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{{Short description|Ethnic group in the United States}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Iranian Americans<br />{{lang|fa|ایرانیانِ آمریکا}}
| image = [[File:Iranian American distribution2.png|300px| ]]
| image_caption = <div style="text-align: center>Iranian American population by state</div>
| pop = '''568,564''' (2020 census)<ref>{{cite web|title=3.5 Million Reported Middle Eastern and North African Descent in 2020|url=https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-mena-population.html}}</ref><br />'''470,341''' ([[American Community Survey|ACS]], 2011)<ref name="archive1">{{cite book|title=U.S. Census Bureau (2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates)|url=https://archive.org/details/2011AmericanCommunitySurveyAncestry|access-date=7 January 2016}}</ref><br />'''1,500,000''' (other estimates)<ref name="Entekhab">{{cite news|title=How many Iranians are in the U.S.A?|url=http://www.entekhab.ir/fa/news/63723/%DA%86%D9%87-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%D9%85%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%85-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7-%D9%87%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%AF|access-date=11 April 2017|work=[[Shargh Newspaper]]|agency=[[Entekhab|Entekhab Professional News Site]]|language=fa|date=20 May 2012|ref=63723}}</ref><ref name="Bartarinha News Portal">{{cite news|title=Revealing of the number of Iranians in the outside Iran|url=http://www.bartarinha.ir/fa/news/31988/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AF%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%82-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1|access-date=11 April 2017|work=Hafte Sobh Newspaper|agency=Bartarinha News Portal|date=9 September 2012|ref=31988|language=fa}}</ref><ref name="Radio Farda">{{cite news|title=Iranian National Organization for Civil Registration: More than 2 million Iranians live in the U.S.A and the U.A.E|url=http://www.radiofarda.com/a/f10-iranian-officials-say-more-than-2-mln-iranians-live-in-usa-and-uae/24700947.html|access-date=11 April 2017|agency=[[Radio Farda]]|date=7 September 2012|language=fa}}</ref><br />'''0.45%''' of the American population
| popplace = [[California]] (largest populations in [[Los Angeles County|Los Angeles]], [[Orange County, California|Orange]] and [[San Diego County|San Diego]] counties), [[New York (state)|New York]], [[New Jersey]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-iranians-celebrate-persian-new-year-with-music-dance-in-englewood-1.747010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322001657/http://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-iranians-celebrate-persian-new-year-with-music-dance-in-englewood-1.747010|archive-date=22 March 2014|title=N.J. Iranians celebrate Persian New Year with music, dance in Englewood|first=Monsy|last=Alvarado|publisher=North Jersey Media Group|date=20 March 2014|access-date=21 March 2014}}</ref> [[Texas]], [[Connecticut]], [[Maryland]], [[Virginia]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Illinois]], [[Michigan]],<ref name="niacouncil1">{{cite web |first1=Soraya |last1=Fata |first2=Raha |last2=Rafii |url=http://www.niacouncil.org/docs/irancensus.pdf |title=The Relative Concentration of Iranian Americans Across the United States: Iran Census Report |publisher=National Iranian American Council |date=September 2003 |access-date=12 January 2016 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105161012/https://www.niacouncil.org/docs/irancensus.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Northeast Ohio]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Vandenberge|first=Jordan|title=Iranian-Americans in Cleveland keeping close eye on rising tensions between US, Iran|url=https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/iranian-americans-in-cleveland-keeping-close-eye-on-rising-tensions-between-us-iran|publisher=[[WEWS-TV]]|date=January 3, 2020|access-date= June 13, 2021}}</ref> [[Florida]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
| langs = [[American English]], <br /> As well native ([[Persian language|Persian]], [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], and other [[languages of Iran]]).
| rels = [[Islam]] 31%, [[Atheism]]/[[Philosophical realism|Realism]]/[[Religious humanism|Humanism]] 11%, [[Agnosticism]] 8%, [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]] 7%, [[Judaism]] 5%, [[Protestanism]] 5%, [[Roman Catholicism]] 2%, [[Zoroastrianism]] 2%, Other 15% including [[Mandaeans|Mandaeanism]], and No Response 15%.<ref name="paaia survey">{{cite web |title=2012 National Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans regarding Potential Military Strike Against Iran |url=http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/PDFs/2012surveyofiranianamericans-militaryaction-electronic.pdf |year=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725064519/http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/PDFs/2012surveyofiranianamericans-militaryaction-electronic.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2012 |page=14 |publisher=paaia.org |access-date=12 February 2019}}</ref>{{ref label|a|a}}
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| related_groups = [[Iranian diaspora]] ([[Iranians in the United Arab Emirates|Iranians of UAE]] • [[Ajam of Bahrain]] • [[Iranians in Qatar|Ajam of Qatar]] • [[Iranians in Iraq|Ajam of Iraq]] • [['Ajam of Kuwait]] • [[Iranian Canadians|Iranians of Canada]] • Iranians of America • [[Iranians in the United Kingdom|Iranians of UK]] • [[Iranians in Germany|Iranians of Germany]] • [[Iranians in Israel|Iranians of Israel]] • [[Immigration to Turkey|Iranians in Turkey]]){{Break}}{{Break}}[[Iranian Peoples]] ([[Lurs]], [[Achomi people|Achomis]], [[Baloch people|Baluchs]], [[Kurds]], [[Iranian Azerbaijanis|Iranian Azeris]]), [[Turkic peoples]] ([[Qashqai people|Qashqai]], [[Azerbaijanis]]), [[Huwala]]
| footnotes = {{note|a|a}}A 2012 national telephone survey of a sample of 400 Iranian-Americans in the Los Angeles area, commissioned by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans and conducted by Zogby Research Services, asked the respondents what their religions were. The survey had a cooperation rate of 31.2%.
}}
'''Iranian-Americans''', also known as '''Persian-Americans''', are [[Americans|United States]] citizens or nationals who are of [[Iranian peoples|Iranian ancestry]] or who hold [[Iran]]ian [[Multiple citizenship|citizenship]]. According to the National Organization for Civil Registration, an organization of the [[Ministry of Interior of Iran]], the United States has the greatest number of [[Iranian diaspora|Iranians outside the country]].<ref name="Radio Farda" /><ref name="iranian.mfa.ir">{{Cite web |title=Archived copy |url=https://iranian.mfa.ir/files/mfairanian/Amar.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605224223/https://iranian.mfa.ir/files/mfairanian/Amar.pdf |archive-date=5 June 2021 |access-date=6 June 2021}}</ref>
<!-- All users, please discuss the introduction before changing. There is no synthesis in Wikipedia and sources that do not mention "Persian-American" or "Iranian-American" cannot be interpreted by users. -->
Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the United States after 1979 in the wake of the [[Iranian Revolution]] and the fall of the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Iranian monarchy]]. Over 40% of them settled in California, specifically Los Angeles, where they formed distinct ethnic enclaves, such as the Angelino community of "[[Tehrangeles]]" in [[Westwood, Los Angeles]].
Research by the Iranian Studies Group at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in 2004 estimated the number of Iranian-Americans at 691,000, about half of whom live in California.<ref name="migrationinformation.org">{{cite web |date=June 2006 |title=Migration Information Source – Spotlight on the Iranian Foreign Born |url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/spotlight-iranian-foreign-born/ |access-date=15 February 2010 |publisher=Migrationinformation.org}}</ref><ref name="iipdigital.usembassy.gov">{{cite web|first=Phyllis|last=McIntosh|url=http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2004/01/20040113191603atarukp0.6147425.html#axzz3YICKQIYH|title=Iranian-Americans Reported Among Most Highly Educated in U.S.: Iranian-Americans also contribute substantially to the U.S. economy|publisher=State Department Bureau of International Information Programs|access-date=12 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="Amirani">{{cite news|last=Amirani|first=Shoku|title=Tehrangeles: How Iranians made part of LA their own|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19751370|publisher=BBC|access-date=17 April 2014|work=BBC News|date=29 September 2012}}</ref>
== Terminology ==
"Iranian-American" is sometimes used interchangeably with "Persian-American",<ref name="Daha">{{cite journal|first=Maryam|last=Daha|title=Contextual Factors Contributing to Ethnic Identity Development of Second-Generation Iranian American Adolescents|journal=Journal of Adolescent Research|date=September 2011|volume=26|issue=5|pages=543–569|doi=10.1177/0743558411402335|s2cid=146592244|quote=... the majority of the participants self-identified as Persian rather tan Iranian, possibly due to the stereotypes and negative portrayals of Iranians in the media and politics. Adolescents from Jewish and Baha'i backgrounds asserted their religious identity more than their ethnic identity. Linguistically, modern Persian is a branch of Old Persian in the family of Indo-European languages and that includes all the minorities as well more inclusively.}}</ref><ref name="Nakamura2003">{{cite book|last=Nakamura|first=Raymond M.|title=Health in America: A Multicultural Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nSvf31-rRhkC|year=2003|publisher=Kendall/Hunt Pub.|isbn=978-0-7575-0637-6|page=31|quote=Iranian/Persian Americans – The flow of Iranian citizens into the United States began in 1979, during and after the Islamic Revolution.}}</ref><ref name="Zanger2001">{{cite book|last=Zanger|first=Mark|title=The American Ethnic Cookbook for Students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTBSpuCkl9AC&pg=PA213|year=2001|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57356-345-1|page=213}}</ref><ref>Racial and Ethnic Relations in America, Carl Leon Bankston,"Therefore, Turkish and Iranian (Persian) Americans, who are Muslims but not ethnically Arabs, are often mistakenly..", Salem Press, 2000</ref> partly due to the fact that, in the [[Western world]], [[Name of Iran|Iran]] was known as "Persia".<ref>{{cite book |last=Darya |first=Fereshteh Haeri |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C23&q=%22Second+-generation+Iranian-Americans%3A+The+relationship+between+ethnic+identity%2C+acculturation%2C+and+psychological+well-being%22&btnG= |title=Second-generation Iranian-Americans: The Relationship Between Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Psychological Well-being |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-542-97374-1 |pages=3–4 |quote=According to previous studies, the presence of heterogeneity is evident among Iranian immigrants (also known as Persians – Iran was known as Persia until 1935) who came from diverse religious (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Armenian, Assyrian, Baha'i and Zoroastrian), ethnic (Turk, Kurds, Baluchs, Lurs, Turkamans, Arabs, as well as tribes such as Ghasghaie, and Bakhtiari) and linguistic backgrounds (Persian, Azari, Gialki, Mazandarani, Kurdish, Arabic, and others). Some studies suggest that despite the existence of subgroups among Iranian immigrants (e.g. various ethno-religious groups), their nationality as Iranians has been an important point of reference and identifiable source of their identification as a group across time and setting.}}</ref> On the [[Nowruz]] of 1935, [[Reza Shah|Reza Shah Pahlavi]] asked foreign delegates to use the term ''Iran'', the [[endonym]] of the country used since the [[Sasanian Empire]], in formal correspondence. Since then the use of "Iran" has become more common in Western countries. This also changed the usage of the terms for Iranian nationality, and the common adjective for citizens of Iran changed from "Persian" to "Iranian." In 1959, the government of [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], Reza Shah Pahlavi's son, announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" could officially be used interchangeably.<ref name="yarshater1">Yarshater, Ehsan [http://www.iran-heritage.org/interestgroups/language-article5.htm Persia or Iran, Persian or Farsi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024033230/http://www.iran-heritage.org/interestgroups/language-article5.htm |date=24 October 2010 }}, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989)</ref> The issue is still debated today.<ref name=Majd2008a>[[Hooman Majd|Majd, Hooman]], ''The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran'', by Hooman Majd, [[Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group]], 23 September 2008, {{ISBN|0385528426}}, 9780385528429. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1kuSfuHovwMC&pg=PA161 161]</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Richard Nelson|last=Frye|author-link=Richard N. Frye|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UFtAAAAMAAJ&q=Iran+Persia|title=Greater Iran: A 20th-century Odyssey|publisher=Mazda|year=2005|access-date=21 December 2016|isbn=9781568591773}}</ref>
Some wish to disassociate themselves from the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]],<ref name="BozorgMehr">{{cite book|last=Bozorgmehr|first=Mehdi|editor1=Mary C. Waters|editor2=Reed Ueda|editor3=Helen B. Marrow|title=The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration since 1965|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-y_q4J_eCEC|year=2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-04493-7|page=469|chapter=Iran}}</ref> yet this rationale has been criticized as the term "Iran" was widely used before 1979 as well.<ref name="Daha"/> The term "Iranian" is regarded as more inclusive than "Persian", as the term "Persian" excludes non-Persian ethnic minorities of Iran.<ref name="BozorgMehr"/> While the majority of Iranian-Americans come from Persian backgrounds, there is a significant number of [[Ethnic minorities in Iran|non-Persian Iranians]] such as [[Iranian Azeris|Azeris]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Svante E.|last=Cornell|title=Azerbaijan Since Independence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaZzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |year=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47621-4|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Barbara A.|last=West|title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA68|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7|page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Minahan|title=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S–Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu5GpDby9H0C&pg=PA1766|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32384-3|page=1766}}</ref> and [[Iranian Kurdistan|Kurds]] within the Iranian-American community,<ref name="BozorgMehr" /><ref>Elizabeth Chacko, Contemporary ethnic geographies in America // Ines M. Miyares, Christopher A. Airriess (eds.), Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, pp. 325–326</ref> leading some scholars to believe that the label "Iranian" is more inclusive, since the label "Persian" excludes non-Persian minorities.<ref name="BozorgMehr" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition |access-date=4 September 2012 |publisher=Collinsdictionary.com |url= https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/iranian}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/persian |title=Definition of "Persian" |dictionary=Collins English Dictionary |access-date=12 January 2016}}</ref>
== History ==
=== Early history ===
{{Contains special characters|Perso-Arabic}}
{{See also|History of the Iranian Americans in Los Angeles}}
