The current national flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a horizontal tricolour of equal bands of green, white, and red, with the Islamic emblem in red centred on the white band and the Arabic Takbir ("Allāhu akbar," meaning "God is great") written 11 times in white Kufic script along the edges of the green and red bands, for a total of 22 repetitions. This design was officially adopted on 29 July 1980, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which led to the replacement of the previous Lion and Sun flag. The flag has a proportion of 4:7, though a slightly different aspect ratio of approximately 1.7477:1 is used in the official geometric construction.
The green, white, and red colours are pan-Iranian, historically associated with the nation and its identity, and are also used in the flags of Tajikistan and Kurdistan. The Islamic emblem consists of four crescents and a sword, surmounted by a shaddah, symbolizing the Arabic word "Allah". The repetition of "Allāhu akbar" 22 times is a reference to the date of the revolution, 22 Bahman in the Iranian calendar.
The previous official flag, known as the Lion and Sun flag, was adopted on 7 October 1907 and served as Iran's national flag until 1980. It featured a green-white-red tricolour with a golden lion and sun emblem centred on the white band. The lion, often depicted with a sword and a stylized S-shaped tail, symbolized the constitutional revolution of 1906, while the sun represented the nation's sovereignty. This flag was banned after the 1979 revolution and is no longer officially recognized, though it remains a symbol of opposition and historical continuity among Iranian diaspora and anti-regime movements.
In recent developments, social media platform X replaced its official Iranian regime flag emoticon with the pre-revolution Lion and Sun flag on 10 January 2026, reflecting ongoing political symbolism associated with the flag.
flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran
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The older and newer versions of the X (Twitter) emoji for the flag of Iran
Secular version of the current flag of Iran (maintaining the design)
Transgender Iran flag
The flag of a new Iran, a nation reborn | زن زندگی آزادی، مرد میهن آبادی
Over the past few weeks, we have seen many flag proposals on this subreddit. Many great concepts and ideas were put forward. However, I wanted to make something that captured a little bit of every great aspect of these new flags, along with my own ideas. I believe I have made a very good candidate for THE future Iranian flag. I have found the perfect balance of innovation/progressiveness, traditionalism, historical authenticity, and revival of ancient symbolism (without it getting into cringe territory). Women have always been a core part of Iranian society and culture. Especially given the new revolution has been spearheaded by women, it is only fitting to have them represented on our flag by a lioness (inspired by this and this post). The Moon and star behind the lioness is the symbol of Anahita (it can be seen on Sassanian coins and crowns). The banner/staff represents the ancient roots of our people, never forgotten and still embraced with the new symbolism.
If you guys really love this as a flag for future Iran, share and post this everywhere so it can gain traction and start getting used by people.
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