Iran Air, branded as The Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: هواپیمايی جمهوری اسلامی ایران‎‎ Havâpeymâyiye Jomhuriye Eslâmiye Irân), is the flag carrier airline of Iran. Its main bases are the Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport for international flights and Tehran Mehrabad Airport for domestic flights . It is headquartered on the grounds of Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. The airline has a subsidiary for cargo services, called Iran Air Cargo, that operates scheduled and charter services. Iran Air transports 6 million passengers annually.

Iran Air is also referred to by its pre-revolution Persian acronym, Homa (Havâpeymâyiye Melliye Irân), which is also the name of a mythical Persian griffin, Homa.

Iranian Airways was founded in May 1944 by Reza Afshar and Gholam Ebtehaj.Post-war, its first passenger flight was from Tehran to Masshad, followed by a Tehran-Esfahan-Shiraz-Bushehr-Abadan-Ahwaz service. In 1946 the airline established service to Cairo, Baghdad and Tel Aviv, and in April 1947, to Paris. Between 1945 and 1962, the airline became a major domestic carrier, also operating some international flights to Europe each week. The fleet consisted of Douglas DC-3s initially, supplemented by Douglas DC-4 and Vickers Viscount aircraft later on.

In 1954, the privately owned airline Persian Air Services (PAS) was established. PAS initially operated only freight services, followed by passenger operations between Tehran and other major cities in Iran. In 1960, PAS initiated passenger service to several European destinations, including Geneva, Paris, Brussels and London, using Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-7 aircraft leased from Sabena.

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