Iran Azerbaijan: Region in northwestern Iran

Iranian Azerbaijan includes three provinces: West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Ardabil. some sources also include the province of Zanjan and parts of hamadan , markazi , alborz , qazvin and gilan. The region is inhabited by ethnic azeris, with minority populations of Kurds, Armenians, Tats, Talysh, Assyrians and some persians (most of the persians have moved in recently for jobs and work)

Iranian Azerbaijan is the land originally and historically called Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan appropriated the name of the region in Iran during the 20th century. Historic Azerbaijan was called Atropatene and Adurbadagan in the pre-Islamic Middle Ages.

After being defeated by Russian Empire, Qajar Persia gave all of its territories in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia to Russia via the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813 and the Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828. The territories south of the Aras River, which comprised the region historically known as Azerbaijan, became the new north-west frontier of the Persian Empire and later Iran. The territories north of the Aras River, which were not known by the name Azerbaijan at the time of their capture by Russia, were absorbed into the Russian Empire. It was later incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, and finally became the independent Republic of Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union dissolved.