Counties of Iran

Counties Of Iran

The counties of Iran, also called shahrestan (Persian: شهرستان shahrestān‎), are administrative divisions of larger provinces (ostan). The word Shahrestan comes from the Persian words shahr and ostan, meaning city (or town) and province (or state) respectively. County, therefore, is a near equivalent of Shahrestan in English.

Iranian counties are divided into one or more bakhsh (Persian: بخش bakhsh‎), or districts. A typical county includes both cities (Persian: شهر shahr‎) and rural agglomerations (Persian: دهستان dehestān‎), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county.

Each county has a governmental office known as Farmandari which coordinates different events and governmental agencies. The Farmandar, or the head of Farmandari, is the governor of the county and is the highest governmental authority in the division.

Among the provinces of Iran, Fars has the highest number of Shahrestans with 23, while Semnan and South Khorasan have only 4 Shahrestans each; Qom uniquely has one, being coextensive with its namesake county. In 2005, Iran had 324 Shahrestans.

Read more about Counties Of Iran:  Guide, Alborz Province, Ardabil Province, Bushehr Province, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, East Azerbaijan Province, Esfahan Province, Fars Province, Gilan Province, Golestan Province, Hamadan Province, Hormozgan Province, Ilam Province, Kerman Province, Kermanshah Province, Khuzestan Province, Kohgeluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Kordestan Province, Lorestan Province, Markazi Province, Mazandaran Province, North Khorasan Province, Qazvin Province, Qom Province, Razavi Khorasan Province, Semnan Province, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, South Khorasan Province, Tehran Province, West Azerbaijan Province, Yazd Province, Zanjan Province

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