Lion and Sun flag

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Iran
State flag of Iran (1964-1980).svg
Lion and Sun flag [a]
Use National flag FIAV defacto.svg FIAV variant.svg
Proportion4:7 [1]
Adopted7 October 1907;118 years ago (1907-10-07)
Relinquished29 July 1980;45 years ago (1980-07-29)[ citation needed ]
DesignA horizontal tricolour of green, white, and red with the golden Lion and Sun symbol centred on the white band.

The Lion and Sun flag [a] is a historic Iranian national flag consisting of a green-white-red horizontal tricolour charged with the Lion and Sun emblem. It served as the state flag of Iran from 1907 until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, after which it was strictly banned. [2] Since then, the flag has had no official status but continues to be used as a historical and political symbol, particularly among the Iranian diaspora and opposition movements. [3]

Contents

Flag description

Lion and Sun emblem

The emblem consists of a male lion in front of a rising sun, coloured in gold and centred on the white band. Its appearance has varied across over time. In some versions, the lion holds a sword, while in others it stands unarmed, with all four paws on the ground. The sun is nowadays depicted as a simple disc with rays, though earlier designs often included a face. Some versions include a thin horizontal base beneath the lion. A crown was sometimes displayed above the emblem on the national flag, while the war flag and naval ensign additionally featured a surrounding wreath, without the crown after 1979.[ citation needed ]

In the standard modern design, the lion stands on a base holding a sword, the sun has no facial features, and no crown is present. The base rests directly atop the red stripe, leaving no gap beneath it. [1]

Colour scheme

As no official colour specifications were published for the flag, the following values represent digital approximations derived from the modern design. [1]

GreenWhiteRedGold
RGB 35/159/64255/255/255218/0/0255/187/38
Hexadecimal #239F40#FFFFFF#DA0000#FFBB26
CMYK 78/0/60/370/0/0/00/100/100/150/27/85/0
Pantone 7739 CWhite485 C1235 C

History

Qajar origins

The Lion and Sun emblem first appeared in the 12th century, though it only became a national symbol during the Qajar era. Its first appearance on a flag is thought to be on an early green-white-red tricolour, featuring thin green and red stripes, designed by Amir Kabir and in use from 1848 to 1852. The first equal-height stripe designs are said to have appeared by the late 1880s. These accounts are poorly documented and may be entirely unfounded, and they are far less certain than the flag officially adopted in 1907. [4]

Late Qajar and Pahlavi era

mSTfy khml attrkh w rDshh Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Reza Shah.jpg
Illustration of a historic meeting between Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Reza Shah in 1934, with the contemporary Iranian flag
ShahanshahiIran2500YearsPasargad2.jpg
Numerous Lion and Sun flags hoisted at Pasargadae during the 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire, 1971

The first official version of the Lion and Sun flag was adopted in the wake of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 [2] and codified in the Supplementary Fundamental Laws of 7 October 1907 as the state flag of the country. The new banner was described as a tricolour of "green, white, and red, with the emblem of the Lion and the Sun." [5] On 4 September 1910, a decree specified the exact details of the emblem, including the size and position of the lion, and the shape of its tail, sword, and sun. [6] During this period, the colours of the flag were very pale, with the red appearing closer to pink in practice.

Following Reza Shah's coup d'état and through the Pahlavi era, the flag underwent several gradual changes. In 1933, the colours of the flag were darkened, and the sun was stripped of its facial features. In 1964, the flag's proportions were altered from 1:3 to 4:7.[ citation needed ] In 1973, the government introduced a new flag using a standardised design for the Lion and Sun emblem, though it is not clear if it replaced all pre-existing designs, as the style of the emblem continued to vary depending on the manufacturer.[ citation needed ]

Although the Lion and Sun tricolour served as the official state flag, the plain green-white-red tricolour remained widely used in civilian contexts. Both versions coexisted, with the emblem-bearing flag primarily associated with the state and diplomatic use.[ citation needed ] [7]

Post-Islamic revolution

Following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1979 at the onset of the Iranian Revolution, the interim government began phasing out the Lion and Sun in favour of the plain tricolour.[ citation needed ] However, after the Islamic takeover in 1980, the new government outlawed the use of the old flag entirely, justifying the restrictions by claiming that the banner was a symbol of the "oppressive Westernising monarchy," despite the emblem's traditional Shia origins. [8]


Modern representations

Since its relinquishment, there has been no official government-issued standard defining the modern appearance of the Lion and Sun flag. As a result, modern reproductions of the banner vary in details, including colour shades, proportions, the presence or absence of the crown, and especially the rendering of the Lion and Sun emblem.

