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Updates: 

I've received a report of a proposal to split a new province named Alborz (capital Karaj) from Tehran.

I've updated populations for 2006 using the latest data (2009-01-03) on the Statistical Center of Iran website. They were identical to the former (provisional) figures except for six provinces, and never differ by more than 0.6%. Area data were furnished by Samuel Villavicencio, who had the only data I've seen for the three provinces that were split from Khorasan.

A correspondent who identifies him- or herself as a resident of Kermanshah(an) province tells me that its correct name is Kermanshahan. I did a search to see what documentation I could find on the subject. I found 57 sources, dated from 1922 to 2006. Just about all sources are consistent with the supposition that both the capital city and the province were named Bakhtaran during a period from 1986 (or earlier) to around 1995. Also, the capital seems to have been called Kermanshah consistently, aside from that lacuna. As for the province, all sources prior to 1969 called it Kermanshah. From 1969 to 1985, most sources (12 out of 17) called it Kermanshahan. The other five were probably just copying the name from their own earlier editions. From 1996 to 2001, I find a mixture, with three occurrences of Kermanshah, three of Kermanshahan, and three of Bakhtaran. Since 2001, five sources are unanimously agreed on Kermanshah. As mentioned below, both the ISO and FIPS standards have explicitly stated that the name was changed from Kermanshahan to Kermanshah, no later than 2001. Today (2007-08-10), a Google search prefers "Kermanshah province" to "Kermanshahan province" by a 28.5:1 ratio. Wikipedias in a dozen different languages spell it without the "-an" ending. Some of them give its Persian name in Arabic script, which transliterates to "Kermanshah". I'm still open to further evidence, but for the present I have to conclude that its English name is Kermanshah.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has ISO codes for the new provinces of Iran. They are shown in the table below.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It assigns new FIPS codes to the three new provinces formed from Khorasan, and changes the code for Yazd province due to its territorial change.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It adds the new provinces of Golestan and Qazvin. It also makes spelling changes similar to those in FIPS Change Notice 6 (next paragraph). I've added the new ISO codes for Golestan and Qazvin to the table below.

Change Notice 6 to FIPS PUB 10-4 was published on 2001-01-28. It shows new spellings for the names of two Iranian provinces. Kermanshahan is supposed to be changed to Kermanshah, and Kohkiluyeh va Buyer Ahmadi is now Kohgiluyeh va Buyer Ahmad.

Change notice 5 to FIPS PUB 10-4 was issued on 2000-08-10. It showed three new provinces in Iran: Golestan, Qazvin, and Qom. These provinces had already been reported on this page and elsewhere.

Country overview: 

Short name	IRAN
ISO code	IR
FIPS code	IR
Language	Persian (fa)
Time zone	+3:30
Capital	Tehran

 

Iran began the century as an absolute monarchy. It has had major changes in government since then, but its borders have undergone only minor adjustments. The names Persia and Iran had both been used for the area since antiquity. Although Iran was a more correct name for the modern kingdom, westerners used Persia preferentially until 1935. Then the Iranian government requested a change, and standard usage in the West shifted to Iran.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Iran, Persien (obsolete)
2. Dutch: Iran, Islamitische Republiek Iran (formal)
3. English: Islamic Republic of Iran (formal), Persia (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Iran
5. French: Iran, République f Islamique d' Iran m (formal)
6. German: Iran m
7. Icelandic: Íran
8. Italian: Iran m
9. Norwegian: Den islamske republikk Iran (formal) (Bokmål), Den islamske republikken Iran (formal) (Nynorsk), Iran
10. Persian: Jomhoori-e-Islami-e-Iran (formal)
11. Portuguese: Irão, Irã m (Brazil), República f Islâmica do Irão m (formal), Pérsia f (obsolete)
12. Spanish: Irán, República f Islámica del Irán m, República Islámica de Irán (formal)
13. Swedish: Iran

Origin of name: 

from Avestian Ayryanem: land of the Aryans

Spelling note: Persian (sometimes called Farsi) is spelled with a modified Arabic alphabet. Transliteration into the Roman alphabet can be done by various systems. As a result, there are many alternate spellings for these names. In particular, the letters o and u are often switched. So are a, e, and i. Some schemes use x instead of kh. Many schemes use diacritical marks for long vowels or aspirated consonants, but they seem to be inconsistent, so I haven't attempted to use diacriticals.

Primary subdivisions: 

Iran is divided into 30 ostanha (sing. ostan: provinces).

