Emblem of Iran

The national emblem of the Islamic Republic of Iran features four curves and a sword, surmounted by a shadda. The emblem was designed by Hamid Nadimi, and was officially approved by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader of Iran, on 9 May 1980.

The four curves, surmounted by the shadda, are a stylized representation of the word Allah. The five parts of the emblem also symbolize the Principles of the Religion. The shape of the emblem is chosen to resemble a tulip, in memory of the people who died for Iran: it is an ancient belief in Iran, dating back to mythology, that if a young soldier dies patriotically, a red tulip will grow on his grave. In recent years, it has been considered the symbol of martyrdom.

The logo is encoded in Unicode at code point U+262B ☫ FARSI SYMBOL in the Miscellaneous Symbols range. In Unicode 1.0 this symbol was known as "SYMBOL OF IRAN". However, the current name for the character was adopted as part of Unicode's merger with ISO/IEC 10646.

It is also engraved in the center of the flag of Iran.