Afsharid Iran

The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly referred to as Afsharid Iran, Afsharid Persia or the Afsharid Empire, was an Iranian empire established by the Turkoman Afshar tribe in Iran's north-eastern province of Khorasan, the Afsharid dynasty would rule over Iran during the mid 18th century. The dynasty's founder, Nader Shah, was a successful military commander who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty in 1736, and proclaimed himself Shah.

During Nader Shah's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the time of the Sasanian Empire. At its height it ruled modern-day Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other parts of Central Asia, as well as parts of Arabia, the Indian subcontinent, Iraq and Turkey. After his death, most of his empire was divided between the Zands, Durranis, and Khanate of Kalat, with Afsharid rule being confined to a small local state in Khorasan. The Afsharid dynasty was finally overthrown in 1796 by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who founded the Qajar Empire and reestablished Iranian suzerainty over the previously lost regions.

The dynasty was named after the Turkoman Afshar tribe of Khorasan in north-eastern Iran, to which Nader Shah belonged. The Afshars had originally migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan (Iranian Azerbaijan) in the 13th century. In the early 17th century, Abbas the Great moved many Afshars from Azerbaijan to Khorasan to defend the north-eastern borders of the state against the Uzbeks, after which the Afshars settled in those regions. Nader Shah belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars.