Counties of Iran

Iran's counties (Persian: شهرستان, romanized: šahrestân) are administrative divisions of larger provinces (ostan). The word shahrestan comes from the Iranian words شهرshahr (city) and ستانstân ("place, land"). "County", therefore, is a near equivalent to شهرستان (šahrestân).

Counties are divided into one or more districts (baxšبخش). A typical district includes both cities (šahrشهر) and rural districts (dehestânدهستان), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county, generally in its Central District.

Each county is governed by an office known as farmândâri, which coordinates different public events and agencies and is headed by a farmândâr, the governor of the county and the highest-ranking official in the division.

Among the provinces of Iran, Fars has the highest number of shahrestans (37), while Qom has the fewest (3). In 2005 Iran had 324 shahrestans, while in 2026 there are 491.