Vehicle registration plates of Iran

Iran's license plate format is entirely in Persian alphabet. It follows the format ## X ### - NN

• ## ### is the registration code
• X is the series letter. Each unique classification of vehicles is assigned a unique letter. For private vehicles, for example, if numbers start from 11 A 111, the letter A will not change until numbers reach 99 A 999. Then, plates will go up to 11 B 111. These details are explained further in each section of this article.
• NN is the province code.

Letter series

Iranian license plates are entirely in Persian alphabet. This includes the numbers as well as the letter series. Below is the list of letters and the vehicle type to which they're assigned

Numbers

Iran's license plates use Persian numerals as opposed to Western Arabic numerals. Below is a table for reference:

Private vehicles

The plate is black on white. The code in the square represents the

Nevertheless, a new policy has emerged in 2021, which is a policy of recycling previously issued but no longer in circulation numbers. It is estimated that the total capacity of Iran's numbering system is about 62 million. So far, 55 million numbers have been issued, with 60% of them no longer in circulation, and only 23 million numbers on the streets.[1]

Private vehicles of people with disabilities

The plate is black on white. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is a wheelchair symbol. The code in the square represents the regional codes. The wheelchair symbol in the plate is fixed for all private vehicles of people with disabilities and these types of plates are issued provincially.

In each province, numbers 11 ♿︎ 111 - XX and upwards have been assigned to veterans (mostly from

Taxis

The plate is black on yellow. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter ت which stands for the word تاکسی, meaning taxi in Persian put on the plate and the English word "taxi" above it. The code in the square represents the regional codes.

The letter ت with the word "taxi" on the plate is fixed for all taxis and these types of plates are issued provincially.

Public vehicles

The plate is black on yellow. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter ع which stands for the word عمومی, meaning public in

. The letter ع on the plate is fixed for all public vehicles and these types of plates are issued provincially.

Agricultural vehicles

The plate is black on yellow. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter ک which stands for the word کشاورزی, meaning agricultural in

. The letter ک on the plate is fixed for all agricultural vehicles and these types of plates are issued provincially.

Government vehicles

The plate is white on red. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the word الف (aleph) which is how the first letter of alphabet is pronounced put on the plate. The code in the square represents the regional codes. The word الف on the plate is fixed for all governmental vehicles and these types of plates are issued provincially.

Protocol vehicles

The plate is white on red and there is the word تشریفات with its English translation under it on the plate. The rest is simply a four-digit number.

Military and law enforcement

Police license plates were introduced first on September 30, 2012. The rest of the plates were introduced on May 30, 2016, with full replacement planned to be done by March 2017.

Police (FARAJA) vehicles

The plate is white on dark green. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter پ which stands for the word پلیس, meaning police in Persian put on the plate. The code in the square represents the regional codes. The letter پ on the plate is fixed for all police cars and these types of plates are issued nationally, starting from regional code 11 regardless of which province the vehicles serves.

Army Police

The following plate is installed on vehicles belonging to IRGC (Sepah Pasdaran in Persian). The plate is white on dark green. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter ث is used. The code in the square represents the regional codes. The letter ث on the plate is fixed for all IRGC vehicles and these types of plates are issued nationally, starting from regional code 11 regardless of which province the vehicles serves.

Islamic Republic of Iran Army

The following plate is installed on cars belonging to Islamic Republic of Iran Army. The plate is black on a light shade of brown. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter ش is used. The code in the square represents the regional codes. The letter ش on the plate is fixed for all army vehicles and these types of plates are issued nationally, starting from regional code 11 regardless of which province the vehicles serves.

Ministry of Defence

The following plate is installed on cars belonging to Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. The plate is white on light blue. The letter ز is reserved for this type of plate. The code in the square represents the regional codes. The letter ز on the plate is fixed for all cars belonging to the ministry and these types of plates are issued nationally, starting from regional code 11 regardless of which province the vehicles serves.

General Staff of Armed Forces

The following plate is installed on cars belonging to

. The letter ف on the plate is fixed for all cars belonging to the general staff and these types of plates are issued nationally, starting from regional code 11 regardless of which province the vehicles serves.

Historic Vehicles

This type of plate is used for older and historically significant vehicles like ones on display at museums. The plate is white on brown with the word تاریخی, meaning "historical" written above a five-digit number. On the left, there is an Iranian flag and a picture of

. The dimensions of the plate are American-standard.

Political and services plates

The new format for political and service plates was introduced on March 6, 2016. Each country or international organization is assigned a three-digit number (like the ۳۶۵ (365) shown in both examples below). For example, 214 is reserved for Germany. So far, 133 countries have been numbered. For each country's embassy, the first two digits increase (11D, 12D or 11S, 12S).[2]

These license plates are issued nationally, starting from regional code 11 regardless of which province the vehicles serves.

Political (e.g., diplomatic/consular corps)

Service (e.g., UNHCR)

Previous format

Temporary Passage

Plate is used for cars that are newly made

Previous format

This plate is used for new cars that entered Iran

Provincial codes and letter series

Provincial codes are generally given to each province. There are some exceptions to this however.

1. City of
   Tehran Province
2. Tehran Province
   in 2010.
3. While the current license plate format came into circulation from 2003, with
   Bojnurd and Birjand
   respectively. Each of these cities were allocated three new letter series out of their new provincial codes. But they were both allowed to keep the original one letter they were granted, under the provincial code 32, resulting in four letter series to fill up, in total for each. The other counties of these two new provinces had registration under codes 32 and 42 halted, and they switched to new letters under codes 26 and 52 respectively.
4. There is yet another exception thanks to the matters surrounding division of
   South Khorasan
   and eventually joined this province, as was originally intended. But, Tabas has retained its original letter, ق, under code 64, instead of switching to South Khorasan's code.

Within each province, registration numbers for all types of vehicles with the exception of private vehicles, are given province-wide, regardless of in which county the owner resides. Some types of vehicles such as police cars and diplomatic plates are allocated nationally, starting from code 11, regardless of the province in which they serve.

Provincial codes

License plates follow the format ## X ### / NN. The NN portion is a two-digit code granted to provinces.

Breakdown of codes and letters

The below 13 letters are used in private vehicle license plates.

Number 0 (zero) is only used in the provincial code, and only in the newly granted provincial codes, after 99 has been exhausted. Zero has not been used in the five-digit registration number.

Provincial codes 10 to 19

Provincial codes 20 to 29

Provincial codes 30 to 39

Provincial codes 40 to 49

Provincial codes 50 to 59

Provincial codes 60 to 69

Provincial codes 70 to 79

Provincial codes 80 to 89

Provincial codes 90 to 99

Motorcycles

Motorcycle registration plates have a unique and different format. Motorcycle plates come in XXX - #####. XXX is a three-digit provincial code, followed by #####, a five-digit number. These license plates are issued provincially.

Below is a list of codes and their corresponding provinces.

Note that neither the three-digit provincial code, nor the five-digit registration number can take zero. Thus, for example, after provincial code 499, comes provincial code 511.

Free trade zones

The plate is black on white and consists of a five-digit number written once in Persian digits on the top and in Arabic digits on the bottom. On the left, there is an Iranian flag and the logo of the respective free trade zone with its name written in English below it.

The size of the plate is American standard.

Below are a few examples of these plates.

Anzali

Aras

Arvand

Kish

Maku

Chabahar

Qeshm

References