Reza Pahlavi has appeared with multiple variants of the flag in different contexts, including both historical non-digital and modern digital designs, though he has not promoted any specific version.[ citation needed ] The NCRI has been using Lion and Sun flag since 1993. [9] Among the public, the former naval ensign with the wreath and crown is also commonly favoured.[ citation needed ]

Digital reconstructions

Modern design

Modern Lion and Sun emblem derived from Sodacan's original design Lion and sun Emblem2.svg
Modern Lion and Sun emblem derived from Sodacan's original design

Among various reconstructions, the design created by the Wikipedia contributor Sodacan on Wikimedia Commons on 17 November 2012 [1] has become the most prevalent modern version of the Lion and Sun flag since the 2010s.[ citation needed ] Although it has no official status, this design has been widely used across the internet and in protests, and was adopted on 9 January 2026 by Twitter's Twemoji emoji set for the Iran flag emoji. [11] Reza Pahlavi has also displayed this version in public appearances, most recently at his press conference on 16 January 2026, where it appeared on the lectern from which he spoke. [12]

The 2012 vector file attributed to Sodacan was an edit of an earlier Wikimedia Commons upload dating to 2007, which used a more traditional rendering of the Lion and Sun emblem. In Sodacan's original 2012 version, the lion was rendered slightly larger and overlapped with the green and red bands. This was later adjusted on 4 March 2023, when the emblem was repositioned and scaled so that it no longer extended beyond the white band. [1]

On 4 July 2025, the Commons user Jooja made adjustments to the lion, sword, and sun. One clear distinguishing feature of the Jooja revision is the sword, whose central ridge is precisely centred, whereas it is slightly offset in the original 2012 version. [1] [13]

Despite these updates, many derivative files based on Sodacan's original 2012 upload remain in circulation and do not incorporate the later revisions.

Traditional design

Traditional Lion and Sun design created by Sodacan. Full flag in the gallery below Lion and Sun (Pahlavi Dynasty).svg
Traditional Lion and Sun design created by Sodacan. Full flag in the gallery below

Another prevalent digital variant features a more traditional rendering of the Lion and Sun emblem, also created by Sodacan on 17 November 2012. [14] [15] In this version, the lion is depicted using a duller shade of tan and with more intricate detail. While this design is less suited to digital mediums, it more closely reflects the illustrative style of the emblem on historical flags and is often used online and in protests.[ citation needed ] Reza Pahlavi has also been seen using this variant in public appearances.

Contemporary use

Historically, since the Islamic Revolution, the Lion and Sun flag has been associated with monarchist movements, while some republican and reformist groups preferred the plain tricolour. Over time, the Lion and Sun banner has been adopted more broadly as a symbol of Iranian national identity and opposition to the Islamic Republic rather than exclusively symbolising the pre-1979 monarchy. [3]

Public opinion data suggests the banner's growing recognition and popularity within the country. In a February 2022 survey conducted by GAMAAN in Iran, prior to the outbreak of the Mahsa Amini protests, 46% of respondents chose the Lion and Sun flag as their preferred national flag, compared with 30% who chose the current official flag, and 19% who preferred the plain tricolour without symbols. [16]

Use in protests

2025-2026 Iran National Uprising, Tehran, 9 January 2026.jpg
Demonstrator during the 2025–2026 protests silhouetted against a street fire proudly waving the flag,
9 January 2026
Protester replaces regime flag on Iranian embassy in London with pre-revolution national flag.jpg
Protestor tears down the Islamic Republic flag at its embassy in London and holds up the Lion and Sun flag, 10 January 2026

The flag is regularly seen at international rallies across North America and Europe, where members of the Iranian diaspora wave it to show solidarity with protest movements in Iran. [17] It has been particularly prominent during demonstrations in major Western cities such as London, Berlin, Paris, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

2025–2026 protests

Domestically, the Lion and Sun flag re-emerged during the 2025–2026 protests, with demonstrators publicly waving the flag [18] [19] and, in some cases, tearing down and burning official Islamic Republic flags. [20]

In solidarity with the uprising in Iran, protesters tore down the Islamic flag at the Islamic Republic's embassy in London and replaced it with the Lion and Sun flag. [21] The flag was also raised at the Islamic Republic consulate in Munich. [22]

