Iranians in Iraq

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Iraqi Persians
{{nobold|پارس‌های عراق/ايرانيان عراق (Persian)
فرس العراق / إيرانيو العراق (Arabic)}}

| native_name =

| image = Lion and sun Emblem2.svg

| image_caption = Lion and Sun still used by Iraqi Persians{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

| population =

| popplace = Karbalā', Najaf, Baghdad, Suleymaniyah, Maysan, Basra

| region1 = {{flag|Iraq}}

| pop1 = 486,000

| ref1 =

| region2 = {{flag|Iran}}

| pop2 = 400,000

| ref2 =

| rels = Twelver Shiʿa IslamPahlavan, Demographic Movements in the Region, p. 147. (minority Sunni Islam)

| languages = Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish

}}

Iranians in Iraq ({{Langx|fa|ایرانیان در عراق}}, {{Langx|ar|الإيرانيون في العراق}}), are Iraqi citizens of Iranian background. Iranians have had a long presence in Iraq, since the Fall of Babylon.

Demographics

Iranic peoples:

There is a noticeable “Feylie tribe” (Lurs or Kurds) in Iraq, situated between the Iran, Iraq border.{{Cite web |title=History – Faili Kurds Association |url=https://failykurds.org/history/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=failykurds.org}}

History

During the 19th century and early 20th century, many Iranians took refuge in Ottoman Iraq and lived in exile in cities such as Najaf, Karbala and Baghdad.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Saddam Hussein exiled between 350,000[https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/diaspora#pt6 Iranica Online][http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/reliefweb_pdf/node-49027.pdf U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)]{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} to 650,000 Iraqi citizens of Iranian ancestry.{{cite web|url=http://www.hamshahri.org/print-7737.aspx|title=Hamshahri Newspaper (In Persian)|work=hamshahri.org|access-date=12 November 2014}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Most of them went to Iran. Most could prove an Iranian ancestry in Iran's court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq immediately after his fall. The population of Iraqis of Iranian descent is currently 486,000{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} (not including Iranian residents in Iraq).

==Culture==

Most Feiyli Iraqis belong to {{nowrap|Twelver Shīʿa Islam}}, the same religious sect that most Iraqis and Iranis belong to.

While the Iraq side of Kurds on the other hand follow mostly Sunni Islam.