why are irainians classed sa persians and not arabs. what is the difference?

Answer 1

it's pretty simple :
they're classified as persian because they ARE persians. they're not classified as arab, because they're NOT arabs.

One note though : not all Iranians are Persians; they could be Turk (Azeri), Kurd, Armenian, etc. But the majority are Persians for the simple explanation above !!

Answer 2

The Iranians are descended from the ancient Persians, who were a civilised and educated people centuries before any other of the middle eastern states. They are not an Arab nation, they are a Persian nation and do not have the facial features of the Arabs, apart from the fact that they have dark hair and `sun-tanned` skin they look like Westerners. They speak Persian Farsi, and until the Ayatollah Khomeini took charge of their country, they were a very pro-western nation.

Answer 3

The reason being that at one time during the last 50yrs Iran was Persia and the King at the time was forced into exile and the Ayotoller Khohamini took control of the country and while in power changed the name to Iran.

Answer 4

Arabs come from Saudi Arabia and UAE and those countries around that way and speak arabic.
Iran used to be called Persia many years ago, they don't speak Arabic

Answer 5

In fact the language in Iran is 'PERSIAN (Farsi)' and language is Arab countries is Arabic.

Answer 6

Iran and persia are synonymous. They are one and the same.
Iran/persia has existed as a country for more than 2500 years , and had the largest Empire known to date which was extremely tolerant of and respected other ethnicities and religions , and this lasted for about 1000 years (except the 150-200 years during which Iran/Persia was under the rule and influence of the Greeks who actually became amalgamated into Iranian culture) while most Arab countries were created somewhat arbetrarily after 1918 in which year The Ottoman empire that ruled these areas lost in World War one and lost most of the land to the British who not only created all these Arab countries , but also increased their influence in Iranian internal affairs and politics. During the 1800s , Britain and Czarist Russia had already exploited the weakness fo Iran and its mostly corrupt rulers and Kings (the Qajar Dynasty which ruled Iran from 1800- 1925) , and to annex large parts of land that belonged to Iran/Persia which includes the current countries of Azerbaijan , Armenia ,
Georgia, Tajikstan , Afghanistan , Turkmenistan . In 1925 , "Reza Shah Pahlavi" overthrew the Qajar dynasty and proclaimed himself King and estalished the "Pahlavi Dyansty" ( 1925 - 1979 ) The last monarchy in Iran after 2500 years. Reza Shah set out to modernize and industralize the country , but he increased his dictatorial power at the same time. He abolished the wearing of the veil for women , built schools, hospitals , the Tehran University (1924) which to this day is considered a very reputable schools in the world and has both grauate /professional students and several professors in universites such as M.I.T. , Harvard , Stanford , UC Berkeley , etc. .After the Nazis took power in Germany (Jan. 1933 ) , Iran increased its political and industrial alliance with the Germans , mostly due to the resentment of the people from colonial ambitions of Britain and Russia . The Nazi's sent engineers to build airports and the trans-iranian railway , and with their crazy pseudo-science of "Racial Theory " declared Iran (which literally means the land of the Aryans ) as being a country with "white people" . If anyone has actually read all I have written so far ,LOL , I'll finaly explain how and when the name Persia changed into Iran ! Iran has always been called Iran by the people that lived there . The ancient Greeks called it "persis" and the Romans called it "Parthia" and in the Persian language (Farsi or Parsi) , the word "pars" means both Persian and also is the name of a province in Iran in which the ruins of ancient capital of Iran/Persia (persepolis) and the tomb of Cyrus The Great is located . So all foreigners called Iran ,"Persia" (in English) or some form of it in other languages until 1935. . In 1935 , the ambassador of Iran to Nazi Germany tells the king of Iran , that Hitler is getting very strong and that he considers us "Aryan" , and if we have the other countries call us by our indiginous name Iran which means land of the Aryans , we may be more in favor of Hitler. So the king agrees and asks all foreign countries to refer to the country of Persia as Iran in their press and in general. Hence Persia becomes Iran in 1935 and after world war 2 starts (Sep.1939) , Iran officially declares neutrality , but the Reza Shah is pro Axis powers in his heart and refuses to yield to the demand of the British to expel German techincal workers from Iran . Eventually in 1941 , the British and Russian armies attack and occupy Iran , and force Reza Shah to abdicate in favor of his 21 year old son "Mohammad Reza Pahlavi" ( 1941-1979 ) - the very last king of Iran after 2500 years.
He was almost overthrown in 1953 , but a CIA coup re-instates him as the King. From then on he increased his dictatorial powers just like his father had done and at the same time sets out on a very rapid development and industrialization of the country which results in Iran having the highest growth rate of any country , but also created a great deal of wealth and westernization among the middle-upper and upper classes and also economic bottle necks. The lower classes resented the economic gap and the westernization and the middle and even upper classes resented the lack of political freedom and the ever increasing direct rule of the shah who saw himself as bringing back the glory of the Persian Empire. The clergy used all these people in overthrowing the Shah in 1979 and then immediately afterwards got rid of all the liberals , nationalists , leftists , etc. and established a theocratic government. To know Iran and Iranians/Persians is not to focus on the post 1979 Iran , but rather to learn about Iran/Persia's contributions to sciences , literature , culture , and humanity in general from 500 B.C. to present day . If you have actually read all that I have written my hat is off to you :) .

Answer 7

Its because Iran is in ancient Persia and not Arabia.

Answer 8

think arabs come from saudi arabia - ie arabs, there are one or two more arabs types that dont like being called arab for some reason

Answer 9

becos iranians are aryans not arabs

Answer 10

it's a matter of 'Persianal' preference