Iranian passports, also known as Persian passports, are issued to nationals of Iran for the purpose of international travel. The passport serves as a proof of Iranian citizenship. The Iranian passports are burgundy, with the Iranian Coat of Arms emblazoned on the top of the front cover. The words "جمهوری اسلامی ایران" meaning Islamic Republic of Iran and "گذرنامه" meaning passport are inscribed to the right side of the coat of arms. Iran started issuing diplomatic and service biometric passports in July 2007. Ordinary biometric passports began to be issued on 20 February 2011. These passports contain 32 pages. On the inside of the back-cover, Iranian passports bear the inscription: "The holder of this passport is not entitled to travel to occupied Palestine", referring to Israel. In the past, prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the passports were different and had the inscription 'Empire of Iran', as shown below. The passports also had translations into French.
The passport number is the serial number that uniquely identifies a passport. The passport number changes every time a person has issued a new passport, with the previous passport number noted in an endorsement on the last page of the new passport. The passport number is alphanumeric, with a letter followed by an eight-digit number, e.g. A00000000. In the Persian letters on top of the passport, the passport number does not have the first English letter.
Identity Number
The national identity number for Iranians is a unique 10-digit number allocated to each citizen of Iran; & it is used widely for identity confirmation in many places. The unique number is in the following format: XXX-YYYYYY-C
The first three digits are the numeric code indicating the state of birth.
The next six digits are randomly generated numbers
And the last digit is known as the Check or Control Number.
The control number is calculated from the previous 9 digits and verifies if the ID number is valid.
Languages
For each item in the passport captions are provided in Persian and near all of them are also provided in English.
Restrictions on travel
As Iran does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with the state of Israel, people using an Iranian passport are not permitted to travel to Israel under Iranian law. On the inside of the back-cover, Iranian passports bear the inscription: "The holder of this passport is not entitled to travel to occupied Palestine", referring to Israel.
Visa requirements for Iranian citizens
As of 26 August 2017, Iranian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 39 countries and territories, ranking the Iranian passport 95th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley visa restrictions index. Earlier in 2017, Donald Trump banned citizens of Iran from the US; he also has banned people that travel to Iran.
History
The first Persian passport was issued during the reign of Nasereddin Shah around 1885. It used to be called 'Tazkereh-ye Safar' and the text was entirely in Persian. During the reign of Ahmad Shah the French titles were added to the document "Passeport du passage: au nom de Sa Majeste Imperiale le Shahinschah de Perse". After 1935 the title was changed to "Empire de l'Iran".