Province	HASC	ISO	Dom	FIPS	Pop-2006	Pop-1996	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Ardebil	IR.AR	03	ar	IR32	1,228,155	1,168,011	17,800	6,873	Ardebil
Bushehr	IR.BS	06	bu	IR22	886,267	743,675	22,743	8,781	Bushehr
Chahar Mahall and Bakhtiari	IR.CM	08	cb	IR03	857,910	761,168	16,332	6,306	Shahr-e-Kord
East Azarbaijan	IR.EA	01	as	IR33	3,603,456	3,325,540	45,650	17,626	Tabriz
Esfahan	IR.ES	04	es	IR28	4,559,256	3,923,255	107,029	41,324	Esfahan
Fars	IR.FA	14	fr	IR07	4,336,878	3,817,036	122,608	47,339	Shiraz
Gilan	IR.GI	19	gl	IR08	2,404,861	2,241,896	14,042	5,422	Rasht
Golestan	IR.GO	27	gs	IR37	1,617,087	1,426,288	20,195	7,797	Gorgan
Hamadan	IR.HD	24	hm	IR09	1,703,267	1,677,957	19,368	7,478	Hamadan
Hormozgan	IR.HG	23	hr	IR11	1,403,674	1,062,155	70,669	27,285	Bandar-e-Abbas
Ilam	IR.IL	05	il	IR10	545,787	487,886	20,133	7,773	Ilam
Kerman	IR.KE	15	kr	IR29	2,652,413	2,004,328	180,836	69,821	Kerman
Kermanshah	IR.BK	17	ks	IR13	1,879,385	1,778,596	24,998	9,652	Kermanshah
Khuzestan	IR.KZ	10	kz	IR15	4,274,979	3,746,772	64,055	24,732	Ahvaz
Kohgiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad	IR.KB	18	kb	IR05	634,299	544,356	15,504	5,986	Yasuj
Kordestan	IR.KD	16	kd	IR16	1,440,156	1,346,383	29,137	11,250	Sanandaj
Lorestan	IR.LO	20	lr	IR23	1,716,527	1,584,434	28,294	10,924	Khorramabad
Markazi	IR.MK	22	mr	IR34	1,351,257	1,228,812	29,130	11,247	Arak
Mazandaran	IR.MN	21	mz	IR35	2,922,432	2,602,008	23,701	9,151	Sari
North Khorasan	IR.KS	31	kh	IR43	811,572	676,333	28,434	10,978	Bojnurd
Qazvin	IR.QZ	28	qz	IR38	1,143,200	968,257	15,549	6,004	Qazvin
Qom	IR.QM	26	qm	IR39	1,046,737	853,044	11,526	4,450	Qom
Razavi Khorasan	IR.KV	30	kh	IR42	5,593,079	4,991,818	144,681	55,862	Mashhad
Semnan	IR.SM	12	sm	IR25	589,742	501,447	97,491	37,641	Semnan
Sistan and Baluchestan	IR.SB	13	sb	IR04	2,405,742	1,722,579	181,785	70,188	Zahedan
South Khorasan	IR.KJ	29	kh	IR41	636,420	319,878	69,555	26,855	Birjand
Tehran	IR.TH	07	th	IR26	13,422,366	10,343,965	18,814	7,264	Tehran
West Azarbaijan	IR.WA	02	ag	IR01	2,873,459	2,496,320	37,437	14,455	Orumiyeh
Yazd	IR.YA	25	yz	IR40	990,818	810,401	129,285	49,917	Yazd
Zanjan	IR.ZA	11	zn	IR36	964,601	900,890	21,773	8,407	Zanjan
30 provinces					70,495,782	60,055,488	1,628,554	628,788
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. Dom: Province domain codes from IRNIC . FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Pop-2006: 2006-10-28 census. Pop-1996: 1996-10-21 census, corrected for changes in geography.

Postal codes: 

Iran uses five-digit postal codes.

Further subdivisions:

See the Counties of Iran page.

The provinces are subdivided into shahrestan (counties), which are in turn subdivided into bakhsh (districts).

