"Iran is not just Tehran" ( fa, ایران فقط تهران نیست) is a

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...

coined by the

Tudeh Party of Iran The Tudeh Party of Iran ( fa-at, حزب تودۀ ایران, Ḥezb-e Tūde-ye Īrān, lit=Party of the Masses of Iran) is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in i ...

in the early 1940s, originally used to convey importance of the provinces and voice "regional grievance against the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

Later notable uses

* The phrase is used by

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

and other travel guiding sources to point that by local standards Tehran is a "virtually new" city and tourist attractions located elsewhere in Iran are more interesting. *

Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel ( fa, غلامعلی حداد عادل, born 9 May 1945) is an Iranian philosopher, conservative and principlist politician and former chairman of the Parliament. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Counci ...

used the slogan to argue that

2009 Iranian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Iran on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes co ...

was not fraudulent and

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

has beaten

Mir-Hossein Mousavi Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh ( fa, میرحسین موسوی خامنه, Mīr-Hoseyn Mūsavī Khāmené, ; born 2 March 1942) is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the forty-ninth and last Prime Minister of Ira ...

: "Does Mousavi know how many people voted for Ahmadinejad in the rural areas and in the villages? Iran is not just Tehran. We know that Mr Mousavi got 13 million votes, but Mr Ahmadinejad got 24 million". * Following

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

of the reformist

List of Hope Pervasive Coalition of Reformists: The Second Step ( fa, ائتلاف فراگير اصلاح‌طلبان: گام دوم), named The List of Hope ( fa, لیست امید) by Mohammad Khatami, was the sole coalition and electoral list affiliated w ...

in 2016 parliamentary election of Tehran electoral district, an editorial published by conservative newspaper ''

Kayhan ''Kayhan'' ( fa, کيهان, '' en, The Cosmos'') is a newspaper published in Tehran, Iran. It is considered "the most conservative Iranian newspaper." Hossein Shariatmadari is the editor-in-chief of ''Kayhan''. According to the report of the '' ...

'' warned that "Iran is not just Tehran" and dismissed their success. * Iran's

culture minister A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizati ...

Abbas Salehi Seyyed Abbas Salehi ( fa, سید عباس صالحی) is an Iranian scholar, journalist and former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance from 2017 to 2021. He was vice-minister from 2013 until 2017 which also served as acting Minister of Cultu ...

used the phrase in his 2017 speech to emphasize capabilities and skills existing in cities other than Tehran: "We should see the provinces in the light of a more extended outlook and the motto, "Iran is not just Tehran" is a fact, because there are ingenuities in the provinces that should be noticed".

References

{{Iran-culture-stub Persian words and phrases Political terminology of Iran Political catchphrases Regionalism (politics) Decentralization 1940s neologisms Tudeh Party of Iran Slogans Tehran