Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Karbalā', Najaf, Baghdad, Suleymaniyah, Maysan, Basra | |
Iraq | 486,000 |
Iran | 400,000[1] |
Languages | |
Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish | |
Religion | |
Shiʿa Islam[2] (minority Sunni Islam) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Iranians of UAE, Ajam of Bahrain, Iranians of Qatar, Iranians of Iraq, Iranians of Kuwait Iranian Peoples (Lur, Achomi, Baluch, Kurds, Iranian Azerbaijanis), Turkic peoples (Qashqai, Azeri), Huwala |
Iraqi Persians (Persian: ایرانیان عراق, Arabic: إيرانيو العراق) also known as Iranians in Iraq (Persian: ایرانیان در عراق, Arabic: الإيرانيون في العراق) or the 'Ajam of Iraq, are Iraqi citizens of Iranian or Tajik descent and background. Iranians have had a long presence in Iraq, since the Fall of Babylon.
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[citation needed] (not including Iranian residents in Iraq).
Most Persian Iraqis belong to Twelver Shīʿa Islam, the same religion that most Iraqis and Iranis belong to.