Territorial extent: 

Hormozgan includes most of the larger islands off Iran's south coast: Qeshm, Lavan, Kish, Larak, Hormoz, Hengam, Forur, Sirri. It also includes Abu Musa, an island which is administered jointly by Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Origins of names: 

1. Azarbaijan: see the country listing for Azerbaijan
2. Baluchestan: land of the Baluchi (ethnic name; see Balochistan in Pakistan)
3. Esfahan: Avesti espahan: armies
4. Fars: from Old Persian parsi: pure
5. Gilan: from Persian gil: a medicinal plant
6. Hamadan: Old Persian hangmatana, probably meaning place of assembly
7. Khorasan: Persian "where the sun arrives from"
8. Kordestan: land of the Kurds
9. Khuzestan: Middle Persian for the land of Husa (the city known in ancient times as Susa)
10. Markazi: Persian for central
11. Tehran: possibly meaning "flat land"

Change history: 

1. In 1900, the provinces of Iran were Ardelan, Azarbaijan, Baluchestan, Farsistan, Gilan, Irakajemi, Khorasan, Khoristan, Kerman, Larestan, Lorestan, and Mazandaran. There were a number of splits and boundary changes in the first half of the century.
2. 1950: Iran reorganized into 10 numbered provinces: 1 (Gilan), 2 (Mazandaran = Tehran), 3 (East Azarbaijan), 4 (West Azarbaijan), 5 (Kermanshahan), 6 (Khuzestan), 7 (Fars), 8 (Kerman), 9 (Khorasan), 10 (Esfahan).
3. ~1960-1981: Governorates, which had hitherto been subordinate to provinces, were promoted one by one to province status. In this way, Chahar Mahall and Bakhtiari province (formerly Bakhtiari governorate) and Yazd split from Esfahan; Khalij-e Fars (Persian Gulf) split from Fars; Banader va Jazayer-e Bahr-e Oman (Ports and Islands of the Sea of Oman) split from Kerman; Kordestan and Zenjan split from Gilan; Hamadan and Ilam split from Kermanshahan; Bovir Ahmadi and Kohkiluyeh province and Lorestan split from Khuzestan; Markazi and Semnan split from Mazandaran.
4. ~1977: Name of Khalij-e Fars changed to Bushehr; name of Banader va Jazayer-e Bahr-e Oman changed to Hormozgan. The two provinces appear to have been united for a period around 1970.
5. ~1979: In the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution, all names reminiscent of Shah Reza Pahlavi were changed. Name of Kermanshahan, and its capital, Kermanshah, both changed to Bakhtaran. Name of capital of West Azarbaijan changed from Rezaiyeh to Orumiyeh. (The city had been renamed from Orumiyeh -- then spelled Urmia -- to Rezaiyeh in 1926, before it was a capital.)
6. ~1986: Markazi province (capital: Tehran, FIPS=IR19) split up into a smaller Markazi, a new Tehran province, and portions which were annexed to Esfahan (former FIPS code IR06), Semnan (IR18), and Zanjan (IR21); part of Kerman province (IR12) annexed to Yazd (IR20); name of Baluchestan and Sistan province changed to Sistan and Baluchestan. This table shows the divisions of Iran at about the time of the 1986 census.

Province	FIPS	Pop-1991	Pop-1986	Pop-1976	Area(km.²)	Capital
Bakhtaran	IR13	1,622,159	1,462,965	1,030,714	23,667	Bakhtaran
Bovir Ahmadi and Kohkiluyeh	IR05	496,739	411,828	244,370	14,261	Yasuj
Bushehr	IR22	694,252	612,183	347,863	27,653	Bushehr
Chahar Mahall and Bakhtiari	IR03	747,297	631,179	394,357	14,870	Shahr-e-Kord
East Azarbaijan	IR02	4,420,343	4,114,084	3,197,685	67,102	Tabriz
Esfahan	IR28	3,682,444	3,294,916	2,176,694	104,650	Esfahan
Fars	IR07	3,543,828	3,193,769	2,035,582	133,298	Shiraz
Gilan	IR08	2,204,047	2,081,037	1,581,872	14,709	Rasht
Hamadan	IR09	1,651,320	1,505,826	1,088,024	19,784	Hamadan
Hormozgan	IR11	924,433	762,206	462,440	66,870	Bandar-e-Abbas
Ilam	IR10	440,693	382,091	246,024	19,044	Ilam
Kerman	IR29	1,862,542	1,622,958	1,091,148	179,916	Kerman
Khorasan	IR30	6,013,200	5,280,605	3,264,398	313,337	Mashhad
Khuzestan	IR15	3,175,852	2,681,978	2,187,118	67,282	Ahvaz
Kordestan	IR16	1,233,480	1,078,415	782,440	24,998	Sanandaj
Lorestan	IR23	1,501,778	1,367,029	933,939	28,803	Khorramabad
Markazi	IR24	1,182,611	1,082,109	1,090,374	29,539	Arak
Mazandaran	IR17	3,793,149	3,419,346	2,387,171	47,375	Sari
Semnan	IR25	458,125	417,035	289,463	90,039	Semnan
Sistan and Baluchestan	IR04	1,455,102	1,197,059	664,292	181,578	Zahedan
Tehran	IR26	9,982,309	8,712,087	5,331,166	29,933	Tehran
West Azarbaijan	IR01	2,284,208	1,971,677	1,407,604	38,850	Orumiyeh
Yazd	IR31	691,119	574,028	356,849	70,011	Yazd
Zanjan	IR27	1,776,133	1,588,600	1,117,157	36,398	Zanjan
24 provinces		55,837,163	49,445,010	33,708,744	1,643,967
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Pop-1991: 1991-12-11 census. Pop-1986: 1986-09-22 census. Pop-1976: 1976-11-01 census.