One of the first recorded Iranians to visit [[North America]] was Martin the Armenian, an [[Iranian Armenians|Iranian-Armenian]] tobacco grower who settled in [[Jamestown, Virginia]] in 1618.{{sfn|Bakalian|1993|p=33}}<ref name="Papazian">{{cite journal |last=Papazian |first=Dennis |title=Armenians in America |url=https://umdearborn.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/america.html |year=2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029144147/https://umdearborn.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/america.html |archive-date=29 October 2014 |journal=Journal of Eastern Christian Studies |volume=52 |issue=3–4 |pages=311–347 |doi=10.2143/JECS.52.3.565605 |access-date=29 August 2018|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Hajj Sayyah|Mirza Mohammad Ali]], also known as Hajj Sayyah, was an Iranian who came to North America in the 1800s. He was inspired to travel around the world due to the contradiction between the democratic ideals he read about and how his fellow Iranians were treated by their leaders. He began his travels as a 23-year-old looking for knowledge, to experience the lives of others, and to use that knowledge to help with Iran's progress. His stay in the United States lasted 10 years, and he traveled across the country from New York to San Francisco. He met a variety of influential American figures including President [[Ulysses S. Grant]], who met with him on several occasions.<ref name="Paaia">{{cite web|title=The First Iranian American|url=http://www.paaia.org/CMS/first-iranian-american.aspx|website=Paaia|access-date=25 April 2015}}</ref> On 26 May 1875, Hajj Sayyah became the first Iranian to become an American citizen. He was imprisoned upon his return to Iran for taking a stand against living conditions there. He looked to the United States to protect him but to no avail.<ref name="Paaia"/> During the peak period of worldwide emigration to the United States (1842–1903), only 130 Iranian nationals were known to have immigrated.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}}
=== First phase of emigration ===
The first wave of Iranian migration to the United States occurred from the late 1940s to 1977,{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}} or 1979.<ref name="paaia2">{{cite journal|title=Iranian Americans; immigration and assimilation|journal=PAAIA (Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans)|url=http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/pdfs/iranian-americans---immigration-and-assimilation.pdf|access-date=7 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185604/http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/pdfs/iranian-americans---immigration-and-assimilation.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> The United States was an attractive destination for students, as American universities offered some of the best programs in engineering and other fields, and were eager to attract students from foreign countries.<ref name="paaia2" /> Iranian students, most of whom had learned English as a second language in Iran, were highly desirable as new students at colleges and universities in the United States.<ref name="paaia2" /> By the mid-1970s, nearly half of all Iranian students who studied abroad did so in the United States.<ref name="paaia2" /> By 1975, the Institute of International Education's annual foreign student census figures listed Iranian students as the largest group of foreign students in the United States, amounting to a total of 9% of all foreign students in the country.<ref name="paaia2" /> As the Iranian economy continued to rise steadily in the 70s, it enabled many more Iranians to travel abroad freely.<ref name="paaia2" /> Consequently, the number of Iranian visitors to the United States also increased considerably, from 35,088, in 1975, to 98,018, in 1977.<ref name="paaia2" /><ref>Bozorgmehr & Sabagh, p. 8</ref> During the 1977–78 academic year, of about 100,000 Iranian students abroad, 36,220 were enrolled in American institutions of higher learning. During the 1978–79 academic year, on the eve of the revolution, the number of Iranian students enrolled in American institutions rose to 45,340, and in 1979–80, that number reached a peak of 51,310. At that time, according to the [[Institute of International Education]], more students from Iran were enrolled in American universities than from any other foreign country.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}} The pattern of Iranian migration during this phase usually only involved individuals, not whole families.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}} Due to Iran's increasing demand for educated workers in the years before the revolution, the majority of the Iranian students in America intended to return home after graduation to work, especially those who had received financial aid from the Iranian government or from industry on condition of returning to take jobs upon graduation. Due to the drastic events of the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Revolution]], the students ended up staying in the United States as refugees.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}} These several thousand visitors and students unintentionally became the basis of the cultural, economic, and social networks that would enable large-scale immigration in the years that followed.<ref name="paaia2" />
=== Second phase ===
The second phase of Iranian migration began immediately before and after the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979 and the overthrow of the Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]],{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}} and became significant in the early 1980s.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1076}} As Ronald H. Bayor writes, "The 1979 Revolution and the [[Iran–Iraq War|1980–88]] war with Iraq transformed Iran's class structure, politically, socially, and economically."{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1077}} The revolution drastically changed the pattern and nature of Iranian emigration to the United States, while the Iran-Iraq War that ensued afterwards was also another factor that forced many of the best-educated and most wealthy families into exile in the United States and other countries. Once basically an issue of [[brain drain]] during the Pahlavi period, it was now predominantly an involuntary emigration of a relatively large number of middle- and upper-class families, including the movement of a considerable amount of wealth.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1077}} During and after the revolution, most students did not return to Iran, and those who did were gradually purged from the newly established [[Islamic Republic]]. Many students who graduated abroad after the revolution also did not return, due to the ruling clergy's repression. As a result, the educated elite who left Iran after the revolution, and the new graduates in the United States who chose not to return home, created a large pool of highly educated and skilled Iranian professionals in the United States. By 2002, an estimated 1.5 to 2.5 million Iranians lived abroad, mainly in North America and Europe, due to the Islamic government's authoritarian practices.<ref>Torbat, Akbar E (Spring 2002). "The brain drain from Iran to the United States". ''Middle East Journal'' 56 (2): 272–295.</ref>
A further notable aspect of the migration in this phase is that members of religious and ethnic minorities were starting to become disproportionally represented among the Iranian American community, most notably Baháʼís, Jews, Armenians, and Assyrians.<ref name=MigPolicyI>{{cite web |url=http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/spotlight-iranian-foreign-born/ |title=Spotlight on the Iranian Foreign Born Migration Information |first1=Shirin |last1=Hakimzadeh |first2=David |last2=Dixon |work=[[Migration Policy Institute]] |date=1 June 2006 |access-date=15 February 2010 |quote=The exiles were disproportionately members of religious and ethnic minorities, such as the Bahai'is, Jews, Armenians, and Assyrians. Also in the second wave were young men who fled military service and the Iran–Iraq war, followed by young women and families who came for educational and political reasons.}}</ref> According to the [[1980 US census]], there were 123,000 Americans of Iranian ancestry at that time.<ref>{{cite web|title=1980 US Census; No 48. Population by Selected Ancestry Group and Region|url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/1991-02.pdf|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=16 January 2016|page=42|date=1980}}</ref> Between 1980 and 1990, the number of foreign-born people from Iran in the United States increased by 74 percent.<ref name="migrationinformation.org"/>
The revolution caused a drastic change in the Iranian culture. Iran was no longer a thriving country. This is part of the reason so many Iranians began to flee to America.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Malekzadeh|first=Shervin|date=2019-12-10|title=What It Means to Be Iranian in America|journal=Foreign Affairs: America and the World|language=en-US|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2019-05-03/what-it-means-be-iranian-america|access-date=2020-11-02|issn=0015-7120}}</ref>
=== Contemporary period ===
[[File:Max Amini Persian American Stand Up Comedian 2015.jpg|thumb|[[Max Amini]], Iranian American stand-up comedian.]]
The third phase of Iranian immigration started in 1995 and continues to the present.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1078}} According to the [[2000 US census]], there were 283,225 Iranian-born people in the US.<ref>{{cite web|title=Profile of Selected Demographic and Social Characteristics: 2000 Population Universe; People Born in Iran|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/stp-159/STP-159-iran.pdf|website=United States Census Bureau|access-date=15 January 2016}}</ref> According to the same 2000 US census, there were 385,488 Americans of Iranian ancestry at that time.<ref name="2000 ancestry">{{cite book|title=Ancestry: 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=17 December 2012|url=https://archive.org/details/Ancestry2000}}</ref> The 2011 [[American Community Survey]] (ACS) estimate found 470,341 Americans with full or partial Iranian ancestry.<ref name="archive1" /> However, most experts believe that this is a problem of underrepresenting due to the fact that "many community members have been reluctant in identifying themselves as such because of the problems between Iran and the United States in the past two decades." and also because many were ethnic minorities (Jewish, Armenian, and Assyrian Iranians) who instead identify as the ethnic group they are part of rather than as Iranians.<ref name="Bahareh H">Bahareh H. Lampert. ''Voices of New American Women: Visions of Home in the Middle Eastern Diasporic Imagination'' p. 50, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-549-63520-8}}</ref> Estimates of over 1,000,000 are cited by a range of sources, including scholars, media, and community organizations. Kenneth Katzman, specialist in Middle Eastern affairs and part of the [[Congressional Research Service]], in December 2015 estimated the number at over 1,000,000.<ref name="Katzman-2015">{{cite journal|last1=Katzman|first1=Kenneth|title=Iran, Gulf Security, and U.S. Policy|journal=Congressional Research Service Report|date=29 December 2015|url=https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL32048.pdf|access-date=7 January 2016}}</ref> Paul Harvey and Edward Blum of the [[University of Colorado]] and the [[University of San Diego]] in 2012 estimated their number at 1,000,000,<ref name="Paul Harvey">Paul Harvey, Edward Blum. ''The Columbia Guide to Religion in American History'' p. 368. Columbia University Press, 14 February 2012. {{ISBN|978-0-231-14020-1}}</ref> as well as [[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al-Jazeera]].<ref name="aljazeera1">{{cite news|last1=Reinl|first1=James|title=Iranian Americans bank on historic nuclear deal|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/08/iranian-americans-bank-historic-nuclear-deal-150830081203207.html|access-date=7 January 2016|agency=Al-Jazeera}}</ref> According to the [[PAAIA]] (Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans), estimates range from 500,000 to 1,000,000,<ref name="reuters1">{{cite news|last1=Yeganeh|first1=Torbati|title=Iranian-Americans forge a rare bond to support nuclear deal|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-iranianamericans-idUSKCN0QI0E720150813|access-date=7 January 2016|work=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=PAAIA – Demographics & Statistics|url=http://www.paaia.org/CMS/demographics--statistics.aspx|website=Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans|access-date=16 January 2016|archive-date=13 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213190245/http://www.paaia.org/CMS/demographics--statistics.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> numbers backed up by Ronald H. Bayor of the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]] as well.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ronald H. Bayor. ''Multicultural America: An Encyclopedia of the Newest Americans'' ABC-CLIO, 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-313-35787-9}}. p. 1080</ref> ''[[The Atlantic]]'' stated that there were an estimated 1,500,000 Iranians in the United States in 2012.<ref name="theatlantic1">{{cite news|last1=Esfandiari|first1=Golnaz|title=The U.S. Election's Iranian-American Vote: What's It Look Like?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/the-us-elections-iranian-american-vote-whats-it-look-like/264455/|access-date=7 January 2016|agency=The Atlantic}}</ref> The Iranian interest section in Washington, D.C., in 2003 claimed to hold passport information for approximately 900,000 Iranians in the US.<ref name="Bahareh H" /><ref name="niacouncil4">{{cite report |last1=Fata |first1=Soraya |last2=Rafii |first2=Raha |title=Strength in Numbers The Relative Concentration of Iranian Americans Across the United States |url=http://www.niacouncil.org/docs/irancensus.pdf |date=September 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215234826/http://www.niacouncil.org/docs/irancensus.pdf |archive-date=15 February 2020 |page=4 |website=[[National Iranian American Council]] |access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref>
Today, the United States contains the highest number of [[Demography of Iran|Iranians]] outside of Iran. The Iranian-American community has produced [[List of Iranian Americans|individuals notable in many fields]], including medicine, engineering, and business.
== Demographics ==
[[File:Iranian American distribution2.png|thumb|300px|Relative population distribution estimate of 1st and 2nd generation Iranian Americans living in the United States by percentage of total population.<ref>The numbers are partially based on p.37 of ''The Iranian Diaspora: Challenges, Negotiations, and Transformations'' by M. Mobasher. University of Texas Press, 2018. {{ISBN|1477316647}}</ref>
{{legend|#CC0000|> 49% of all Iranians}}
{{legend|#FF6600|6–9% of all Iranians}}
{{legend|#FFFF00|2–5% of all Iranians}}
{{legend|#CCCCCC|< 1% but may still be a notable population}}]]
{{See also|Demography of the United States|Demography of Iran}}
Although Iranians have lived in the United States in relatively small numbers since the 1930s, a large number of Iranian-Americans immigrated to the United States after the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979. Data on this group is well documented by the [[United States Citizenship and Immigration Services]] (USCIS). According to the [[2000 US census]], there were 385,488 Americans of Iranian ancestry at that time.<ref name="2000 ancestry"/> In the 2011 [[American Community Survey|ACS]], the number of Americans of full or partial Iranian ancestry amounted c. 470,341.<ref name="archive1" />
=== Population ===
Federal data on Iranian Americans in the [[2010 United States census]] was not according to race, but rather ancestry, which is collected by the annual [[American Community Survey]] (ACS). Data on Iranian ancestry from the annual ACS is available on the Census Bureau's [[American Factfinder]] website.<ref>{{cite web |title=Community Facts |url=https://www.census.gov |website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref><ref>[http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1005.html The Iranians Count Census Coalition Releases the Special Tabulation Results from the 2010 U.S. Census] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517131107/http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1005.html |date=17 May 2012 }}. Payvand.com.</ref> Racially, on the census, Iranian Americans have been classified as a [[white American]] group.
Most experts believe that the underrepresented number of Iranian-Americans in the ACS is a problem due to the fact that "many community members have been reluctant in identifying themselves as such because of the problems between Iran and the United States in the past two decades."<ref name="Bahareh H" /> Estimations of 1,000,000 and above are given by many Iranian and non-Iranian organizations, media, and scholars. Kenneth Katzman, specialist in Middle Eastern affairs and part of the [[Congressional Research Service]], estimated their number at over 1,000,000 in published December 2015.<ref name="Katzman-2015" /> Historians Paul Harvey and Edward Blum estimate their number at 1,000,000 in 2012,<ref name="Paul Harvey" /> as well as [[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al-Jazeera]].<ref name="aljazeera1" /> According to the [[PAAIA]] (Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian-Americans), estimates range from 500,000 to 1,000,000,<ref name="reuters1" /> numbers backed by Ronald H. Bayor of the [[Georgia Institute of Technology]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /> ''[[The Atlantic]]'', in 2012, stated that there are an estimated 1,500,000 Iranians in the United States.<ref name="theatlantic1" /> The Iranian interest section in Washington D.C., in 2003, claimed to hold passport information for approximately 900,000 Iranians in the US.<ref name="Bahareh H" /><ref name="niacouncil4" />
According to research done by the Iranian Studies Group, an independent academic organization at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT),<ref>{{cite web |title=Iranian Studies Group |url=http://isgmit.org/ |access-date=21 May 2014 |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526165812/https://isgmit.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Iranian Americans are most likely far more numerous in the United States than census data indicate. The group estimates that the number of Iranian-Americans may have topped 691,000 in 2004—more than twice the figure of 338,000 cited in the [[2000 US census]].<ref name="migrationinformation.org" /><ref name="iipdigital.usembassy.gov"/>
Sources from the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Iran)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran]] have stated the United States has the highest number of [[Iranian diaspora|Iranians outside the country]], stating 1,500,000 [[Iranian peoples|Iranians]] who were born in Iran are living in the U.S. However this number only represents Iranian born population who moved to the U.S. at some point and does not include the number of U.S.-born Iranian-Americans and other groups with Iranian ancestors.<ref name="iranian.mfa.ir" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gostaresh.news/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%D8%B3%D8%A8%DA%A9-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%DB%8C-3/156464-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%A7%DA%A9%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%85-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%86%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1 |title = آمار پراکندگی ایرانیان مقیم خارج از کشور + نمودار}}</ref>
Roughly half of the nation's Iranians reside in the state of [[California]] alone.<ref name="Amirani" /> Other large communities include [[New York (state)|New York]]/[[New Jersey]], which have 9.1% of the U.S.'s Iranian population, followed by [[Washington, D.C.]]/[[Maryland]]/[[Virginia]] (8.3%) and [[Texas]] (6.7%).<ref name="niacouncil1" /><ref name="payvand3">[http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1170.html Iranian-Americans and the 2010 Census: Did We Shrink?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710013214/http://www.payvand.com/news/12/may/1170.html |date=10 July 2017 }}, by Hossein Hosseini. Payvand.com.</ref>
Approximately 6,000–10,000 Iranian Americans reside in the city of [[Chicago]], while up to 30,000 reside in the [[Chicago metropolitan area]]. Some of this population is Iranian Assyrian.<ref>{{cite web|first=James S.|last=Kessler|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/650.html|title=Iranians|publisher=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org|date=2005|access-date=12 January 2016}}</ref>
[[Kings Point, New York]], a village in [[Great Neck]], New York, is said to have the largest concentration of Iranians in the United States (nearly 30%).<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancestry Maps |url=http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/Iranian.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412041444/http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/Iranian.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 April 2018 |website=[[ePodunk]] |access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> However, unlike the population in Los Angeles, the Great Neck population is almost exclusively [[Persian Jews|Jewish]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/iranian-americans-gain-political-clout-in-great-neck-peninsula-as-demographics-shift-n31155|title=Iranian-Americans gain political clout in Great Neck peninsula as demographics shift|website=Newsday}}</ref>
[[Nashville, Tennessee]] has the largest Kurdish population in the United States,many of whom emigrated from Iran.
==== Significant Iranian population centers ====
===== California =====
[[Image:Tehrangelesstore.jpg|thumb|right| The [[Los Angeles metropolitan area]] has the largest concentration of Iranian-Americans. An area along Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles has been officially designated [[Tehrangeles|Persian Square]] by the city.]]
It is widely believed that most Iranian-Americans in the United States are clustered in the large cities of California, namely [[Greater Los Angeles]], the [[San Francisco Bay Area]], [[San Diego]], [[Sacramento]], and [[Fresno]]. According to extrapolated U.S. census data and other independent surveys done by Iranian-Americans themselves in 2009, there were an estimated one million Iranian-Americans living in the U.S.,<ref name="Ansari-2009">{{cite news|first=Azadeh |last=Ansari |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/12/iran.elections.voting/ |title=Iranian-Americans cast ballots on Iran's future |publisher=CNN |date=16 June 2009 |access-date=15 February 2010}}</ref> with the largest concentration—about 300,000 people—living in the greater Los Angeles area.<ref name="Ansari-2009" /><ref name=WJ>''The Wall Street Journal'', [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124519742555921221 Iran's Political Crisis Fuels Expatriates' Fears, Hopes]</ref> For this reason, the Westwood, L.A. area, with its Iranian American residents, is sometimes colloquially referred to as "[[Tehrangeles]]", "Irangeles", or "Little Persia" among Iranian-Americans.<ref name="Hassanpour-1996" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Iranians at odds over talks with 'the Great Satan' |newspaper=[[The Sunday Telegraph]] |date=4 June 2006 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/04/wiran04.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226132142/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F06%2F04%2Fwiran04.xml |archive-date=26 February 2008 |___location=London |access-date=5 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1985, the [[Los Angeles Times]] estimated 200,000 Iranian-Americans were living in California; and by 1991 the estimate jumped to 800,000, however the accuracy of these numbers could be debated due to a lack of data.<ref name="Naficy-1993" /><ref name="Hassanpour-1996" /> In 1990, Los Angeles had a larger population of religious minorities than Muslims, who were the religious majority in Iran.<ref name="Hassanpour-1996" />
Regarding Iranian-Americans of [[Iranian Armenians|Armenian]] origin, the [[1980 US census]] put the number of Armenians living in Los Angeles at 52,400, of whom 71.9% were foreign born: 14.7% in Iran, 14.3% in the [[USSR]], 11.5% in [[Lebanon]], 9.7% in [[Turkey]], 11.7% in other [[Middle East]]ern countries (Egypt, [[Iraq]], [[State of Israel|Israel]], etc.), and the rest in other parts of the world.{{sfn|Bakalian|1993|p=16}} [[Beverly Hills]], [[Irvine, California|Irvine]], and [[Glendale, California|Glendale]] all have large communities of Iranian-Americans (much of the Iranian population in Glendale being of Armenian descent); 26% of the total population of Beverly Hills is [[Iranian Jewish]], making it the city's largest religious community.<ref name="niacouncil1" /><ref name="census1">[https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_5YR_B04001&prodType=table Universe: Total population more information 2006–2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200212210809/https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_5YR_B04001&prodType=table |date=12 February 2020 }}. factfinder2.census.gov</ref><ref name="iranirvine">''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-nov-09-me-sukhee9-story.html Irvine embraces diversity at the polls], 9 November 2008.</ref>
Iranian-Americans have formed [[ethnic enclaves]] in many affluent neighborhoods mostly in the [[Los Angeles]] metropolitan area. In [[Los Angeles]], Iranians were concentrated in [[Tarzana, Los Angeles|Tarzana]], [[West Hills, Los Angeles, California|West Hills]], [[Hidden Hills]], [[Woodland Hills, Los Angeles|Woodland Hills]], [[Beverly Hills]], [[Calabasas, California|Calabasas]], [[Brentwood, Los Angeles|Brentwood]], and [[Rancho Palos Verdes]].<ref name="2011 Language Mapper">{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/language_map.html|title=2011 Language Mapper}}</ref> [[Tarzana, Los Angeles|Tarzana]] has the highest concentration of Iranians in Los Angeles County, according to the US census in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/tarzana/|title=Tarzana|website=Mapping L.A.}}</ref>
Second-generation Iranian Americans living outside major population centers showed high rates of intermarriage and lower [[Persian language|Persian]] .<ref name="2011 Language Mapper" />literacy.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+'''Areas in Los Angeles with the highest concentrations of Iranians (2015)'''
! colspan=1 | Rank
! colspan=1 | Cities
! colspan=1 | Percentage of population of Iranian descent<ref>{{cite news|title=MAPPING L.A. Neighborhoods|newspaper=LA Times|url=http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/}}</ref>
|-
| align=center | 1
| [[Beverly Hills]]
| align=right | 20.8%
|-
| align=center | 2
| [[West Los Angeles]]
| align=right | 12.2%
|-
| align=center | 3
| [[Westwood, Los Angeles|Westwood]]
| align=right | 10.3%
|-
| align=center | 4
| [[Tarzana, Los Angeles]]
| align=right | 10.3%
|-
| align=center | 5
| [[Woodland Hills, Los Angeles]]
| align=right | 8.8%
|-
| align=center | 6
| [[Bel Air, Los Angeles]]
| align=right | 8.8%
|-
| align=center | 7
| [[Century City]]
| align=right | 8.1%
|-
| align=center | 8
| [[Rancho Palos Verdes]]
| align=right| 3.7%
|}
In San Diego County, the communities of [[La Jolla]] and Westlake village also held a large Iranian population. La Jolla was the first American city to have an Iranian American mayor Iraj Broomand.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Osborne |first1=Lawrence |title=Iranians settle on Girard Avenue to show carpets |url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1993/apr/01/cover-why-iranians-choose-la-jolla/ |website=San Diego Reader}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mayor makes history |url=https://www.dailynews.com/2007/03/27/mayor-makes-history/ |website=Daily News|date=27 March 2007 }}</ref>
=====Texas=====
Texas also has a large population of Iranian descent.<ref>Mobasher M. ''Iranians in Texas: Migration, Politics, and Ethnic Identity''. University of Texas Press, 2012. {{ISBN|0292742827}}</ref> And like California, Iranians in Texas are concentrated in the larger major cities of the state. [[Houston]] has the largest population of Iranians and Iranian expats, with an estimated 70,000 residents (50,000 in 1994),<ref>{{cite news |last=Cook |first=Alison |date=15 September 1994 |title=Touring Little Persia |url=https://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/touring-little-persia-6590633 |access-date=4 September 2019 |newspaper=Houston Press}}</ref> mainly due to the [[Texas Medical Center]] and the presence of large energy companies. Houston contains an Iranian business district including shops and restaurants that has been dubbed "Little Persia" by the ''[[Houston Press]]''.<ref name=CookLittlePersia1>Cook, Allison. "Touring Little Persia," ''[[Houston Press]]''. 15 September 1994. p. [http://www.houstonpress.com/1994-09-15/restaurants/touring-little-persia/ 1]. Retrieved on 12 May 2014.</ref><ref name=FischerAbedip269>Fischer and Abedi, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=J5RGlpx0j8sC&pg=PA269 269].</ref> There are many Iranian Zoroastrians<ref name=Rustomjip249>Rustomji, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AT57AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA249 249].</ref> and [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]] living there.<ref>Karkabi, Barbara. "[http://www.chron.com/life/houston-belief/article/Bahai-Faith-adherents-value-unity-education-1635171.php Bahai Faith adherents value unity, education]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. 11 November 2006. Houston Belief. Retrieved on 3 May 2014.</ref><ref>Shellnutt, Kate. "[http://blog.chron.com/believeitornot/2010/02/local-bahais-pray-for-jailed-leaders-in-iran/ Local Baha'is pray for jailed leaders in Iran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503074017/http://blog.chron.com/believeitornot/2010/02/local-bahais-pray-for-jailed-leaders-in-iran/ |date=3 May 2014 }}," ''[[Houston Chronicle]],'' 8 February 2010. Retrieved on 3 May 2014.</ref>
Some of the more well known residents of the Houston area in the past or present are [[Jasmin Moghbeli]], [[Susan Roshan]], [[Shawn Daivari]], [[Farinaz Koushanfar]], [[Haydeh]], [[Mahasti]] and Kavon Hakimzadeh (captain of the [[USS Harry Truman|US09S Harry Truman]] Naval aircraft carrier).<ref>{{Cite web |title=This aircraft carrier skipper fled Iran as a child. Now he's preparing to deploy amid heightened tensions |url=https://www.pilotonline.com/military/article_b54646ec-bdd2-11e9-bcfd-1764174ab98f.html}}</ref> [[Ibrahim Yazdi]] was a graduate of [[Baylor College of Medicine]] and [[Kamal Kharazi]] also is an alumnus of [[University of Houston]]. [[Hushang Ansary]], an active philanthropist, has been a "founding benefactor" of the [[Houston Museum of Fine Arts]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Founders |url=http://islamicart.mfah.org/friends-arts-islamic-world/founders/ |website=Art of the Islamic World at the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]] |access-date=4 September 2019 |archive-date=27 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727232420/http://islamicart.mfah.org/friends-arts-islamic-world/founders/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.papercitymag.com/society/art-islamic-world-million-gift-hushang-ansary-mfah/ |title = A$1 Million Gift Plus $4 Million in Jewelry and a Horde of Priceless Persian Art? This Islamic Worlds Affair is the Richest Gala Ever|date = 22 November 2017}}</ref> The George Bush Presidential Library has a gallery named after him.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://leadbyexample.tamu.edu/story-20thanniversary.html | title=Story | Bush Library 20th Anniversary Exhibit | Lead by Example | access-date=27 July 2019 | archive-date=26 February 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226054605/http://leadbyexample.tamu.edu/story-20thanniversary.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.bush41.org/exhibits/single-exhibit?id=39 |title = George H.W. Bush Library Center}}</ref> Iranians in Houston particularly came under the spotlight when Iranian student and activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh was murdered in Houston in 2012.<ref name=Krielnoanswers>{{cite news|author=Kriel, Lomi|url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Still-no-answers-6-months-after-Iranian-student-s-3763359.php|title=Still no answers 6 months after Iranian student's killing|newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]]|date=2012-08-06|access-date=2018-09-10}}</ref> The perpetrator, [[Ali Irsan]], was later convicted and sentenced to death for the crime,<ref name=RogersBriandeathsentence>{{cite news|author=Rogers, Brian|url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Jury-gives-decides-on-death-sentence-for-Jordian-13155493.php|title=Jury delivers death sentence for Jordanian immigrant convicted of two Houston-area 'honor killings'|newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]]|date=2018-08-14|access-date=2018-09-09}}</ref> an [[honor killing]] in retaliation against Bagherzadeh's encouragement of Irsan's daughter to leave Islam and marry a Christian man.<ref name=KTRKweb>{{cite web|url=https://abc13.com/tangled-web-sorting-out-so-called-houston-honor-killings/3651326/|title=TANGLED WEB: Sorting out the timeline of the so-called Houston 'honor killings'|publisher=[[KTRK-TV]]|date=2018-06-25|access-date=2018-09-09}}</ref><ref name=Rogerswifetest>{{cite news|author=Rogers, Brian|url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Wife-testifies-her-husband-on-trial-for-two-13085931.php|title=Wife testifies her husband confessed to pulling the trigger in one of two Houston-area 'honor killings'|newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]]|date=2018-06-18|access-date=2018-09-09}}</ref> The other notable Iranian in Texas that gained national attention in recent years was [[UT Austin]]'s [[Omid Kokabee]] who was imprisoned in Iran for political reasons.
