ABSTRACT
Introduction e identication of being Arab in the Iranian psyche depends to a great extent on the denition of the Iranian identity. Who is an Iranian? e answer to this question was relatively easy during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979). Schoolchildren learned that they were Aryans, proud of their rich pre-Islamic heritage rooted in the glory of the Persian Empire. e sons and daughters of Cyrus the Great, “the King of the Nation” (Lamb 2007: 355) and the author of the “oldest declaration of human rights” (Moradi Ghias Abadi 2007: 8), Iranians belonged to a civilization that once ruled a great proportion of the world. Prerevolutionary formal education emphasized belonging to the Iranian nation as a source of pride, with clear lines of demarcation from Arabs.