1. ~1990: Name of Bovir Ahmadi and Kohkiluyeh province changed to Kohgiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad.
2. 1993: Ardebil province (1991 population 1,141,625) split from East Azarbaijan.
3. ~1995: Name of Bakhtaran province changed back to Kermanshah.
4. 1995: Qom province formed by taking Qom county from Tehran province.
5. 1996-12-31: Qazvin province formed by taking Qazvin and Takestan counties from Zanjan province.
6. 1997-05-31: Golestan province formed by taking Aliabad, Gonbad-e-kavus, Gorgan, Kordkuy, Minudasht, and Torkaman counties from Mazandaran province.
7. ~2002: Tabas county (area = 55,344 km.²) transferred from Khorasan province to Yazd (former FIPS code IR31).
8. 2004-09-29: Khorasan divided into three provinces. According to Wikipedia, this measure was approved by the parliament on 2004-05-18, and by the Council of Guardians on 2004-05-29. The codes for Khorasan province before the split were HASC = IR.KR, ISO = 09, Dom = kh, and FIPS = IR30, and its capital was Mashhad. The counties of Khorasan were distributed as follows: Bojnurd, Esfarayen, Jajarm, Maneh and Samalqan, and Shirvan to North Khorasan; Bardeskan, Chenaran, Darrehgaz, Fariman, Ferdows, Gonabad, Kalat, Kashmar, Khaf, Mashhad, Neyshabur, Qayenat, Quchan, Rashtkhar, Sabzevar, Sarakhs, Taybad, Torbat-e-Heydariyeh, and Torbat-e-Jam to Razavi Khorasan; and Birjand, Nehbandan, and Sarbisheh to South Khorasan.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Ardebil: Ardabil (variant)
2. Bushehr: Banader va Jazayer-e Khalij-e Fars, Khalij-e Fars (obsolete-Persian); Bushire (variant); Persian Gulf, Ports and Islands of the Persian Gulf (obsolete)
3. Chahar Mahall and Bakhtiari: Bakhtiari, Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari (variant-Persian); Charmahal-Bakhtiyari (variant)
4. East Azarbaijan: Azarbayjan-e Khavari (Persian); Azarbaijan-e Sharghi, Azarbaijan-Sharqi, East Azarbayejan (variant); Azerbaïdjan e Sharqi (French)
5. Esfahan: Isfahan, Ispahan (variant)
6. Hamadan: Hamedan (variant)
7. Hormozgan: Banader va Jazayer-e Bahr-e Oman, Ports and Islands of the Sea of Oman, Saheli (obsolete)
8. Ilam: Ilam and Poshtkuh (obsolete)
9. Kermanshah: Bakhtaran (obsolete); Kermanshahan (variant)
10. Khorasan: Khorassan (obsolete); Khorazan, Khurasan (variant)
11. Khuzestan: Khuzistan (variant); Kouzistan (French)
12. Kohgiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad: Bovir Ahmadi and Kohkiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad and Koh-Giluye, Boyer Ahmad e Kohkiluyeh, Boyer Ahmadi-ye Sardir va Kohkiluyeh, Kohgiloyeh va Boyerahmad, Kohgiluyeh and Boveir Ahmadi, Kohkiluye-Boyerahmad (variant); Kohkiluyeh and Buyer Ahmadi (obsolete)
13. Kordestan: Kurdistan (variant)
14. North Khorasan: Khorasan-e Shemali (Persian)
15. Razavi Khorasan: Khorasan-e Razavi (Persian)
16. Sistan and Baluchestan: Baluchestan va Sistan, Seistan and Baluchistan (variant); Sistan e Baloutchistan (French)
17. South Khorasan: Khorasan-e Janubi (Persian)
18. Tehran: Teheran (obsolete); Téhéran (French)
19. West Azarbaijan: Azarbayjan-e Bakhtari (Persian); Azarbaijan-e Gharbi, West Azarbayejan (variant); Azerbaïdjan e Gharbi (French)

Sources:

1991 census data come from The Statesman's Year-Book, 1997-98 edition.