Vehicle registration plates of Iran

Iranian license plates have had European standard dimensions since 2005. Each province in Iran has multiple unique, two-digit codes that are included at the right end of the license plates in a distinguished square outline, above which the word or "Iran" has been written. A province's license plates will not be issued with a new code unless all possible combinations with the old code have been issued. In Tehran, the first code to be issued for the province was code 11, and subsequent codes all increased by 11 as well (meaning codes 11, 22, 33, ..., 99 are unique to Tehran.) Ever since code 99 was fully issued, the new codes for Tehran have started from 10 and subsequently increased by 10. Most province codes increased by 10 based on the first code issued for their province. Khuzestan Province, for example, has been allocated codes 24 and 14, and code 24 will not be used before code 14 is fully issued. However, as codes started getting exhausted, numbers and letters have been assigned more liberally and without following this rule of thumb anymore

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 regional codes. The letter ب can be dependent on where the car's owner's principal address is located. For example, while regional code 24 belongs to Khuzestan Province, letter ب (B) is dedicated to residents of Abadan County, while letter ج (J) is dedicated to Khorramshahr County residents. The distribution of the letters has become more complicated with codes and letters being filled up, as some letters have been broken down even more, based on the initial two numbers on the license plates, and as some letters been given to multiple counties, who previously had separate letters from each other.

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.

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 Iran-Iraq war) with a disability.
Numbers 51 ♿︎ 111 - XX have been assigned to everyone else with a disability.

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 Persian put on the plate. The code in the square represents the regional codes. 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 Persian put on the plate. The code in the square represents the regional codes. 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 (NAJA) 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 General Staff of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The plate is white on light blue. To distinguish the type of the plate, there is the letter ف is used. The code in the square represents the regional codes. 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 Bagh-e Melli in Tehran. 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).

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

Previous format

Provincial codes and letter series

Provincial codes are generally given to each province. There are some exceptions to this however.
# City of Tehran is practically treated as if it were a province, even though it is part of Tehran Province
# Alborz Province