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Time in Iran — regions, cities and time zones

Iran uses a single time zone, Iran Standard Time, at UTC+3:30. Tehran and the rest of the country share it. Iran no longer observes daylight saving time, so the half-hour offset now holds steady through the whole year.

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Capital Tehran · Asia · ISO IR / IRN

Tehran, Iran

Friday, 4 September 2026

UTC+3:30 · Asia/Tehran

Time and sun data for Tehran, Iran

The sun in Tehran

Sunrise 05:40 Solar noon 12:05 Sunset 18:30 Daylight 12 h 51 min Night 11 h 09 min Civil twilight 05:14 – 18:56

States and regions (33)

Current time in Tehran

Tehran's zone identifier is Asia/Tehran, and its offset is one of the small handful worldwide that sits on a half hour rather than a whole one. That detail matters more than it sounds: Iran is three and a half hours ahead of UTC, not three and not four.

A half hour that catches people out

Most of the world runs on whole-hour offsets, so calendar software, mental arithmetic and hastily written invitations all tend to drift toward the nearest round number. With Iran, rounding is always wrong by thirty minutes. Writing the offset explicitly — UTC+3:30 — is the cheapest possible insurance against a call starting half empty.

A half-hour offset is a small thing, right up until it is the difference between joining a meeting and joining its recording.

Daylight saving has ended

Iran used to move its clocks seasonally and no longer does. This is the detail most likely to be out of date in older references, conversion tables and un-updated software. Anything relying on a stale time zone database may still expect a spring or autumn shift that will not happen. If a device or a spreadsheet disagrees with a person in Tehran about the current offset, trust the person.

One zone, many regions

The single national zone covers the whole country, from the northwest near the Caucasus to the southeast toward the Pakistani border, and from the Caspian coast to the Persian Gulf. There is no internal boundary where the hour changes.

Tehran — capital, in the north Mashhad — the northeast Isfahan and Shiraz — the centre and south Tabriz — the northwest Bandar Abbas — the Gulf coast

Working across the region

Against neighbours on whole-hour offsets, the gap always includes a half hour — there is no month of the year when it comes out even. Against Europe, the difference changes twice a year, but the movement comes entirely from the European side.

Against countries that also stay fixed year-round, the gap to Iran never changes at all. The general rule for anyone scheduling with Tehran: work out the difference for the specific date, and state both local times in the invitation. "14:00 in Tehran / 11:30 in London" removes every ambiguity in one line, and it survives the other party's clock change.

The calendar, not just the clock

Time in Iran involves more than the offset. The country uses the Solar Hijri calendar for civil purposes, so dates in official and everyday use may not match the Gregorian date on a foreign calendar even when the hour lines up perfectly. When arranging anything with a date attached — a deadline, a delivery, a visit — confirming the calendar as well as the clock is worth the extra sentence. The week structure also differs from the Monday-to-Friday pattern common in Europe, which affects which days are working days on each side.

Questions and answers
Does Iran still change its clocks twice a year?
No. Iran has stopped observing daylight saving time, so the offset stays at UTC+3:30 throughout the year.
Does the whole of Iran use the same time?
Yes. One national zone covers the entire country, with no regional variation.
Why is the offset a half hour?
Iran Standard Time is set at UTC+3:30 rather than a whole-hour offset. It is unusual but not unique — several countries use half-hour offsets.

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