Why does Iran have several calendars?
Iranians live by several calendars at once — each for a different part of life. One day, several dates.
- Shahanshahi25 Tir 2585Heritage — Cyrus epoch, 559 BC
- Shamsi (Jalali)25 Tir 1405Official in Iran & Afghanistan
- GregorianJuly 16, 2026International
- Lunar Hijri30 Muharram 1448Religious — lunar, ~11 days shorter
Four calendars, each with a purpose
The Shamsi (Jalali) calendar is Iran's official, administrative calendar — solar and highly accurate, with the year beginning at Nowruz. Documents, schools and domestic news run on it.
The lunar Hijri calendar is used for religious observances. Because a lunar year is about 11 days shorter, its months drift through the seasons year to year.
The Gregorian calendar is the international one — for work, travel and the wider world. The Iranian diaspora shifts between all of these every day.
And the Shahanshahi calendar is the heritage calendar: its days and months are identical to the Shamsi, but its year is counted from the coronation of Cyrus the Great in 559 BC — restoring the 1180 years that the Hijri epoch removed from Iran's continuous timeline.