The [[Dallas-Fort Worth]] metropolitan area is estimated to have over 30,000 Iranian-Americans. Iran's first astronaut [[Anousheh Ansari]] for many years was a resident of [[Plano, Texas]], a suburb of [[Dallas-Fort Worth]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Iranian community in North Texas |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/texasbaptists/intercultural-ministry/IRANIAN-COMMUNITY-IN-NORTH-TEXAS.pdf |website=Texas Baptists: Intercultural Ministry |access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> Dallas' Iranian community was large and influential enough to host US Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] for a private visit in April 2019.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.axios.com/pompeo-opposes-iran-military-intervention-bolton-giuliani-370041ea-a1c4-400e-aa0e-cb5907543305.html |title = Trump administration opposes military intervention in Iran|date = 21 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/439938-pompeo-privately-said-trump-administration-will | title=Pompeo privately said Trump administration will not pursue military intervention in Iran: Report| date=21 April 2019}}</ref> And San Antonio and Austin each are said to have 3000–5000 Iranian American residents each, who are mostly attracted to large academic centers of excellence such as [[South Texas Medical Center]] and [[UT Austin]] or the climate of the [[Texas Hill Country]] area that is not un-similar to the southern Iran [[Zagros Mountains]] region. The largest concentration of [[Mandaeans]] from [[Khuzestan]] outside the middle east are settled in the San Antonio area.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Iranian-refugees-seeking-to-settle-in-San-Antonio-12725764.php |title = Iranian refugees seeking to settle in San Antonio have detoured into limbo|date = 4 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/We-are-not-others-San-Antonio-is-their-home-8337106.php | title='We are not others': San Antonio is their home| date=2 July 2016}}</ref> The Shah of Iran was also last hospitalized at San Antonio's [[Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center]] in [[Lackland Air Force Base]] during his last days.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912544,00.html|title=The Storm over the Shah – Time|date=14 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214185940/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912544,00.html |archive-date=14 February 2008 }}</ref> This is the same base that trained many pilots of Iran's Royal Air Force before the 1979 revolution.
<gallery class="center">
File:4shanbeh jashn.jpg|Public party during [[Chaharshanbe Suri]] in San Antonio.
File:Rooznameh Dallas.jpg|''Shahrvand'' newsletter has been published in Dallas for over 20 years.
File:Chelokababi san antonio.JPG|A popular Iranian restaurant in southern Texas.
File:Kavon Hakimzadeh (1).jpg|[[Kavon Hakimzadeh]] the captain of the [[USS Harry S. Truman|USS Harry Truman]] is a Texan by birth.
</gallery>
=== Religion ===
{{See also|Irreligion in Iran|Religion in Iran}}
Many Iranian-Americans are non-Muslim due to the religious composition of those fleeing the [[Iranian Revolution]], which included a disproportionate share of Iran's religious minorities, as well as subsequent ex-Muslim asylum seekers and other conversions away from Islam. Many Iranian Americans identify as [[Irreligion in Iran|irreligious]] or [[Shiite]], but a full one-fifth are [[Christians]], [[Jews]], [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]], or [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]].<ref name="multicultural">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ1zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1229 |title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia, Volume 1 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |date=2013 |isbn=9781452276267 }}</ref> Additionally, there are also some Iranian [[Mandaeism|Mandaeans]], but they are very small in number. According to Pew Research, about 22% of those who left Islam in the United States are Iranian Americans.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/26/the-share-of-americans-who-leave-islam-is-offset-by-those-who-become-muslim/ | title=Islam gains about as many converts as it loses in U.S}}</ref>
A 2012 national telephone survey of a sample of 400 Iranian-Americans, commissioned by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans and conducted by Zogby Research Services, asked the respondents what their religions were. The responses broke down as follows: [[Muslim]] 31%, [[atheist]]/[[Philosophical realism|realist]]/[[Religious humanism|humanist]] 11%, [[agnostic]] 8%, Baháʼí 7%, [[Jewish]] 5%, [[Protestant]] 5%, [[Roman Catholic]] 2%, [[Zoroastrian]] 2%, "Other" 15%, and "No response" 15%.<ref name="paaia survey" /> The survey had a cooperation rate of 31.2%.<ref name="paaia survey" /> The [[margin of error]] for the results was +/- 5 percentage points, with higher margins of error for sub-groups.<ref name="paaia survey" /> Notably, the number of Muslims decreased from 42% in 2008 to 31% in 2012.<ref name="paaia survey" /><ref name="paaia1">{{cite web|url=http://paaia.org/galleries/new-gallery/Survey_of_Iranian_Americans_Final_Report_Dec_10%202008.pdf|title=Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans|publisher=PAAIA|date=December 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221105629/http://paaia.org/galleries/new-gallery/Survey_of_Iranian_Americans_Final_Report_Dec_10%202008.pdf|archive-date=21 December 2008}}</ref>
According to [[Harvard University]]'s [[Robert D. Putnam]], the average Iranian is slightly less religious than the average American.<ref name="irreligion2">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/14/169164840/losing-our-religion-the-growth-of-the-nones|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115065630/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/14/169164840/losing-our-religion-the-growth-of-the-nones|archive-date=15 January 2013 |title=Losing Our Religion: The Growth of The 'Nones' |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=13 January 2013 }}</ref> In the book ''Social Movements in 20th Century Iran: Culture, Ideology, and Mobilizing Frameworks'', author Stephen C. Poulson adds that [[Westernization|Western ideas]] are making Iranians [[Irreligion|irreligious]].<ref name="irreligion4">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpPeyef-FO4C&pg=PA13 |title=Social Movements in 20th Century Iran: Culture, Ideology, and Mobilizing Frameworks |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield|Lexington Books]] |date=2005 |isbn=9780739117576 }}</ref>
There are religious and [[Ethnolinguistics|ethnolinguistic]] differences among the Muslim, Jewish, Baháʼí, Zoroastrian, Christian, [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]], [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]], and [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] groups.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Nilou|last=Mostofi|jstor=4120728|title=Who We Are: The Perplexity of Iranian-American Identity|journal=The Sociological Quarterly|volume=44|issue=4|pages=681–703|year=2003|doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.2003.tb00531.x|citeseerx=10.1.1.618.7415|s2cid=145195478}}</ref> Calculating the percentage of [[Christianity in Iran|Christian]] Iranian-Americans is difficult because most Iranian Christians (especially those raised in the faith) are of [[Armenians|Armenian]] or [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] origin; and, apart from identifying as Iranian, a number amongst them also strongly self-identifies as Armenian or Assyrian, rather than as (or apart from) Iranian.<ref name="paaia2" /><ref>{{cite journal|first=Mohsen |last=Mobasher |title=Cultural Trauma and Ethnic Identity Formation Among Iranian Immigrants in the United States |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |volume=50 |pages=100–117 |date=1 September 2006 |doi=10.1177/0002764206289656 |s2cid=145633929 }}</ref>
=== Ethnicity ===
The majority of Iranian-Americans are ethnic [[Persian people|Persians]], with sizeable ethnic minorities being [[Iranian Azerbaijanis]], [[Iranian Armenians|Armenians]], [[Iranian Jews]], [[Kurds]], [[Assyrians in Iran|Assyrians]], [[Mandaeans]], [[Turkmens|Turkmen]], [[Baloch people|Baloch]], [[Arabs in Iran|Arabs]], among others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/isg/survey.htm|title=Iranian Studies Group at MIT, Iranian-American Community Survey Results, 2005|publisher=Web.mit.edu|access-date=28 November 2011|archive-date=25 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125033802/http://web.mit.edu/isg/survey.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
According to Hakimzadeh and Dixon in 2006, members of religious and ethnic minorities such as Baháʼís, Jews, Armenians, and Assyrians were disproportionately represented amongst the early exiles of the 1978–1979 revolution.<ref name=MigPolicyI/>
=== Citizenship ===
According to [[Department of Homeland Security|DHS]], in 2015, 13,114 people born in Iran were issued [[Permanent residence (United States)|green card]]s, while 13,298 were issued one in 2016. In 2015, 10,344 Iranians became naturalized, with a further 9,507 in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-administration-granted-citizenship-to-2500-iranians-during-nuclear-deal-iran-official | title=Obama administration granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians during nuclear deal: Iran official| website=[[Fox News]]| date=28 June 2018}}</ref> Nearly all Iranians who reside in the United States are either [[U.S. citizen|citizens]] (81%) or [[permanent residency|permanent residents]] (15%) of the United States (2008 survey).<ref name="paaia survey 2008">{{cite web|url=http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/PDFs/survey_of_iranian_americans_final_report_dec_102008.pdf|title=2008 National Survey of Iranian Americans|publisher=[[PAAIA]]|date=December 2008|access-date=12 January 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191531/http://www.paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/PDFs/survey_of_iranian_americans_final_report_dec_102008.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Iranian-Americans regard their [[Culture of Iran|culture]] and heritage as an important component of their day-to-day life and their overall identity within the United States.<ref name=Payvand>[http://www.payvand.com/news/11/dec/1089.html PAAIA Releases 2011 National Survey of Iranian Americans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110183358/http://www.payvand.com/news/11/dec/1089.html |date=10 January 2012 }}. Payvand.com (7 December 2011).</ref>
== Integration ==
Four benchmarks are traditionally used to measure assimilation: language proficiency, intermarriage, spatial concentration, and socio-economic status.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}} Per these criteria, one can determine with a significant degree of confidence that the Iranian-American community has made significant strides in successfully assimilating to a new culture and way of living.<ref name="paaia2" /> According to a survey commissioned by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) in 2008, only 21 percent of Iranian-Americans reported interacting mostly with other Iranian Americans outside of their workplace, demonstrating that most of them have successfully integrated into United States society.<ref name="paaia2" />
The intermarriage rate is very high among Iranian Americans.<ref name="paaia2" /> It has been estimated that nearly 50 percent of Iranian-Americans who married between 1995 and 2007 married non-Iranian Americans.<ref name="paaia2" /> Research has furthermore indicated that Iranian-Americans who are Muslim are more open to intermarry than those who are members of religious or ethnic minorities, such as Jews and Armenians.<ref name="paaia2" /> Compared to men, Iranian women are less likely to mix or intermarry outside their group, which, according to the PAAIA, is likely because, as a group, they are more likely to adhere to traditional Iranian values, including making marriages that are approved by their families and are within Iranian cultural norms.<ref name="paaia2" /> Regarding language proficiency in the United States among its immigrant groups, the first generation principally speaks their native language, the second generation speaks both English and their parents' language, and the third generation typically speaks only English, while maintaining a knowledge of some isolated words and phrases from their ancestral tongue.<ref name="paaia2" /> The Iranian American community follows this pattern.<ref name="paaia2" />
=== Community outreach ===
Camp Ayandeh, sponsored annually by the Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB), has attracted children of the [[Iranian diaspora]] from multiple nations with the intention of uniting Iranian youth following the mass migration after the [[Iranian Revolution|fall of the Shah]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ariosto |first=David |title=Iranian-American youth struggle to define themselves |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/21/camp.ayandeh/ |date=21 July 2008 |website=CNN |access-date=13 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tina Pak: From Tehran to Camp Ayandeh |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/10/aug/1267.html |website=Payvand.com |access-date=2019-06-13 |archive-date=14 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114234213/http://www.payvand.com/news/10/aug/1267.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
=== Education ===
{{See also|Education in Iran}}
According to Bayor, from the very beginning, Iranian immigrants differed from other arrivals in their high educational and professional achievements.{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1081}} According to [[census 2000]], 50.9 percent of Iranian immigrants have attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to a 28.0 percent national average.<ref name="migrationinformation.org" /> According to the latest census data available, more than one in four Iranian-Americans holds a master's or doctoral degree, the highest rate among 67 ethnic groups studied.<ref name="payvand.com">{{cite web |date=24 November 2006 |title=Iranian-Americans Reported Among Most Highly Educated in U.S. |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/04/jan/1191.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306045630/http://www.payvand.com/news/04/jan/1191.html |archive-date=6 March 2023 |access-date=15 February 2010 |publisher=Payvand.com}}</ref>
A 1990 [[University of California, Los Angeles]] study showed that by virtue of education and occupation, native-born and Armenian-Americans of [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] origin "tend to have the highest socioeconomic status... while those from Turkey have the lowest", although Turkish Armenians boast the highest rate of self-employment.{{sfn|Sabagh|Bozorgmehr|Der-Martirosian|1990|p=9}} In 1988, a ''[[New York Times]]'' article claimed that Middle Eastern Armenians, which includes Armenians from Iran, preferred to settle in [[Glendale, California]], while Armenian immigrants from the Soviet Union were attracted to Hollywood, Los Angeles.<ref name="ny times 1988">{{cite news|last=Reinhold|first=Robert|title=Echoes From Armenia in Southern California|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/21/us/echoes-from-armenia-in-southern-california.html|access-date=3 December 2012|date=21 March 1988|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
A study regarding [[Armenian American|Americans of Armenian descent]] showed that Armenians from Iran (Iranian-Armenians) are known for quick integration into American society:<ref>{{cite book|last=Parks|first=Lisa|title=Planet TV: a global television reader|year=2003|publisher=New York University Press|___location=New York|isbn=978-0-8147-6692-7|author2=Kumar, Shanti|page=395}}</ref> for example, only 31% of Armenian Americans born in Iran claim not to speak English well,{{sfn|Samkian|2007|p=102}} while those Armenians from other nations were shown to have less success at integrating.