Flag emoji

On 9 January 2026, the Twemoji emoji library changed the Iran flag emoji from the Islamic Republic flag to the modern design of the Lion and Sun flag. [11] As a result, the Lion and Sun flag now appears on most web and iPhone clients when browsing X (formerly Twitter). Some Islamic Republic officials, including Ali Khamenei, removed the flag from their Twitter profiles prior to the change taking effect after the original announcement, [23] though many did not do so in time, resulting in widely shared screenshots of officials' names next to the Lion and Sun flag.[ citation needed ]

Proposals to implement a similar change in the Google Noto emoji library are currently under discussion. [24]

See also

Other opposition flags

Notes

  1. 1 2 Persian: پرچم شیر و خورشید, romanised: parcham-e shir o khorshid

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sodacan (18 November 2012), Modern vector version of the Iranian Lion and Sun flag, Wikimedia Commons , retrieved 2 January 2026
  2. 1 2 Smith, Whitney. "Flag of Iran". Encyclopædia Britannica . Archived from the original on 29 August 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
  3. 1 2 McKeever, Amy (29 November 2022). "Why Iran's flag is at the center of controversy at the World Cup". National Geographic . Archived from the original on 5 September 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Farrokh, Kaveh (13 July 2013). "Lion & Sun Emblem of Iran, a Pictorial Historical Analysis - Part 3". Iran Politics Club. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
  5. ↑ Browne, Edward G. (1910) [7 October 1907]. "4. The Supplementary Fundamental Laws of October 7, 1907". The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909/Appendix A: The Bases of the Persian Constitution. Cambridge University Press. p. 373 – via Wikisource. Art. 5. The official colours of the Persian flag are green, white and red, with the emblem of the Lion and the Sun.
  6. ↑ Najmabadi, Afsaneh (2005), Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity, University of California Press, pp. 86–88, ISBN   0-520-24262-9
  7. ↑ Azadi Stadium Exterior view from the west side — 1974 Asian Games, Wikimedia Commons, 1974, retrieved 3 January 2026
  8. ↑ Babayan, Kathryn (2002), Mystics, Monarchs, and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran, Harvard College, p. 491, ISBN   0-932885-28-4
  9. ↑ "The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) : Iran Opposition Parliament in Exile".
  10. ↑ Sodacan (17 November 2012), Lion and Sun Emblem of Iran, Wikimedia Commons , retrieved 7 January 2026
  11. 1 2 "X changes Iran flag emoji to lion and sun symbol in support for protests". Iran International. 9 January 2026. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Press Conference | نشست خبری . Retrieved 16 January 2026– via www.youtube.com.
  13. ↑ Jooja (16 June 2020). "Lion and Sun emblem". Wikimedia Commons . Retrieved 16 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. 1 2 Sodacan (17 November 2012). "Lion and Sun (Pahlavi Dynasty)". Wikimedia Commons . Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  15. ↑ Sodacan (8 February 2020). "Flag of Iran.png". Wikimedia Commons . Retrieved 10 January 2026.
  16. ↑ Maleki, Ammar (March 2022). "IRANIANS' ATTITUDES TOWARD POLITICAL SYSTEMS: A 2022 SURVEY REPORT" (PDF). The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in IRAN (GAMAAN). p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2025. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  17. ↑ Vaux-Montagny, Nicolas (8 January 2023). "Marches in Europe support Iran protests, assail government". AP News . Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2026.
  18. ↑ "Iran's pre-revolution flag displayed in Tehran protests". Iran International . 9 January 2026. Retrieved 10 January 2026.
  19. ↑ "Video shows monarchist flag displayed during Ramsar protest". Iran International . 4 January 2026. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  20. ↑ "Protesters pull down Islamic Republic flag in Tehran". Iran International . 3 January 2026. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  21. ↑ Sawer, Patrick; Williams, Eric (10 January 2026). "Protester tears down Iranian regime flag from London embassy". The Telegraph . ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 10 January 2026.
  22. ↑ "Lion and Sun flag raised at Iranian consulate in Munich". Iran International . 12 January 2026. Retrieved 12 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ↑ Bier, Nikita (9 January 2026). "Announcement of emoji flag change". Twitter . Retrieved 9 January 2026.
  24. ↑ "Updates the Iran flag emoji (🇮🇷) to the Lion and Sun flag. #530". Github . 9 January 2026. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
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