Timeline

727 BCE


Jews are forced into exile from Judea into Babylonian and Persian lands.

642 BCE


The Battle of Nehavend leaves Persia in the hands of Arab-Muslims, establishing Islam as the new state religion and depriving Jews of political or social equality.

634 – 1255


Islamic rule forces Jews to pay a poll tax and wear a yellow patch signifying their Jewish religion distinguishing them as a minority group in a majority Muslim society.

1258 – 1336


Jewish settlements destroyed throughout Persian lands as Mongols take control.

1501


Safavid Dynasty takes over, spreads idea that non-Muslims are unclean. Jews are forced to proclaim themselves “Jadid-al-Islam” (New Muslims).

1661


Iranian authorities issue an edict giving Jews freedom of religion and the freedom to practice their religion as they wish.

1898


First “Alliance Israelite” school established in Tehran. Sixty years later, there were thirty-four Alliance schools and thirty-eight other Jewish schooling options for children.

1908


Iranian state grants Constitutional rights to the country’s three main religious minorities: Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. Jews are given the power to elect one member to the Iranian parliament.

1948


With the end of WWII and the establishment of Israel as a state, 80% of the Iranian Jewish population immigrates to Israel along with other countries.

1950


Mohammad Reza Shah grants Israel de facto recognition as a state.

1979


Ayatollah Khomeini takes control over Iran. Despite several violent attacks to Israel and Zionism, he also maintains freedom of religion for Iranian Jews, as they are also “people of the book”.

2012


Although it is widely believed that 25,000 Jews remain in Iran, the Iranian government releases a census stating there are 8,756 Jews in Iran.