Iran has always existed, but was not known under that name by the international community since it was called Persia. Persia = Iran. read more
Iran has always been Iran, but it was the Westerners who mistaken Iran as Persia. It started when the Greeks were having contacts with Iranians. At that time, Iran was governed by Persians (not all Iranian empires were governed by Persians), so the Greeks assumed Iran is Persia. read more
The exonym Persia was the official name of Iran in the Western world before March 1935, but the Iranian people inside their country since the time of Zoroaster (probably circa 1000 BC), or even before, have called their country Arya, Iran, Iranshahr, Iranzamin (Land of Iran), Aryānām (the equivalent of Iran in the proto-Iranian language) or its equivalents. read more
The Persian Empire existed in the general area of Iran in ancient times, and spread into the area of the Middle East, and modern Turkey and as far west as Libya in Africa and Greece on the Balkan Peninsula. read more