Iranians in Iraq

Iraqi Persians (Persian: ایرانیان عراق, Arabic: إيرانيو العراق) or Iranians in Iraq (Persian: ایرانیان در عراق, Arabic: الإيرانيون في العراق) are Iraqi citizens of Iranian descent and background. Iranians have had a long presence in Iraq, since the Fall of Babylon.

Iraqi Persians
ايرانيان عراق (Persian)
إيرانيو العراق (Arabic)
Regions with significant populations
Karbalā', Najaf, Baghdad, Suleymaniyah, Maysan, Basra
 Iraq486,000
 Iran400,000[1]
Languages
Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish
Religion
Shiʿa Islam[2]
Related ethnic groups
'Ajam of Kuwait

History

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Saddam Hussein exiled between 350,000[3][4] to 650,000 Iraqi citizens of Iranian ancestry.[1] Most of them went to Iran. Most could prove an Iranian ancestry in Iran's court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq immediately after his fall.[1] The population of Iraqis of Iranian descent is currently 486,000 (not including Iranian residents in Iraq).

Culture

Most Persian Iraqis belong to Twelver Shīʿa Islam, the same religion that most Iraqis belong to.

See also

References
  1. "Hamshahri Newspaper (In Persian)". hamshahri.org. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  2. Pahlavan, Demographic Movements in the Region, p. 147.
  3. Iranica Online
  4. U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
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