=== Occupations and income ===
The [[Small Business Administration]] (SBA) conducted a study that found Iranian immigrants among the top 20 immigrant groups with the highest rate of business ownership, contributing substantially to the U.S. economy. According to the report, there were 33,570 active and contributing Iranian American business owners in the U.S., with a 21.5% business ownership rate. The study also found that the total net business income generated by Iranian Americans was $2.56 billion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/08/nov/1171.html |title=SBA Report: Iranian-Americans with one of highest rates of immigrant-owned businesses |publisher=Payvand.com |date=22 November 2006 |access-date=15 February 2010 |archive-date=14 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214044826/http://www.payvand.com/news/08/nov/1171.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Almost one in three Iranian-American households have annual incomes of more than $100,000 (compared to one in five for the overall U.S. population).<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans |url=http://paaia.org/galleries/new-gallery/Survey_of_Iranian_Americans_Final_Report_Dec_10%202008.pdf |date=December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305174833/http://paaia.org/galleries/new-gallery/Survey_of_Iranian_Americans_Final_Report_Dec_10%202008.pdf |website=Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans |archive-date=5 March 2009 |access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref> Ali Mostasahri, a founding member of the Iranian Studies Group, offers a reason for the relative success of Iranian-Americans compared to other immigrants. He believes that, unlike many other immigrants who left their home countries because of economic hardships, Iranians left due to social or religious reasons like the 1979 revolution.<ref name="iipdigital.usembassy.gov" /> About 50 percent of all working Iranian Americans are in professional and managerial occupations, a percentage greater than any other group in the United States (Bayor, 2011).{{sfn|Bayor|2011|page=1081}}
==== Physicians ====
{{See also|Iranian American Medical Association}}
The earliest Iranian people in the U.S. were mostly young trainees who worked as medical interns or residents. Some established themselves to continue practice beyond the residency stage. Their motives to extend their stay in the United States were more for professional than economic reasons. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in 1974 reported, in the ''Journal of the American Medical Association'', that, in 1971, the number of Iranian physicians in the U.S. was 1,625. The authors further studied the causes for immigration by sending questionnaire to all Iranian MDs in the United States. According to the 660 respondents, the main reasons for migration were mandatory two-years' military service, low salaries as compared to the United States, expensive housing, and socio-political reasons.<ref>39. Ronaghy HA, Williams KN, Baker TD, Emigration of Iranian Physicians to the United States, A Ten-Year Follow-up of Graduates of Shiraz Medical School. Pahlavi Med J. 1973; 4:174–193.</ref>
In 2013, another report was published, in the ''Archive of Iranian Medicine'' (AIM), saying that, post-revolution, the number of Iranian medical school graduates in the United States had grown to 5,045. Those who migrated to the U.S. after the 1979 revolution were mostly experienced physicians who came with their families and an intent to stay permanently. {{As of|2013}}, there are 5,050 Iranian medical school graduates in the United States.<ref>Ronaghy HA, Shajari A, Islamic Revolution and Physician Migration Archive of Iranian Medicine 2013; 16: 10</ref>
Prior to the revolution, the 1,626 physicians migrated to the United States were 15% of all Iranian medical school graduates, while the 5,045 medical graduates who migrated post-Islamic Revolution represent only 5% of total Iranian medical graduates. This is not indicative of the entire United States, merely of the areas in which most of the Iranian-American population is concentrated.<ref>Ronaghy HA, Cahill K Baker TD, Physician Migration to the United States: One Country's Transfusion is Another Country's Hemorrhage. J Am Med Assoc. 1974: 227: 538–542</ref>
== Politics ==
{{See also|Iran–US relations|US sanctions against Iran}}
[[File:Stephanie Bice 117th U.S Congress.jpg|thumb|left|[[Stephanie Bice]] the first Iranian American elected to Congress, from the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].]]
[[File:Iranian-american.png|thumb|Most important issues to the Iranian-American community]]
Though Iranian-Americans have historically excelled in business, academia, and the sciences, they have traditionally shied away from participating in American politics or other civic activities.<ref name="Ansari-2009" /> Iranian-Americans do not appear to engage in American politics, as demonstrated by survey results from large cities showing only 10 percent of them voted in the 2004 election.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McIntosh|first1=Phyllis|title=Iranian-Americans Reported Among Most Highly Educated in U.S. |url=http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2004/01/20040113191603atarukp0.6147425.html#axzz3YICKQIYH|website=IIP Digital|publisher=State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs|access-date=25 April 2015}}</ref>
In Los Angeles, Iranian Americans paid for a billboard to inform thousands of travelers on the 405 freeway of how the Iranian regime had murdered ten thousand political prisoners.<ref name="Persia on the Pacific">{{cite magazine |last1=Bahrampour |first1=Tara |title=Persia on the Pacific |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=3 November 2003 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/11/10/persia-on-the-pacific?verso=true}}</ref>
An August 2008 Zogby International poll, commissioned by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, found that approximately one-half of Iranian Americans identified themselves as registered [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], in contrast to one in eight as [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and one in four as independents (2008).<ref name="paaia survey 2008" /> A 2019 Zogby International survey, commissioned by PAAIA, found that in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 presidential election]], 56% of Iranian Americans respondents voted for [[Hillary Clinton]], the Democratic candidate. The survey also states that 69% of Iranian American respondents planned to vote for the Democratic candidate in the [[2020 american election|2020 election]].<ref>"The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans National Opinion Survey 2019" (PDF). ''PAAIA''. August 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2020</ref>
The same 2008 PAAIA poll indicates that more than half of Iranian Americans cite domestic U.S. issues, including issues that are not unique to Iranian Americans, as the most important to them. In contrast, one quarter of Iranian Americans cite foreign policy issues involving [[Iran–United States relations|Iran–U.S. relations]] and less than one-in-ten cite the internal affairs of Iran as being of greatest importance to them.<ref name="paaia survey 2008" />
More recently, the 2019 Zogby International survey, commissioned by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, found that one-half of Iranian American respondents consider foreign policy most important when voting.<ref name="PAAIA-2019">{{Cite web|date=August 2019|title=The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans National Opinion Survey 2019|url=https://paaia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PAAIA-2019-Survey.pdf|access-date=7 December 2020|website=PAAIA}}</ref> This is a significant increase from the one quarter of Iranian Americans that reported foreign policy issues, such as the Iran-U.S. relationship, as important in 2008.
Similarly, the 2019 survey also suggested that 75% of Iranian American respondents perceived the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump Administration]]'s Iranian foreign policy negatively.<ref name="PAAIA-2019" /> In 2017, the Trump administration put strict travel restrictions on travel to the United States from several countries, including Iran.<ref>Executive Order 13769 of January 27, 2017: Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States. Executive Office of the President. 82 FR 8977–8982. February 1, 2017.</ref> The survey indicates that this [[Trump travel ban|travel ban]] instituted by the Trump administration in 2017, received opposition from 76% of respondents. In contrast, only 16% of respondents supported the ban. The survey states that 70% of respondents have been personally affected by the travel ban, or had family and friends affected by the ban.<ref name="PAAIA-2019" />
From 1980 to 2004, more than one out of every four Iranian immigrants was a refugee or asylee.<ref name="migrationinformation.org" /> The [[PAAIA]]/Zogby poll cites that almost three-quarters of Iranian-Americans believe the promotion of [[Human rights in Iran|human rights]] and democracy in Iran is the most important issue relating to Iran–U.S. relations. About the same percentage believe diplomacy is the foreign policy approach towards Iran that would be in the best interest of the United States. 84% support establishing a U.S. Interest Section in Iran.<ref name="paaia survey 2008" /> Nearly all Iranian Americans surveyed [[Opposition to military action against Iran|oppose any U.S. military attack against Iran]].<ref name="payvand2">{{cite web |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/09/nov/1125.html |title=PAAIA Releases 2009 National Survey of Iranian Americans |publisher=Payvand.com |access-date=15 February 2010 |archive-date=16 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091116145139/http://www.payvand.com/news/09/nov/1125.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Ties to Iran ==
{{See also|Communications in Iran|Economy of Iran|Tehran Stock Exchange}}
According to a survey conducted in 2009, more than six in ten Iranian Americans have immediate family members in [[Iran]], and almost three in ten communicate with their families or friends in Iran at least several times a week. An additional four in ten communicate with their families or friends in Iran at least several times a month. This study indicates an unusually close relationship between Iranian-Americans and [[Iran]]ians.<ref name="payvand2" />
In the updated 2019 PAAIA survey, 15% of Iranian American respondents reported contacting with friends and family in Iran daily, while 26% of respondents communicated with relatives in Iran several times a week. Additionally, 26% of Iranian American respondents contacted with family and friends in Iran several times a month, and 14% communicated with relatives in Iran several times a year. The survey also indicated that 74% of Iranian American respondents preferred contacting their relatives in Iran via phone calls, but communication over mobile communications apps and internet services had increased to 69% and 66% respectively.<ref name="PAAIA-2019" />
As of 2013, U.S. laws require [[U.S. person]]s to obtain a license from the U.S. [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] (OFAC) to engage in transactions related to the sale of their [[Construction in Iran#history|personal property in Iran]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Farhad R. |last=Alavi |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/10/dec/1295.html |title=How U.S. Laws Can Affect Your Personal Affairs in Iran |publisher=Payvand.com |date=31 December 2010 |access-date=12 January 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304204955/http://www.payvand.com/news/10/dec/1295.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Similarly, U.S. persons will need a license from OFAC to open a bank account or transfer money to Iran.<ref>{{cite web |first=Tyler |last=Cullis |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/14/apr/1017.html |title=Banks Targeting Iranian Americans – What Are Your Rights? |publisher=Payvand.com |date=4 April 2014 |access-date=12 January 2016 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924122405/http://www.payvand.com/news/14/apr/1017.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Travel to Iran===
{{See also|Tourism in Iran}}
The U.S. government does not have diplomatic or consular relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and therefore cannot provide protection or routine consular services to U.S. citizens in Iran. The [[Swiss government]], [[Iran–Switzerland relations#1979 Revolution|acting]] through its [[Swiss embassy|embassy in Tehran]], serves as [[protecting power]] for U.S. interests in Iran.<ref name="Iran Travel Warning">{{cite web|url=https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/iran-travel-warning.html|title=Iran Travel Warning|website=travel.state.gov|access-date=19 December 2016|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041256/https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/iran-travel-warning.html|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> The Iranian government [[Iranian nationality law#Multiple citizenship|does not recognize dual citizenship]] and will not allow the Swiss to provide protective services for U.S. citizens who are also Iranian nationals. The Iranian authorities make the determination of a dual national's Iranian citizenship without regard to personal wishes.<ref name="Iran Travel Warning"/> In 2016, the U.S. [[Department of State]] warned U.S. citizens of the risks of [[Tourism in Iran|travel to Iran]]. In some instances, foreigners, in particular dual nationals of Iran and Western countries including the United States, have been detained or prevented from leaving Iran.<ref name="Iran Travel Warning"/>
== Accomplishments ==
In Los Angeles, Iranians have become the largest ethnic group in many Los Angeles' wealthiest enclaves including Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Tarzana, Encino, and Woodland Hills.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mapping LA Neighborhoods |url=http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/ |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>
The Iranian Revolution resulted in many Iranians fleeing to America in the late 1970s, where, forty years later, Iranian immigrants have become a major force in Silicon Valley as investors, executives, and creators. Iranians have been founders or senior executives at [[eBay]], [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]], [[Google]], [[Dropbox (service)|Dropbox]], [[YouTube]], [[Uber]], [[Expedia]], [[Twitter]], and other major corporations.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Peisner |first1=David |title=How Dara Khosrowshahi's Iranian heritage shapes how he leads Uber |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90245381/how-dara-khosrowshahi-iranian-heritage-shapes-how-he-leads-uber |website=Fast Company|date=23 October 2018 }}</ref>
Iranians have the highest percentage of master's degrees than any other ethnic group in the United States.<ref name="Persian POWER">{{cite web |last1=Brin |first1=Stan |title=Persian POWER |url=http://www.ocmetro.com/t-CoverStory_Iranian_immigrant_professional_business070804.aspx |access-date=24 September 2019 |archive-date=31 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531124055/http://www.ocmetro.com/t-CoverStory_Iranian_immigrant_professional_business070804.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> Iranians have also played a large role in the American education system with over 500 Iranian-American professors teaching at top-ranked U.S. universities which include Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Harvard University; Yale University; Princeton University; [[University of California, Berkeley]]; [[University of California, Los Angeles]]; and [[Stanford University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://appih.org/mit-iranian-americans-among-most-highly-educated-in-u-s-and-contribute-substantially-to-the-u-s-economy/|title=MIT: Iranian-Americans Among Most Highly Educated in U.S. and contribute substantially to the U.S. economy|access-date=4 May 2019|archive-date=6 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906070828/http://appih.org/mit-iranian-americans-among-most-highly-educated-in-u-s-and-contribute-substantially-to-the-u-s-economy/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Iranian philanthropists constructed the [[Freedom Sculpture]] in the [[Century City]] neighborhood, in honor of the Persian artifact [[Cyrus Cylinder]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Chiland|first=Elijah|date=5 July 2017|title=Century City Freedom Sculpture unveiled on Santa Monica Boulevard median|url=https://la.curbed.com/2017/7/5/15923494/la-freedom-sculpture-century-city-cylinder|website=Curbed}}</ref>
== Representation ==
=== Television ===
[[File:DavarArdalan.jpg|thumb|[[Davar Ardalan]], Executive Producer of Audio at [[National Geographic]] and longtime journalist at [[NPR|NPR news]].]]
