How many different ethnicities are there in Iran today?

Question

Besides the native Persians, what are the other major ethnicities in Iran?

Answer 1

Iran and Persia are two different names: Iran has two names. Iran and Persia. These two names do not mean the same thing. Iran is the name of a country. Persia is both a country and the name of an ethnicity in Iran. Not all Iranians are Persians. Iran has many ethnic groups as its citizens. Those are Arabs, Assyrians, Jews, Turcomens and Azeris, Kurds, Baluchs and Persians.

The Persians have subdivision as Lurs, Bakhtiaris, Gilaki, Mazandranis etc. Iran points to a country but not a race. There is no "Iranian race". Iran is a state. Iran is not a nation. Persian and Kurds and Azeris, Baluch, Turcomans etc are nations. The misunderstanding about the name of Iran comes from Europe where the states are nations too, example: Germany and Germans or British and Britain. But Iran and Iranians are not the same thing. Iranian is similar to an American from any ethnic background.

The Persian aryans who migrated to Iran around 2000 BC found the country populated by different local civilizations. The Persian language was accepted by these locals through elite substition of the Persian language. These natives are considered as Persians in Iran but they have different origins.

Some natives of Iran who are Persian speakers are related to the civilization of Mesopotemia. Other Persian speakers are related to other local civilizations in different parts of Iran such as Kashan, Kerman or Jiroft or Elam. These natives of Iran lived in Iran before the migrating Persian Aryans arrived in Iran.

So Persians are divided into two groups. Ethnic Persians and Persians speakers. Ethnic persians who were the leaders and founders of the Persian Empire are completely ignored by Hollywood. Instead Hollywood always employs actors with Azeri Turks looking features and presents them to the public as Persians. Azeri Turks are major ethnic group in Iran. This blog tries to clear that misconception promoted by Hollywood and specially in Oliver Stone "Alexander". There are no light skinned or dark skinned "Iranians". There is no such people called "Iranian" in Iran. Iran is a multi-ethnic country. Iranian simply means a citizen of Iran. Iran defines a geographic location and not a race.

There are no African looking Swedes. Neither there are any Afro-Arabian, big nose, curly hair, connected eyebrows Persians. Those people are Persian speakers and not ethnic Persians.

Also in common usage, Iranian refers to an Azeri Turk. Persians identify themselves as Persians and not Iranians. That is why Azeri Turks are trying to confuse people and always write Iranian/Persian to mean those are the same people. That is not correct and Persian is not the same thing as Iranian.

Main Ethnic Division in Iran: Population 70 Million

Core Persians or ethnic Persians %10 of Iran

(Original Migrating Aryan tribes such as Persians, Parthians,Sogdians, Bactrians, Scythians) (Nordic Types)

Persian Speakers %30-%35 of Iran

(Includes Natives of Iran with native origin and civilization such as Kashan, Jiroft, elam etc) (Mainly Cro-magnid Types)

Azeri Turks Iranians %40 of Iran - ca.30 million

(Originating from Oghuz Turks mainly from 15 century A.D. in Iran)(Mainly Armenoid Types)

According to CIA Factbook: Estimates other groups are:

Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%,

Kurd 7%,

Arab 3%,

Lur 2%,

Baloch 2%,

Turkmen 2%,

other 1%

Answer 2

There are so many, unfortunately they're all trying to Kill each other.

Answer 3

One would be a nuclear arms race!