Iranian Georgians

Iranian Georgians or Persian Georgians (Georgian: ირანის ქართველები; Persian: گرجی‌های ایران) are Iranian citizens who are ethnically Georgian. Present day Georgia was a subject of Iran in ancient times under the Achaemenid and Sassanian empires, spanning the Safavid and Qajar eras. Several Iranian rulers, such as Shah Abbas I, forcibly relocated hundreds of thousands of Georgian Christians and Jews. These measures were enacted to weaken the Qizilbash and promote economic growth. Many of them also migrated voluntarily, including the nobility as well as some that moved as muhajirs in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The Georgian community of Fereydunshahr has retained its distinct Georgian identity to this day, despite Islamisation and adopting certain aspects of Iranian culture such as the Persian language.