Early Iranian diaspora television has been credited with helping form the local community in the United States.<ref name="Parks-2003">{{Cite book|last1=Parks|first1=Lisa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zE9DbLIhgMkC|title=Planet TV: A Global Television Reader|last2=Kumar|first2=Shanti|date=2003|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-6691-0|pages=385, 400|language=en}}</ref> As a result of the Iranian Revolution, the first Iranian American television was formed, and with its formation there were existing political factions that were carried over.<ref name="Hassanpour-1996" /> The dominant voice in television during this time was from the [[royalist]]-support.<ref name="Hassanpour-1996">{{Cite journal|last=Hassanpour|first=Amir|date=1996|title=Review of The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4311007|journal=Iranian Studies|volume=29|issue=3/4|pages=378–381|doi=10.1017/S0021086200010847 |jstor=4311007|s2cid=245655342 |issn=0021-0862|url-access=subscription}}</ref> It was argued by scholar [[Hamid Naficy]], this was not due to political sponsorship, but rather due to market support.<ref name="Hassanpour-1996" /> Up until 1992, most all Iranian American television programming was in the Farsi language with exceptions to Assyrian and Armenian languages (this included for [[Kurds in Iran|Iranian-Kurdish]] and [[Iranian Azerbaijanis|Azeri]]-specific shows in Farsi).<ref name="Hassanpour-1996" /><ref name="Naficy-1993" /> Most all programming was non religious, and this was reflecting the population of more minority religions of Los Angeles.<ref name="Hassanpour-1996" /> There are no reliable statistics on viewership because "Middle Eastern" and Iranian wasn't defined by rating services (such as [[Nielsen Holdings]]), however the Los Angeles Times estimated by 1991 the Iranian American population was roughly 800,000 which would indicate the opening of a new share of the television viewing market.<ref name="Naficy-1993" />
The [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]]-based independent television station, [[KSCI|KSCI-TV]] dubbed themselves the "international station" and claimed to offer the most diverse ethnic television programming in the early 1980s, including the majority of Iranian American television during this time.<ref name="Naficy-1993">{{Cite journal|last=Naficy|first=Hamid|date=1993|title=From Broadcasting to Narrowcasting: Middle Eastern Diaspora in Los Angeles|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3013230|journal=Middle East Report|issue=180|pages=31–34|doi=10.2307/3013230|jstor=3013230|issn=0899-2851|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Starting on March 15, 1981, the first Iranian diaspora television broadcast show IRTV (acronym for "Iranian television") was created by [[Ali Limonadi]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bagherpour|first=Amir|date=September 12, 2010|title=The Iranian Diaspora in America: 30 Years in the Making|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/09/the-iranian-diaspora-in-america-30-years-in-the-making.html|access-date=2022-02-09|website=Frontline|publisher=PBS, KQED|language=en}}</ref> Other early Iranian American television programs included Nadar Rafii's Midnight Show;<ref name="Naficy-2011">{{Cite book|last=Naficy|first=Hamid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1rObRhNmGoC|title=A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 1: The Artisanal Era, 1897-1941|date=2011-09-16|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-4775-0|pages=57|language=en}}</ref> Parviz Sayyad's Parsian TV (on KSCI-TV);<ref name="Parks-2003" /> Hamid Shabkhiz's Iran;<ref name="Parks-2003" /> and Manuchehr Bibian's (also known as Manouchehr Bibiyan) [[Jaam-e-Jam (TV channel)|Jaam-e-Jam TV]] channel.<ref name="Naficy-2011" /> Other notables in Iranian American television programs in the 1980s included [[Shohreh Aqdashlu]]'s ''Sima va Nava-ye Iran TV''; [[Parviz Kardan]]'s ''Shahr-e Farang TV''; and [[Hushang Towzi]]'s multiple television series.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Naficy|first=Hamid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ieg62t355v8C|title=The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles|year=1993|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-2084-5|pages=242|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Tabatabai|first=Behzad|date=2021|title=The Passing of Parviz Kardan, a pioneer of Iranian stage, screen and t|url=https://www.farhang.org/2021/the-passing-of-parviz-kardan|access-date=2022-02-09|website=farhang.org|publisher=Farhang Foundation|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies |title=Irangeles: Iranians in Los Angeles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfYpUXdlf54C |year=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08008-9 |pages=363 |language=en |access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref>
In 2013, [[Bravo (American TV network)|BravoTV]] launched ''[[Shahs of Sunset]]'' which followed a group of six Iranian American friends in Los Angeles who try to juggle their active social lives and careers while also balancing the demands of their families and traditions; the show was accused of racism and relying on stereotypes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Piazza |first=Jo |date=2015-03-26 |title=Iranian-American petitioners call Bravo's 'The Shahs of Sunset' racist |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/iranian-american-petitioners-call-bravos-the-shahs-of-sunset-racist |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maghbouleh |first=Neda |author-link=Neda Maghbouleh |date=2012-12-01 |title="Shahs of Sunset": The real Iranians of Los Angeles? |url=https://www.salon.com/2012/12/01/shahs_of_sunset_the_real_iranians_of_los_angeles/ |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=Salon |language=en}}</ref>
In 2020, the television series ''[[Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi]]'' (season 1, episode 6, "Where The Kabob is Hot") focused on Iranian food in Los Angeles; where Lakshmi interviewed ''Bottom of the Pot'' cookbook author, [[Naz Deravian]]; Shamshiri Grill owner, Hamid Mosavi; and comedian, [[Maz Jobrani]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stueven |first=Michele |date=2020-06-16 |title=Trailer: Padma Lakshmi Explores L.A.'s Persian Square in "Taste The Nation," June 18 on Hulu |url=https://www.laweekly.com/trailer-padma-lakshmi-explores-persian-square-in-taste-the-nation-now-streaming-on-hulu/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=LA Weekly |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Padma Lakshmi's new show is a celebration of immigrants' lives and food in US |url=https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/religious-freedom-law-covid-19-tests-eu-tourism/taste-the-nation-padma-lakshmi |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=KCRW |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chron |first=Emma Balter |date=2020-06-26 |title=What is American food? Padma Lakshmi's new show 'Taste the Nation' offers answers |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/culture/tv/article/What-is-American-food-Padma-Lakshmi-s-new-show-15368826.php |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=[[Houston Chronicle]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Film ===
Iranian Americans have been the focus of [[Documentary film|film documentaries]], including ''The Iranian Americans'' (2012; directed by [[Andrew Goldberg (director)|Andrew Goldberg]]); and ''Immigration Stories: Iranian Americans of Silicon Valley'' (2021; directed by Nima Naimi, Alireza Sanayei, Julian Gigola).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wiegand|first=David|date=2012-12-15|title='The Iranian Americans' review: It's a start|url=https://www.sfgate.com/tv/article/The-Iranian-Americans-review-It-s-a-start-4119897.php|access-date=2022-02-04|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-01-07|title=The Iranian Americans|url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2013/01/07/iranian-americans|access-date=2022-02-04|website=KPBS Public Media|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Film screening: Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley|url=https://iranian-studies.stanford.edu/events/lecture-series/film-screening-immigrant-stories-iranian-americans-silicon-valley|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Iranian Studies, Stanford University|language=en}}</ref> Critical response in the [[HuffPost]] of ''The Iranian Americans'' (2012) PBS documentary included a lack of representation for "interracial marriage".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-01-03|title=Feelings of Marginalization by the PBS Documentary, 'Iranian-Americans'|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/iranian-americans-pbs_b_2400598|access-date=2022-02-04|website=HuffPost|language=en}}</ref> The film documentary, ''The Dawn Is Too Far'' (2024; directed by Soumyaa Behrens, Persis Karim) follows eight Iranian Americans from the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and their shared experience.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 6, 2024 |title=Announcing the Oklahoma Premiere of the Iranian American Documentary Film The Dawn Is Too Far, by The Editors of WLT |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/news-and-events/announcing-oklahoma-premiere-iranian-american-documentary-film-dawn-too-far |archive-date= |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=[[World Literature Today]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 19, 2024 |title=The Dawn Is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life |url=https://www.humanities.uci.edu/events/dawn-too-far-stories-iranian-american-life |access-date= |website=Jordan Center for Persian Studies, School of Humanities |publisher=UC Irvine |language=en}}</ref>
Fictional films with Iranian American themes include the satire ''[[Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero]]'' (2014; directed by [[Jonathan Kesselman]]),<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kompanek|first=Christopher|date=2016-05-12|title='Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero' aims for sharp satire and misses|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/jimmy-vestvood-amerikan-hero-aims-for-sharp-satire-and-misses/2016/05/12/081343b4-13a1-11e6-81b4-581a5c4c42df_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201023557/https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/jimmy-vestvood-amerikan-hero-aims-for-sharp-satire-and-misses/2016/05/12/081343b4-13a1-11e6-81b4-581a5c4c42df_story.html|archive-date=2017-12-01|access-date=2022-02-04|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> and ''[[Shirin in Love]]'' (2014; directed by [[Ramin Niami]]).<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-03-13|title=Shirin in Love: Film Review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/shirin-love-film-review-688325/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}}</ref> The fictional drama ''[[Surviving Paradise (2000 film)|Surviving Paradise]]'' (2001), is the first English-language Iranian film with theatrical release in the United States; the storyline is about two Iranian refugees in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hagopian|first=Kevin|title=How Iranian filmmakers like Asghar Farhadi defy the censors|url=http://theconversation.com/how-iranian-filmmakers-like-asghar-farhadi-defy-the-censors-72263|access-date=2022-02-04|website=The Conversation|language=en}}</ref>
=== Education ===
The Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at [[San Francisco State University]], directed and chaired by [[Persis Karim]], was founded in 2017 and was the first program specifically focused on Iranian diaspora (which includes Iranian Americans).<ref name="Trent">{{Cite web|last=Trent|first=Paisley|title=Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies hopes to expand with $1 million donation|url=https://goldengatexpress.org/90203/latest/center-for-iranian-diaspora-studies-hopes-to-expand-with-1-million-donation/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Golden Gate Xpress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Shirazi|first1=Ziba|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49LoDwAAQBAJ|title=Iranian Diaspora Identities: Stories and Songs|last2=Afary|first2=Kamran|date=2020-06-15|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7618-7171-2|pages=5|language=en}}</ref> The center offers grants, fellowships, and scholarships, as well as scholarly lecture series, research, and creative performances.<ref name="Trent" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 16, 2021|title=Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran educates, connects Iranian diaspora|url=https://dailybruin.com/2021/11/16/bilingual-lecture-series-on-iran-educates-connects-iranian-diaspora/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=Daily Bruin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Mojadad|first=Ida|date=2019-03-21|title=We Are Here, We Have Always Been Here|url=https://www.sfweekly.com/news/we-are-here-we-have-always-been-here/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=SF Weekly|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Discrimination ==
{{See also|Anti-Iranian sentiment}}
According to the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, nearly half of Iranian-Americans surveyed in 2008 by [[Zogby International]] have experienced or personally know Iranian Americans who have experienced discrimination due to their ethnicity, religion, or country of origin. The most common types of discrimination reported are [[airport security]] check, [[social discrimination]], [[racial profiling]], [[employment discrimination|employment or business discrimination]] and discrimination at the hands of immigration officials.<ref name="paaia survey 2008" />
