Persian Jews and an Uneasy Peace in the

Islamic Republic of Iran

by Austin Bodetti | May 15, 2020

Best known in the Western world as an Islamic Republic, Iran hosts one of the largest Jewish communities in the
Middle East. Iranian officials have promised protections for this isolated minority group, but Persian Jews face
no shortage of challenges in their homeland.

Iranian Jews gather around the shrine of Rabbi Harav Orsharga, a descendent of King David who
died two centuries ago, during a ceremony to commemorate his death, in Yazd (670 kms, 410
miles) south of Tehran, Iran, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007. (AP photo Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Coverage of Iran in the news media has tended to highlight the country’s long-running feud with
the Western world, the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Iran’s
notorious nuclear program. Though important to understanding Iran’s foreign policy, this focus
obscures a lesser-known reality within the country’s borders: as minority religions have
dwindled elsewhere in the Middle East, Iran continues to host the largest Jewish community in
the Muslim world. Estimates of how many Persian Jews live in Iran range from 9,000 to 20,000.

The territories of Greater Iran have served as a home for Persian Jews for well over 2,000 years.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II ousted Jews from the
Levant around 600 BC. Many sought refuge in the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled Persia at
the time. While Cyrus the Great permitted his Jewish subjects to return to their places of origin
after he conquered Babylonian lands in 538 BC, many Persian Jews chose to stay in Iran.

Cyrus the Great’s legacy has lasted well into the 21st century. His actions turned him into one of
the most important historical figures in Jewish folklore in Iran and abroad.
The 1979 constitution describes Iran’s Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians as “the only recognized
religious minorities.”

The Achaemenids no longer exist, but Persian Jews retain their established position in Iran. The
same 1979 constitution that transformed Iran into an Islamic republic in the wake of the Iranian
Revolution describes Iran’s Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians as “the only recognized religious
minorities” in the country, promising Persian Jews a designated member of parliament.

Iranian Jewish men pray during Hanukkah celebrations at the Yousefabad Synagogue in Tehran
Iran, on Dec. 27 2011

Iranian leaders have often voiced their commitment to ensuring that Persian Jews feel welcome
in Iran. These public figures include Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the Islamic Revolution
and Iran’s supreme leader from 1979 until his death just a decade later. “Imam Khomeini used to
emphasize that religious minorities including Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians and followers of all
faiths enjoy a great level of social welfare and privileges in Iran,” reads an article on a website
dedicated to the late cleric. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has echoed these remarks.

Some of Iran’s prominent Persian Jewish community leaders have given credence to Khomeini
and Rouhani’s support for freedom of religion. The Persian Jewish scholar Haroun Yashayaei
has claimed that Persian Jews backed the Iranian Revolution, and Homayun Sameyah, the
chairman of a Jewish social group in Tehran, has said, “The Islamic Republic has always
supported us.”

Iran’s Jewish community benefits from select privileges under the country’s otherwise restrictive
political system, foremost among them a religious exemption from Iran’s ban on alcohol.

Iran’s Jewish community benefits from select privileges under the country’s otherwise restrictive
political system.
Persian Jews have long played an active role in social life in Iran. The community participates in
Jewish and Persian celebrations alike, signaling their pride in their history and their role in Iran’s
culture. The minority group has also exercised its constitutional right to engage in politics, voting
in Iran’s controversial February parliamentary elections despite the threat of a pandemic that has
incapacitated an ever-increasing number of Iranian clerics and politicians.

Siamak Moreh Sedgh, Iran’s sole Jewish parliamentarian, has tried to become the face of Persian
Jews in the international community. In 2013, he turned heads by joining Rouhani’s delegation
to the United Nations in New York. Since then, Sedgh has captured headlines by criticizing
Iran’s adversaries in the Middle East. Earlier this year, he condemned the American operation
that led to the death of Iranian spymaster Qassem Soleimani. Sedgh has also put forward the
fraught claim that, “generally speaking, the Jews’ condition in Iran has always been better than
in Europe.”

Many Persian Jews lack Sedgh’s enthusiasm for Iran’s government. Tens of thousands have left
Iran since the minority’s peak in the years preceding the Islamic Revolution, when between
100,000 and 150,000 Persian Jews inhabited the country. Iranian post-revolutionary leaders
jumpstarted this trend with the 1979 execution of Persian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian,
whom they accused of defaming Islam. Elghanian fell under suspicion because of his ties to the
previous regime.

Some scholars have described the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah, the monarch whom Khomeini
overthrew, as the “golden age” for Persian Jews. The shah earned the ire of many Iranians for his
repressive domestic policies and violent response to opposition, but his microeconomic reforms
allowed Persian Jews to prosper. Their current environment has proved more challenging.

However frequent and sincere Iran’s promises of equality, they only go so far in a country with a
state religion.

However frequent and sincere Iran’s promises of equality, they only go so far in a country with a
state religion. As non-Muslims, Persian Jews can never ascend to the most influential positions
in Iran’s government even though they have to serve in the country’s military at the side of their
Muslim peers. Some Persian Jews have reported facing pressure to convert to Islam. Others who
left Iran have complained that they felt compelled to minimize their religious identity.

Like Khomeini and Rouhani, Iran’s best-known institutions have taken pains to present Persian
Jews as an integral component of the country’s sectarian mosaic. Just last year, the IRGC held a
ceremony for Jewish veterans of the Iran–Iraq War; Iran built a memorial for its Jewish soldiers
in 2014. Still, cracks have sometimes appeared in this display of tolerance.

Charges of anti-Semitism have long haunted Iran’s leaders. The most notorious example came in
the late 2000s, when Rouhani’s predecessor as Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, not
only denied the well-documented horrors of the Holocaust but also declined several opportunities
to retract his comments. During Ahmadinejad’s tenure, Iran hosted the International Conference
to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, which did little to repair the country’s reputation.
Rouhani tried to quiet the scandal several years later by recognizing Jews’ suffering during the
Holocaust.

Iran has struggled to deliver on its constitutional guarantees of equality for its minorities. Iranian
Arabs and Kurds face discrimination and repression, and Baháʼís, whose faith Iranian authorities
refuse to recognize, encounter more persecution than any other group. Even Sunni Muslims, who
form a majority in the Middle East but a minority in Iran, lack the rights of their Shia peers.

Iran has struggled to deliver on its constitutional guarantees of equality for its minorities.

Despite this reality, Iran has done a better job retaining its Jewish minority than other Persianate
societies. Fewer than 50 Bukharin Jews remain in Tajikistan. Afghanistan, meanwhile, has just
one, and the faltering peace process between Afghan officials and their Taliban counterparts has
left his future in peril.

While shrinking, Iran’s Jewish population dwarfs others in the region. For the time being, the
minority appears set to retain its often-precarious but age-old role in Iranian society. The
constant pressures confronting the community suggest a difficult road ahead.

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