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Iranian Empire (Pahlavi Dynasty, 1964-1979)

Iran Shahanshahiye Keshvare

4:7 image by Martin Grieve

National Flag and Civil Ensign
State Flag 1964-1980
- State Emblem
War Flag and Ensign
Jack
Ongoing use of imperial flags
"Freedom For Iran" protest flag

See also:

National Flag and Civil Ensign

The national flag and civil ensign is shown by Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World as a horizontal triband green-white-red with proportion 4:7.

According to Smith, the basic tricolor dates from the Constitution of 14 August 1905, with artistic alterations in 1912, 1933, and ca. 1964. From the chronology, the change from 1:3 to 4:7 proportions most probably occurred ca. 1964.
Ivan Sache, 16 October 1999

State Flag 1964-1980

4:7 image by Martin Grieve

National flag with the national emblem in the middle, proportion 4:7.
Source: Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World
There was never any crown above the lion and sun emblem--at least not on the state flag and ensign. Whitney Smith shows the emblem in the centre of the white stripe with no crown.
Martin Grieve, 18 January 2003

State Emblem

image by Martin Grieve and António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 January 2025

The emblem shows the traditional Persian lion holding a sword with a rising sun in the background and surmonted by an Imperial crown. The lion stands on a scroll without any writing on it.
Source: Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World
Ivan Sache, 20 August 2002

I would like to point out that the emblem on the old Iranian national flag is a far older symbol than the Qajar dynasty. The Epic of the Kings, written in the 1100s about the centruies before the conquest of Islam, refers to the Iranian army or king as marching under a banner with "the lion and the sunrise." The sword was added in the 1800s to make it more Islamic. The lion was the symbol of pre-Islamic Iran (Persia) along with the cypress tree, though I've never seen the two used together.
Robert Wilson, 26 December 2002

War Flag and Naval Ensign

4:7 image by Martin Grieve

Like the state ensign, but the emblem is smaller and flanked by two golden wreaths that join beneath the emblem.
Source: Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World
Jaume Ollé, 25 August 2002

The war flag/naval ensigns during this period had the lion and sun with the imperial crown.
Martin Grieve, 18 January 2003

Jack

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 January 2025

Yesterday I found several Jane's Fighting Ships from the 1970s. In the Iran section there was a photo that clearly showed an Iranian warship flying the usual naval ensign, and a white version of the square jack, which confirmed the authenticity of the white square jack in Flags of All Nations, (HMSO 1955).
Miles Li, 19 July 2003

Ongoing use of imperial flags

image located by Martin Karner, 4 April 2024

On a video about a pro-Israel counter demonstration in London on 30 March 2024 an Iranian opposition flag can be seen a few times (pictures taken at 4:57 and 1:25:22). The flag shows on the green-white-red tricolor the golden lion of the national emblem surrounded by a wreath of the same, beside a portrait photo of Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran and leader of the oppositional National Council of Iran, residing in Virginia, USA. Below the photo is the writing "KING OF IRAN" in white on red. The portrait photo is on the hoist side.
The video is made by the British vlogger Mahyar Tousi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSWMSuaRIBQ

Martin Karner, 4 April 2024

This flag is a mix between the Iranian Empire (Pahlavi dynasty, 1925-1964) War Flag and the Crown
Prince of Iran.
Esteban Rivera, 6 April 2024

"Freedom For Iran" protest flag

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 January 2025
based on image located by William Garrison, 1 January 2025

A 1970s-style national flag of Iran, with the "State Emblem" (with the royal crown atop the sun-lion) motif on the middle white stripe, and the English words "FREEDOM" on the top green stripe and "FOR IRAN" on the bottom red stripe. The "sun lion" holding a sword, or "Lion and Sun" in Farsi/Persian, is called "Shir o Khorshid". Seen in London, UK, 8 Jan. 2023 demonstration.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/989032768158922996/
William Garrison, 1 January 2025

The lettering is black, set in sans serif capitals (set in normal weight Arial, it seems, with added faux bold) spaced and kerned to fill up each stripe, leaving small edge gaps and the 2nd "E" even overlapped by the crown.

I think the exact artwork of the underlying flag is in Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Iran_before_1979_Islamic_Revolution.png. This seems to be a modern redrawing (very likely a raster export from a vectorial tracing) of one or some of the many slightly different renderings shown in contemporary sources i.e., 1964-1979. Apart from the extra dark shades of red and green in this image (which were not in use in the version with lettering shown on the photo), it's of note that the white stripe of this flag is slighly wider which is a feature of the current flag of Iran, the one introduced by the regime this flag was created to protest against: Pre-1979 horizontal tricolors had all three stripes in the same height.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 January 2025