Regions of Iran

Historically and geographically Iran has been divided into a number of different regions. In 2014, Iran was administratively divided into five regions.

Iran's thirty-one provinces were divided into five regions on 22 June 2014, based on a decision of Ministry of Interior. In the division, the adjacency, geographical location and similarities of the provinces were considered.

The Constitution of Iran does not provide for regions and they are not the constituent units of the country, but exist purely for the convenience of governmental administration.

According to Javad Naserian, Ministry of Interior's Management Development and Human Resources Vice-Minister, the purpose of this division of provinces was creation of synergy, transfer of experience, information exchange, and regional development. Also, it now provides an intermediate level where provinces can discuss their problems among themselves, instead of going immediately to Tehran.

The intention was for each region to have regularly scheduled meetings of the constituent provinces' Governors-general, rotating the meeting place through the provincial capitals. The host province would provide the chairman of each meeting. A regional secretariat would be established in the capital city of the main province of each region, with a coordinating bureau in the Ministry of Interior headquarters in Tehran.

Histories, travel books and economic analyses often refer to less formal, more historical or geographical, Iranian regions. The borders of these are not fixed and often have changed over time, and even overlapped at the same time.

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Wikipedia