’s quite convincing. If the commons item explicitly says so, (and links to the used image, with any other necessary info to allow this to be verified) then I am satisfied there.

I would not remove the motto. I pinged all these contributors at least one of them has family from that era who might know and would allow them to find some more info. Slomo666 (talk) 21:35, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

I think we only need the |national_anthem parameter. The national, royal, and flag anthem are all the same song just different stanzas. I actually support the removal of the flag anthem as the imperial anthem file is instrumental. I suppose we could split up the 1925 and 1933 anthem into seperate parameters but it's unnecessary. LoneShadow42 (talk) 19:46, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

The 1925 anthem could be under |national_anthem and the 1933 under |anthem since it applies for multiple categories not just national. LoneShadow42 (talk) 19:51, 7 May 2026 (UTC)

Very close to original flag design

Here I have two flag variants of Pahlavi iran, reconstructed replicas of real flags flown during that time, I believe these are the most exact replica to the general shir or khorshid Pahlavi flew in his reign, please update the page if you agree with me:

Note: the flags are both named the same, the first link has the lion and sun, second is civil.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_flag_of_Pahlavi_Iran.png

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_flag_of_Pahlavi_Iran.png Areallycoolperson (talk) 14:59, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

This may be A pre-70s design, however it varies (slightly but noticeably) from the design seen in vexillological sources and official documents. Wikipedia guidelines say to use SVG over PNG as well. We also have more sources for the 70s design. Given these reasons, we should continue to use the 70s design. LoneShadow42 (talk) 17:50, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Here’s a 70s design with the contemporary shades. File:Flag of Iran with official Sun and Lion in contemporary colors.png Hankow idk (talk) 22:43, 13 July 2026 (UTC)