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Iranian Empire (Pahlavi Dynasty, 1964-1979)

Iran Shahanshahiye Keshvare

4:7 image by Martin Grieve

National Flag and Civil Ensign
State Flag 1964-1980
- State Emblem
War Flag and Ensign
Jack

See also:

National Flag and Civil Ensign

The national flag and civil ensign is shown by Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World as a horizontal triband green-white-red with proportion 4:7.

According to Smith, the basic tricolor dates from the Constitution of 14 August 1905, with artistic alterations in 1912, 1933, and ca. 1964. From the chronology, the change from 1:3 to 4:7 proportions most probably occurred ca. 1964.
Ivan Sache, 16 October 1999

State Flag 1964-1980

4:7 image by Martin Grieve

National flag with the national emblem in the middle, proportion 4:7.
Source: Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World
There was never any crown above the lion and sun emblem--at least not on the state flag and ensign. Whitney Smith shows the emblem in the centre of the white stripe with no crown.
Martin Grieve, 18 January 2003

State Emblem

image by Martin Grieve

The emblem shows the traditional Persian lion holding a sword with a rising sun in the background and surmonted by an Imperial crown. The lion stands on a scroll without any writing on it.
Source: Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World
Ivan Sache, 20 August 2002

I would like to point out that the emblem on the old Iranian national flag is a far older symbol than the Qajar dynasty. The Epic of the Kings, written in the 1100s about the centruies before the conquest of Islam, refers to the Iranian army or king as marching under a banner with "the lion and the sunrise." The sword was added in the 1800s to make it more Islamic. The lion was the symbol of pre-Islamic Iran (Persia) along with the cypress tree, though I've never seen the two used together.
Robert Wilson, 26 December 2002

War Flag and Naval Ensign

4:7 image by Martin Grieve

Like the state ensign, but the emblem is smaller and flanked by two golden wreaths that join beneath the emblem.
Source: Smith Flags Through the Ages and Around the World
Jaume Ollé, 25 August 2002

The war flag/naval ensigns during this period had the lion and sun with the imperial crown.
Martin Grieve, 18 January 2003

Jack

Yesterday I found several Jane's Fighting Ships from the 1970s. In the Iran section there was a photo that clearly showed an Iranian warship flying the usual naval ensign, and a *white* version of the square jack, which confirmed the authenticity of the white square jack in Flags of All Nations, (HMSO 1955).
Miles Li, 19 July 2003