The History Of Persian Flag

The first reference to Iranian flag can be traced back to the time of Mithraism in ancient Persia. The followers of Mithraism believe that Mithra, the son of Sun is going to rescue humanity and destory the bull, a symbol of commodity. Therefore Lion (symbol of power), Sun with portrait of an angle who represents Mithra has been discovered in most ancient archeological items. first Iranian flag in the time of Achamanian use to be a Hawk (Shahbaz) with open wings carried in front of the army on top of a tall flag pole.
It was a tradition in ancient Persia that every king would add a jewelery to the darafsh ( the flag found by the blacksmith, Kaveh). When Arab Muslims invaded Iran, the darafsh was seized in a bloody battle fought around Nahavand (a city with the same name in today's Hamadan province in the mid-western Iran) and taken, among many other war spoils. The Arabs burned the flag and used the valuable items.
For the next 200 years, with Arab occupiers of Iran imposing a religious ban on the depiction of any animated figure and prohibiting the drawing of any pictures, Iranians did not have a flag of any type. The only exceptions to this, were two Iranian rebel leaders, Abu Moslem and Babak who came to pick black and red flags, respectively, as their resistance banners. The terms, "The Black Clad", and "The Red Clad", have been employed by historians to refer to the followers of these two resistance leaders.
The Safavid dynasty was the first dynasty formed after arab conquest, hence they were influenced by Islamic culture. They added the sword of Imam Ali ( profet Mohammad's son-in-law) to their flag.
During Afshari dynasty, Nader Shah created a rectangle flag of red, white and green and a lion’s profile in a walking posture with a half-risen sun, in the radius of which was a Koranic verse meaning, “the Earth is His.”Nader shah was a self-styled ruler who salvaged Iran from a feudalistic state to form a unified country, made giant military advances toward India and China, Kharazm and Samarghand (located on the northern part of Iran), and Kirkuk and Bagdad in today’s Iraq. Nader Shah's choice of three colors of green, white and red was a groundbreaking decision in the formation of the modern Iranian flag. Since then, these colors have been the official colors of the Iranian flag, either royal or national.
During Mohamad Shah Qajar House representative recognized Red, White, Green flag with Lion & Sun carrying sword as the national emblem.
After the Islamic revolution, Khomeini ordered all the Sun & Lion emblems to be removed from monuments, historic building and governmental stationeries. He kept the three colors of the flag and replaced the Sun and Lion with the Allah, which in arabic means God.

A Picture that suggests the significance of Mithraism in the Persian Flag (3000 yrs ago):
http://www.sanibrite.ca/iran/sun-lion.gif

Picture of the Flag of Cyrus the Great (559 BC):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20iran%201sth%20standard%20achaemenian%20eagle%20banner.jpg

Picture of The Derafshe Kaviani (224 - 651 AD):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20iran%20derafshe%20kaviani%20orig..jpg

Picture of the Flag of Shah Tahmasb (1524 - 1576 AD):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20shah%20tahmasb%20safavid%201524-1576.jpg

Picture of the Flag of Shah Safi II (1666 - 1694 AD):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20iran%20safavid%20shah%20safi%20ii,%201666%20-%201694.jpg

Picture of the Flag of Nader Shah(1737 - 1747AD):
http://home.att.net/~tabriz/Nader_shah_flag2small.jpg

Picture of the Flag of Ali-Qoli Shahe Adel (the fair)(1747- 1748 AD) :
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20iran%20afsharid%20ali-qoli%20shahe%20adel,%201747%20-%201748.jpg

Picure of the Flag of Aqa Mohammad Khan Qajar:
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20late%201700%20(1797)%20aqa%20mohamad%20khan%20qajar.jpg

Picture of the Flag of Mohammad Shah Qajar (1834 - 1848):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20ir%20q%20flag%20of%20mohamad%20shah.jpg

Picture of the Flag of Naseredin Shah (1848 - 1896):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20qajar%20military%20naseredin%20shah%201838.jpg

Picture of thevFlag of Mozaffaredin Shah Qajar (1896 - 1907 AD):
http://members.aol.com/ahreemanx/images/flag%20iran%20qajar%20mozaffar%20ed-din%20shah,%201896%20-%201907.jpg

Picture of the Flag before 1979:
http://www.farhangsara.com/geography/realflagfinal2.jpg

Picture of the Flag after 1979 ( current):
http://www.farhangsara.com/geography/iriflag.jpg