Jewish history in Iran dates back to biblical times.  The origin of the Jewish Diaspora in Persia is closely linked with various events in Israel’s ancient history.  During the reign of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (727 B.C.E.) thousands of Jews were forced to leave Israel and settle in Media.  Some 27,290 Jews were forced to settle in Ecbatana (Hamadan) and Susa in southwest Persia.  This group is often referred to in biblical accounts as one of the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.”[1]  The next wave of Jewish settlers came to Iran to escape persecution under the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar II.  Many were settled in Isfahan by around 680 B.C.E.  The invasion of Babylon by Cyrus the Great (the founder of Achaemenian Empire) also brought many Jews into the country.[2]

Demography

The number of Jews in Iran has declined significantly over the course of the past century. However, Jews did play an important role in the Iranian economy and in cultural life under the secularized and Western-oriented Pahlavi Dynasty that came to power in 1925.[3]  In 1948, roughly midway through the Pahlavi reign, Iran’s Jewish population stood at about 100,000.  By 1979, though, this figure had fallen to 80,000[4] and it would drop even more precipitously in the wake of the Islamic Revolution, as thousands of Jews – especially the wealthy – fled the country to escape the upheaval.  Today, sources indicate that there are between 20,000 and 35,000[5] Jews currently living in Iran.[6]

Geographic Distribution

Iran has by far the largest Jewish population of any Muslim country, even though their government is adamantly anti-Israeli.[7]  Jewish communities in Iran today are mostly located in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Hamadan.  There are also a smaller number of Jewish families in Kerman, Kashan and Yazd.[8]

Historic Hardship

Even with the official distinction between “Jews,” Zionists,” and “Israel,” Iranian Jews have faced the threat of execution for supposedly maintaining contacts with Zionists and cooperating with Israel and the United States.[9]  At different times during Iran’s history there have been riots against the Jews.  They have also been stoned while walking in the streets, forced to pay extra fees and given death threats.  Sadly, these types of incidents still occur in modern-day Iran.[10]  

Ongoing Hardship

Dhimmi is a restrictive status imposed on religious minorities that necessitates the payment of a fee for protection. [11]  Jews in Iran hold this status. 

Iranian Jewish leaders are often afraid to report on the mistreatment of their community because of the threat of government reprisal. The anti-Israel policies of the Iranian government and the anti-Israeli views of the country’s radical Muslims create a threatening atmosphere for the small Jewish community.[12]

As a religious minority, Iranian Jews suffer varying degrees of officially-sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, marriage and housing.[13]

When Iranian Jews apply for a passport to travel abroad they are immediately put under government surveillance.  Moreover, the government does not generally allow the whole family to travel at the same time, so as to cut down on the risk of emigration[14].

In recent years, Iranian journalists and bloggers have been detained and imprisoned and some newspapers have been closed down.  For their work, human rights activists face harassment, intimidation, attacks, detention, imprisonment and torture.[15]  In 2000, 13 Iranian Jews were imprisoned on charges of “acting against the internal security of the state and disparaging the holy order of the Islamic Republic.”[16]  By jailing these individuals, Iran violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and association, and to fair trial and impartial judicial proceedings.[17]

According to Amnesty International: “Members of Iran’s religious minorities have also been killed, detained or harassed because of their faith.”  The organization goes on to say that “freedom of expression and association remains severely curtailed” In Iran.[18]  To compound the situation, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that he “denies the Holocaust” and that he is “calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.”[19]

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