Changes

:{{See also|History of Iran}}

:{{See also|History of Iran}}

In the [[Western world]], Persia was historically the common name for Iran.<ref>[https://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/persia_became_iran.php Iran Chamber Society: When "Persia" became "Iran"], Iran Chamber</ref>  In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates and the [[League of Nations]] to use the term '''Iran''' ("Land of the [[Aryans]]").  The suggestion for the change of the country’s official name to Iran is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to [[Third Reich|Germany]], who came under the influence of the [[Nazi]]s.  German friends of the ambassador convinced him that the name change would free his country from the past influences of Russia and the [[British Empire]]. It would be a new beginning as an Aryan nation.  Many Persian elites and intellectuals nurtured the idea of Aryan superiority.<ref>[https://iranicaonline.org/articles/judeo-persian-vi-the-pahlavi-era-1925-1979 JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES vi. THE PAHLAVI ERA – Encyclopaedia Iranica]</ref>  Reza Shah<ref>[https://www.howardblum.com/blog-posts/reza-shah-and-adolf-hitler-irans-history-with-the-third-reich Reza Shah and Adolf Hitler: Iran’s History with the Third Reich], Howard Blum, Feb. 6, 2020</ref>said,

In the [[Western world]], Persia was historically the common name for Iran.<ref>[https://www.iranchamber.com/geography/articles/persia_became_iran.php Iran Chamber Society: When "Persia" became "Iran"], Iran Chamber</ref>  In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates and the [[League of Nations]] to use the term '''Iran''' ("Land of the [[Aryans]]").  The suggestion for the change of the country’s official name to Iran is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to [[Third Reich|Germany]], who came under the influence of the [[Nazi]]s.  German friends of the ambassador convinced him that the name change would free his country from the past influences of Russia and the [[British Empire]]. It would be a new beginning as an Aryan nation.  Many Persian elites and intellectuals nurtured the idea of Aryan superiority.<ref>[https://iranicaonline.org/articles/judeo-persian-vi-the-pahlavi-era-1925-1979 JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES vi. THE PAHLAVI ERA – Encyclopaedia Iranica]</ref>  Reza Shah<ref>[https://www.howardblum.com/blog-posts/reza-shah-and-adolf-hitler-irans-history-with-the-third-reich Reza Shah and Adolf Hitler: Iran’s History with the Third Reich], Howard Blum, Feb. 6, 2020</ref>said,

{{quotebox-float|“Germany was our age-old and natural ally, Love of Germany was synonymous with love for Iran. The sound of German officers’ footsteps was heard on the shores of the Nile. [[Swastika]] flags were flying from the outskirts of Moscow to the peaks of the Caucasus Mts. Iranian patriots eagerly awaited the arrival of their old allies. My friend and I would spin tales about the grandeur of the superior race. We considered Germany the chosen representative of this race in Europe and Iran its representative in Asia. The right to life and role was ours. Others had no choice but submission and slavery. We discarded the old maps and remade Iran into a country larger than what it was in Achaemenian times.”<ref>https://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2015/04/iranian-shah-flirted-with-nazis-in-1930s.html</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|“Germany was our age-old and natural ally, Love of Germany was synonymous with love for Iran. The sound of German officers’ footsteps was heard on the shores of the Nile. [[Swastika]] flags were flying from the outskirts of Moscow to the peaks of the Caucasus Mts. Iranian patriots eagerly awaited the arrival of their old allies. My friend and I would spin tales about the grandeur of the superior race. We considered Germany the chosen representative of this race in Europe and Iran its representative in Asia. The right to life and role was ours. Others had no choice but submission and slavery. We discarded the old maps and remade Iran into a country larger than what it was in Achaemenian times.”<ref>[http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2015/04/iranian-shah-flirted-with-nazis-in-1930s.html Iranian Shah flirted with Nazis in 1930s]. ''Point of No Return: Jewish Refugees from Arab and Muslim Countries'', Apr 8, 2015</ref>}}

Noted<ref name=jta-122005/>: Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi (reigned 1925–1941) admired Nazi ideology, especially the concept of the “Aryan” race, even renaming Persia to “Iran” in 1935 to emphasize this connection. Iran hosted Gestapo agents and served as a base for Nazi operations in the Middle East.

Noted<ref name=jta-122005/>: Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi (reigned 1925–1941) admired Nazi ideology, especially the concept of the “Aryan” race, even renaming Persia to “Iran” in 1935 to emphasize this connection. Iran hosted Gestapo agents and served as a base for Nazi operations in the Middle East.