In 2009, [[Martin Kramer]], a [[Harvard]] professor, warned about the dangers of allowing Iranian Americans to get too close to power during the 2009 [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]] (AIPAC) conference:<ref>{{cite news|last=Disney|first=Patrick|title=Amanpour is Being Attacked Because She's Iranian|url=http://www.payvand.com/news/10/mar/1237.html|newspaper=Payvand News|date=26 March 2010|access-date=14 October 2015|archive-date=14 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614051219/http://www.payvand.com/news/10/mar/1237.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2009, [[Merrill Lynch]] & Co. agreed to pay $1.55 million to resolve a [[U.S. government]] lawsuit accusing the bank of discriminating against an Iranian American employee. The government accused the firm of refusing to promote and later firing this employee on the basis of his national origin and religion.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-12-31|title=Merrill Lynch to Pay $1.55 Million for Job Bias Against Former Iranian Worker|url=https://paaia.org/CMS/merrill-lynch-to-pay-1-55-million-for-job-bias-against-former-iranian-worker.aspx|access-date=2020-09-09|website=PAAIA|language=en}}</ref>
On 8 September 2015, 22-year-old Iranian American Shayan Mazroei was stabbed to death by [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] Craig Tanber. Mazroei, who resided in [[Laguna Niguel]], was a successful businessman operating his own car dealership in Santa Ana. On the night of 8 September 2015, Mazroei began discussing his mother visiting Iran to his girlfriend in a restaurant until Elizabeth Anne Thornburg spat on Mazroei shouting racial slurs. Tanber, who would later be sentenced to life in prison,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2020/02/28/white-supremacist-who-fatally-stabbed-man-na-at-laguna-niguel-bar-gets-56-years-to-life/ |title=White supremacist who fatally stabbed Iranian-American man at California bar gets 56 years to life |first1=Alma |last1=Fausto |first2=Sean |last2=Emrey |newspaper=[[Orange County Register]] |url-access=registration |date=2020-02-08 |access-date=2020-10-05}}</ref> then proceeded to stab Mazroei resulting in his death.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2015/09/11/laguna-niguel-man-slain-in-bar-stabbing-remembered-as-old-soul/ |title=Laguna Niguel man slain in bar stabbing remembered as 'old soul' |first=Christopher |last=Yee |newspaper=[[Orange County Register]] |url-access=registration |date=11 September 2015 |access-date=5 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ludwig |first=Ashley |date=2018-09-06 |title=Woman Charged As Accessory To Murder Of Shayan Mazroei |url=https://patch.com/california/losalamitos/woman-charged-accessory-murder-shayan-mazroei|access-date=2020-09-09 |website=Los Alamitos-Seal Beach, CA Patch |language=en}}</ref>
In 2017 in the [[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City]] suburb of [[Olathe, Kansas|Olathe]], Adam Purinton [[2017 Olathe, Kansas shooting|shot and killed two Indians]] at a bar, mistaking them for Iranian. While murdering them Puriton yelled "Get out of my country."<ref>{{cite web |title=Suspect apparently thought he shot 'Iranian people' in Kansas bar attack that killed Indian man |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-911call-bar-shooting-20170227-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times|date=28 February 2017 }}</ref>
In 2018, while on national television, having a discussion about taking a DNA test, Senator [[Lindsey Graham]] remarked that it would be "terrible" if he discovered he had Iranian heritage.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Watkins |first1=Eli |title=Graham says it would be 'terrible' if DNA showed he has Iranian heritage |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/politics/lindsey-graham-orrin-hatch-warren-trump/index.html |website=CNN|date=16 October 2018 }}</ref> Graham's statement outraged many high-profile [[Iranian-Americans]], including [[Omid Kordestani]] (chairman of [[Twitter]]), [[Ali Partovi]] and [[Hadi Partovi]] (CEOs of [[Code.org]]), Pejman Nozad,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/17/tech/lindsey-graham-iranian-comments/index.html|title=Tech execs want Senator Graham to apologize over Iranian remark|first=Sara Ashley|last= O'Brien|website=CNN|date=17 October 2018}}</ref> and [[British Iranian]] [[Christiane Amanpour]].<ref name="RFERL20181018">{{cite news |last=Esfandiari |first=Golnaz |title=Iranian-Americans Call Out U.S. Senator Graham For 'Terrible' Ancestry Gaffe |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/iranian-americans-call-out-u-s-senator-graham-for-terrible-ancestry-gaffe/29550939.html |date=18 October 2018 |website=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref>
In 2020, the United States Border Patrol instituted a large scale detention of Iranian Americans at the Canadian border without probable cause. While returning to the U.S. from Canada, Americans of Iranian heritage were detained by border officers. Over 60 Americans of Iranian descent were detained and interrogated at the Canadian border. The incident took place during a time of escalated tensions between Iran and the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/05/us/politics/iranian-americans-border.html|title=U.S. Stops Dozens of Iranian-Americans Returning From Canada|last1=Baker|first1=Mike|date=5 January 2020|website=The New York Times|access-date=13 February 2020}}</ref>
== Notable people ==
{{Main list|List of Iranian Americans}}
===Business and technology===
Iranian-Americans are among the most educated and successful communities in the U.S., according to a report by the Iranian Studies group at [[MIT]]. Iranian-Americans have founded, or hold senior leadership positions at, many major US companies, including Fortune 500 companies such as [[GE]], [[Intel]], [[Citigroup]], [[Verizon]], [[Motorola]], [[Google]], and [[AT&T Inc.|AT&T]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isgmit.org/research/?id=279&cat=iranian-american&stat=full |title=Iranian Studies Group at MIT |publisher=Isg-mit.org |access-date=15 February 2010 |archive-date=22 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022170100/http://www.isgmit.org/research/?id=279&cat=iranian-american&stat=full |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Borden |first=Taylor |last2=Rogers |first2=Taylor Nicole |date=January 9, 2020 |title=8 major US companies with Iranian-American founders or CEOs |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/iranian-american-owned-or-operated-companies-uber-tinder-ebay |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Pierre Omidyar]], founder/CEO of [[eBay]] is of Iranian origin, as is the founder of [[Bratz]], [[Isaac Larian]]. Hamid Biglari is vice-chairman of [[Citicorp]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbssocal.org/tv/programs/iranian-americans/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306231843/http://www.pbssocal.org/tv/programs/iranian-americans/|archive-date=6 March 2016 |title=The Iranian Americans |publisher=Pbs Socal |date=2015 |access-date=12 January 2016}}</ref> [[Bob Miner]] was the co-founder of [[Oracle Corporation]] and the producer of Oracle's [[relational database management system]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/profit/p27anniv-timeline-151918.pdf|title=30th Anniversary corporate document: 1970s Defying Conventional Wisdom|work=Oracle Corporation|date=26 May 2007|page=1|access-date=29 February 2016}}</ref>[[Brandon Truaxe]] was the Founder/Ceo of The Ordinary. In 2006, [[Anousheh Ansari]], co-founder of the [[Ansari X Prize]], became the first female [[space tourist]] and first Iranian astronaut. Ansari is also the co-founder and former CEO of Prodea Systems, Inc., and Telecom Technologies, Inc. Test pilot [[Jasmin Moghbeli]] became the first [[NASA]] astronaut of Iranian descent as mission commander of [[SpaceX Crew-7]] and flight engineer aboard the [[International Space Station]] for [[Expedition 69]] and [[Expedition 70]] in 2023. In 2024, cardiologist [[Eiman Jahangir]] became the first Iranian male astronaut on [[Blue Origin NS-26]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Eiman Jahangir |url=https://www.supercluster.com/astronauts/eiman-jahangir |website=Supercluster.com |publisher=Supercluster, LLC |access-date=28 September 2024}}</ref>
Other well known Iranian-American entrepreneurs include designer [[Bijan Pakzad]], entrepreneur [[Sam Nazarian]], business executive Hamid Akhavan, former [[CEO]] of [[Unify GmbH & Co. KG]] (formerly Siemens Enterprise Communications),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unify.com/uk/about/leadership-team.aspx|title=Leadership Team|date=1 November 2013}}</ref> [[Omid Kordestani]] of [[Twitter]] and former Senior Vice President of [[Google]], CEO of [[YouTube]] [[Salar Kamangar]], [[Sina Tamaddon]] of [[Apple Inc.]], and [[Shahram Dabiri]] Lead Producer for the [[massively multiplayer online role-playing game]] (MMORPG) ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' from 1999 to 2007. [[Dara Khosrowshahi]] became CEO of [[Expedia]] in August 2005 and then in August 2017, Khosrowshahi became the CEO of [[Uber]], succeeding founder [[Travis Kalanick]]. [[Kam Ghaffarian]] is the founder of IBX, [[Axiom Space]], [[Intuitive Machines]], and [[X-energy]]; he reportedly has a net worth of $2.1 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Forbes list: Southwest Florida has a new billionaire, others move up |url=https://www.naplesnews.com/story/money/2023/04/06/forbes-list-naples-gains-space-tycoon-billionaire-others-move-up/70088755007/ |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=Naples Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Philanthropy===
Many Iranian-Americans are active philanthropists and leaders in improving their community. In 2006, the [[University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center]] was the recipient of a $10 million donation from an Iranian-American couple based in [[Houston]], Texas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/07/dec/1013.html |title=Profile of an Iranian-American philanthropist: Ali Saberioon |publisher=Payvand.com |access-date=28 November 2011 |archive-date=4 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204155742/http://www.payvand.com/news/07/dec/1013.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/newsroom/display.cfm?id=1B4B1107-CA18-4F96- |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213160918/http://www.mdanderson.org/departments/newsroom/display.cfm?id=1B4B1107-CA18-4F96- |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 December 2007 |title= M. D. Anderson Cancer Center |publisher=Mdanderson.org |date=22 April 2009 |access-date=28 November 2011 }}</ref> The [[University of Southern California]] was the recipient of a $17 million gift from an Iranian-American,<ref>{{cite web |last=Mankin |first=Eric |url=http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14601.html |title=Alum Gives $17M to USC Viterbi Dept |publisher=Usc.edu |date=23 November 2011 |access-date=28 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210173947/http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/14601.html |archive-date=10 December 2011 }}</ref> as was [[San Francisco State University]] which received a $10 million gift from an Iranian-American couple.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2005/summer/69.htm |title=SF State News |publisher=Sfsu.edu |date=1 June 2005 |access-date=28 November 2011 |archive-date=19 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219062453/http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2005/summer/69.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital received $4 million;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranian.com/PhotoDay/2007/April/yelda.html |title=Archive Pages |publisher=Iranian.com |date=9 April 2007 |access-date=28 November 2011}}</ref> [[Portland State University]], $8 million;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pdx.edu/cecs/visionary_alumnus.html|title=Visionary Alumnus Makes Investment|work=Portland State Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science|date=2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070826143136/http://www.pdx.edu/cecs/visionary_alumnus.html|archive-date=26 August 2007}}</ref> and [[UC Irvine]], $30 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merage.uci.edu/CalendarAndNews/PressReleases/PressReleases.aspx?ReleaseID=144 |title=University of California, Irvine | The Paul Merage School of Business |publisher=Merage.uci.edu |access-date=28 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226103306/http://www.merage.uci.edu/CalendarAndNews/PressReleases/PressReleases.aspx?ReleaseID=144 |archive-date=26 February 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranian.com/PhotoDay/2005/April/pm.html |title=Archive Pages |publisher=Iranian.com |date=24 April 2005 |access-date=28 November 2011}}</ref>
===Academia===
Notable Iranian-Americans in science include [[Firouz Naderi]], a director at [[NASA]]; [[Ali Javan]], inventor of the first gas laser; [[Maryam Mirzakhani]], the first female winner of the [[Fields Medal]]; [[Nima Arkani-Hamed]], a leading theoretical physicist; cancer biologist [[Mina Bissell|Mina J. Bissell]]; [[Gholam A. Peyman]], the inventor of [[LASIK]]; [[Lotfi Asker Zadeh]]; [[Vartan Gregorian]]; [[Cumrun Vafa]]; [[Babak Hassibi]]; [[Nouriel Roubini]]; [[Ali Hajimiri]]; [[Pardis Sabeti]]; [[Vahid Tarokh]]; [[Ehsan Afshari]]; [[George Bournoutian]]; [[Nader Engheta]]; [[Payam Heydari]]; and [[Rashid Massumi]], M.D., a pioneer in the fields of electrophysiology and cardiology. Prominent Iranian-Americans in American higher education include [[Rahmat Shoureshi]], researcher, professor, and provost of [[New York Institute of Technology]] (NYIT) and [[Nariman Farvardin]], president of [[Stevens Institute of Technology]].
===Media===
Well known American media personalities of Iranian descent include [[Christiane Amanpour]] of [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] and [[CNN]], born in [[England]]; [[Daron Malakian]], member of the rock band [[System of a Down]];<ref name="latimes">{{cite news|last=Gowing|first=Liam|title= In later years he moved Memphis, Tennessee to pursue his music career. However this was unsuccessful. His son has got him covered: System of a Down's artist of choice is Vartan Malakian, the guitarist's dad|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-02-wk-ungallery2-story.html|access-date=27 July 2010|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=2 March 2006}}</ref> [[Susie Gharib]], of ''[[Nightly Business Report]]''; Asieh Namdar; [[Roya Hakakian]]; [[Yara Shahidi]]; and [[Rudi Bakhtiar]]. There are several Iranian American actors, comedians and filmmakers, including the [[Academy Award]] nominee and [[Emmy Award]] winner [[Shohreh Aghdashloo]], the award-winning director, producer and screenwriters Amir Cyrus Ahanchian and [[Cyrus Nowrasteh]], screenwriter [[Arash Amel]], actresses [[Tala Ashe]], [[Catherine Bell (actress)|Catherine Bell]], [[Sarah Shahi]], [[Nadia Bjorlin]], [[Nasim Pedrad]], [[Desiree Akhavan]], [[Sheila Vand]], [[Necar Zadegan]], [[Medalion Rahimi]], and [[Bahar Soomekh]], actors [[Adrian Pasdar]], [[Shaun Toub]], [[Arian Moayed]], [[Navid Negahban]], [[Reza Sixo Safai]], Shahaub Roudbari, and Aria Shahghasemi, musicians Sarah Fard (Savoir Faire)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Savoir Faire Music Boston|url=https://www.savoirfairemusic.com/|access-date=2021-08-01|website=savoirfaireband|language=en}}</ref> and [[Rostam Batmanglij]]''',''' comedians [[Max Amini]], [[Maz Jobrani]] and [[Tehran Von Ghasri]], filmmakers [[Bavand Karim]] and [[Kamshad Kooshan]], producers [[Bob Yari]] and [[Farhad Safinia]], author and performer [[Shahram Shiva]], and artist and filmmaker [[Daryush Shokof]]. Notable children's media writer/director [[Shabnam Rezaei]] has created several children's TV series on [[Hulu]] and [[PBSKids]]. There are also notable American YouTube personalities of Iranian descent, including [[JonTron]].
===Sports===
Professional tennis player [[Andre Agassi]], [[NFL]] football players [[T. J. Houshmandzadeh]], [[David Bakhtiari]] and [[Shar Pourdanesh]], professional wrestlers [[Shawn Daivari]] and [[The Iron Sheik]], professional mixed martial artist [[Amir Sadollah]], professional soccer players [[Alecko Eskandarian]] and [[Steven Beitashour]], professional soccer coach [[Afshin Ghotbi]], and professional basketball player [[Behdad Sami]].
===Politics===
The son of the late [[Shah]] of Iran, [[Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran|Reza Pahlavi]], as well as several high-ranking officials in the Shah's administration, such as [[Hushang Ansary]] and [[Jamshid Amouzegar]] live or have lived in the United States. [[Goli Ameri]] is the Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs of the [[International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies]], as well as the former U.S. [[Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs]] from 2008 to 2009, during which she was the highest-ranking Iranian-American public official in the United States. Drug policy expert [[Kevin Sabet]] is Iranian-American and the only person to serve as an appointee in the drug czar's office of [[George W. Bush]] and [[Barack Obama]]. [[Beverly Hills]] elected its first Iranian-born Mayor, [[Jimmy Delshad]], in 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5459468 |title=Living in Tehrangeles: L.A.'s Iranian Community |newspaper=NPR.org |publisher=NPR |access-date=28 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-14-beverly-hills-mayor_N.htm?csp=34| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006022247/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-14-beverly-hills-mayor_N.htm?csp=34| archive-date=6 October 2008 | work=USA Today | title=Beverly Hills will have first Iranian-born mayor in USA | first=Martin | last=Kasindorf | date=14 March 2007 | access-date=5 May 2010}}</ref> [[Bob Yousefian]] served as the mayor of [[Glendale, California]] from 2004 to 2005. In November 2011, [[Anna Kaplan|Anna M. Kaplan]] was elected Councilwoman in the [[North Hempstead, New York|Town of North Hempstead, New York]], becoming the first Iranian-American to be elected to a major municipal office in New York State.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zendrian |first=Alexandra |url=http://portwashington.patch.com/articles/kaplan-wins-north-hempstead-town-council-race |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424113208/http://portwashington.patch.com/articles/kaplan-wins-north-hempstead-town-council-race |archive-date=24 April 2012 |title=Kaplan Wins North Hempstead Town Council Race – Port Washington, NY Patch |publisher=Portwashington.patch.com |date=9 November 2011 |access-date=28 November 2011}}</ref> [[Cyrus Amir-Mokri]], who was appointed as the [[US Treasury|Treasury Department]] [[Assistant Secretary]] for Financial Institutions by President Obama, is the highest ranking Iranian-American official in government as of 2012.<ref>[http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jul/1185.html White House Hosts Iranian-American Community Leaders for Roundtable Discussion]. Payvand.com.</ref> In November 2012, [[Cyrus Habib]] of Washington state and [[Adrin Nazarian]] of California became the first Iranian-Americans elected to state legislatures. Habib is now the [[Lieutenant Governor of Washington]] and the first Iranian-American elected to any statewide office. Champaign County (Ohio) elected Fereidoun Shokouhi to the public office of Champaign County Engineer in 1995. He served until his retirement in 2012. Following the [[2020 United States House of Representatives elections|2020 House elections]], [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Oklahoma Representative [[Stephanie Bice]] became the first Iranian-American elected to [[United States Congress|Congress]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stephanie Bice – Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC)|url=http://www.iranianamericanpac.org/stephanie-bice.aspx|access-date=12 November 2020|website=IAPAC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204225110/http://www.iranianamericanpac.org/stephanie-bice.aspx|archive-date=4 December 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref> Following the [[2024 United States House of Representatives elections|2024 House elections]], Arizona [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] Representative [[Yassamin Ansari]], became the second Iranian-American elected to Congress <ref>{{Cite web|title=Iranian-American Yassamin Ansari Elected to U.S. House of Representatives|url=https://iranwire.com/en/news/135814-iranian-american-yassamin-ansari-elected-to-us-house-of-representatives|access-date=1 January 2025|website=iranwire}}</ref> and the youngest woman elected to the [[119th United States Congress|119th Congress]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Congress' youngest woman says her election is a "signal" that future of Democratic Party is changing|url=https://www.salon.com/2024/12/29/congress-youngest-woman-says-her-is-a-signal-that-future-of-democratic-party-is-changing|access-date=1 January 2025|website=salon}}</ref>
[[Roozbeh Farahanipour]], Iranian-American activist, media personality, West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce CEO, [[Glorious Frontiers Party]] Co founder, Business owners, Polititon.
[[Azadeh Shahshahani]] is a human rights attorney based in Atlanta and is a former president of the [[National Lawyers Guild]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/women_world_human_rights_lawyers|title=Meet 3 female human rights lawyers fighting for change worldwide|first=A. B. A.|last=Journal|website=ABA Journal}}</ref>
== See also ==
{{Portal|United States|Iran}}
* [[Iranian diaspora]]
* [[Iranian nationality law]]
* [[Iranian Psychological Association of America]]
* [[Iran–United States relations]]
* [[List of Iran-related topics]]
* [[List of Persia-related topics]]
* [[Little Persia, Los Angeles, California]]
* [[Mandaean Americans]]
* [[Middle Eastern Americans]]
* [[National Iranian American Council]]
* Iranian American Bar Association
* Iranian American Medical Association
* Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans
* [[Shirzanan]]
* [[Tehrangeles]]
* [[History of Iranian Americans in Los Angeles]]
* [[Roozbeh Farahanipour]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
* {{cite book|last=Bakalian|first=Anny|title=Armenian Americans: From Being to Feeling Armenian|year=1993|publisher=Transaction Publishers|___location=New Brunswick, New Jersey|isbn=978-1-56000-025-9}}
* {{cite book | last = Bayor | first = Ronald H. | title = Multicultural America: An Encyclopedia of the Newest Americans | publisher = ABC-CLIO | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-313-35787-9 }}
* Bozorgmehr, Mehdi., Sabagh, Georges (1988). ''High Status Immigrants: A Statistical Profile of Iranians in the United States'', Iranian Studies.
* {{cite book|last1=Sabagh|first1=Georges|last2=Bozorgmehr|first2=Mehdi|last3=Der-Martirosian|first3=Claudia|url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7jp6m12s#page-2|title=Subethnicity: Armenians in Los Angeles|year=1990|publisher=Institute for Social Science Research, University of California Los Angeles}}
* {{cite book|last=Samkian|first=Artineh|title=Constructing Identities, Perceiving Lives: Armenian High School Students' Perceptions of Identity and Education|year=2007|isbn=978-0-549-48257-4}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book|last=Ansari|first=Maboud|title=The Making of the Iranian Community in America|publisher=Pardis Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0963260000}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Farnia|first=Nina|date=August 1, 2011|title=Law's Inhumanities: Peripheral Racialization and the Early Development of an Iranian Race|url=https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-1264352|journal=Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East|volume=31| issue = 2|pages=455–473|doi=10.1215/1089201X-1264352|s2cid=143607791 |url-access=subscription}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |last=Gillis |first=Mary |date=2014 |title=Iranian Americans |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3273300095/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=37866928 |edition=3rd |volume=2 |encyclopedia=Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America |___location=Detroit, MI |publisher=Gale eBooks |pages=433–443 |id=Gale ID CX3273300095 |isbn=9781414438061 |oclc=1248764317 |access-date=13 June 2024}}
* {{Cite news|last=Hollie|first=Pamela G.|date=December 9, 1979|title=Iranian Immigrants, Totaling Perhaps a Million, Bring Wealth and Diversity to the U.S. |pages=16|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/09/archives/iranian-immigrants-totaling-perhaps-a-million-bring-wealth-and.html|issn=0362-4331}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last=Kelley|editor-first=Ron|editor-last2=Friedlander|editor-first2=Jonathan|editor-last3=Colby|editor-first3=Anita |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfYpUXdlf54C|title=Irangeles: Iranians in Los Angeles|publisher=University of California Press|others=Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies and International Studies and Overseas Programs at [[University of California, Los Angeles]]|year=1993|isbn=9780520080089}}
* {{Cite book |last=Khakpour |first=Porochista |date=2024 |title=Tehrangeles |edition=First hardcover |___location=New York |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=9781524747909 |oclc=1436705754}} Novel.
* {{Cite book|last=Maghbouleh|first=Neda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdHdnQAACAAJ|title=The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2017|isbn=9781503603370|author-link=Neda Maghbouleh}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Nanquette |first1=Laetitia |title=Translations of Modern Persian Literature in the United States: 1979–2011 |journal=The Translator |date=2016 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=49–66 |doi=10.1080/13556509.2016.1227530|s2cid=152171897 |hdl=1959.4/unsworks_43664 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{Cite journal|last=Nigem|first=Elias T.|date=Summer 1994|title=The Making of the Iranian Community in America|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A15543061/AONE?u=anon~2d0c93d6&sid=googleScholar&xid=2944517b|journal=International Migration Review|publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc.|volume=28| issue = 2|via=Gale Academic OneFile}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Yaghoobi |first1=Claudia |title=Racial Profiling of Iranian Armenians in the United States: Omid Fallahazad's 'Citizen Vartgez' |journal=Iran Namag |date=2021 |volume=6 |issue=2 |url=https://www.irannamag.com/en/article/racial-profiling-iranian-armenians-united-states-omid-fallahazads-citizen-vartgez/}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Iranian Americans}}
* [http://www.
* [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/07/us/20090407-immigration-country.html#view=52200 Iranian-American workers by occupation], 2009, ''New York Times''
* [http://www.niacouncil.org/
* [http://www.isgmit.org/research/?id=279&cat=iranian-american&stat=full Fact-sheet on the Iranian-American Community (ISG MIT)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022170100/http://www.isgmit.org/research/?id=279&cat=iranian-american&stat=full |date=22 October 2021 }}
* [http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/spotlight-iranian-foreign-born/ Migration Information Source] – Spotlight on the Iranian Foreign Born
* [http://www.daftar.org/eng/ Interest Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington D.C.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320115903/http://www.daftar.org/Eng/ |date=20 March 2015 }} – Consular affairs; videos
{{Iranian citizens abroad}}
{{Middle Eastern American}}
{{Asian Americans}}
{{Demographics of the United States}}
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