Anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States (also referred to as anti-Persian sentiment in the United States) refers to the hatred, hostility, prejudice, and discrimination directed against Iranians, Iranian Americans, or the country of Iran within the United States. Historical manifestations of this sentiment range from mid-20th-century residential housing covenants to widespread societal discrimination following the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.
Anti-Iranian bias in the U.S. has been shaped by geopolitical conflicts, political rhetoric, media portrayals, and government policy. Studies and surveys indicate that Iranian Americans have experienced discrimination in airport security, employment, and social interactions. Additionally, scholars and critics have pointed to Hollywood's long-standing depiction of Iranians in films and television—such as Not Without My Daughter (1991), 300 (2007), and Argo (2012)—as contributing to negative stereotypes and cultural demonization.
In the 2020s, heightened military and diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Iran led to renewed concerns over ethnic profiling, increased border scrutiny by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and federal entry restrictions on Iranian nationals.
Residential segregation Between the 1920s and the 1960s, some houses in the Rock Creek Hills neighborhood of Kensington, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., included anti-Iranian language in racial covenants that were part of property deeds. One deed in Rock Creek Hills declared that homes in the neighborhood "shall never be used or occupied by...negroes or any person or persons, of negro blood or extraction, or to any person of the Semitic Race, blood or origin, or Jews, Armenians, Hebrews, Persians and Syrians, except...partial occupancy of the premises by domestic servants."
Islamic Revolution Iran hostage crisis
The 1979 Iran hostage crisis of the US embassy in Tehran precipitated a wave of anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States, against the new Islamic regime and Iranian nationals and immigrants. Even though such sentiments gradually declined after the release of the hostages at the start of 1981. In response, some Iranian immigrants to the US have distanced themselves from their nationality and instead identify primarily on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliations.
According to the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), nearly half of Iranian Americans surveyed in 2008 by Zogby International have themselves experienced or personally know another Iranian American who has experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity or country of origin. The most common types of discrimination reported are airport security, social discrimination, employment or business discrimination, racial profiling and discrimination at the hands of immigration officials.
For three decades (starting in 1979), a BBQ restaurant in Houston, Texas hung an anti-Iranian poster featuring a re-enactment of lynching. This restaurant poster has drawn both protesters and fans to the restaurant in 2011.
Neda Maghbouleh is an American-born Canadian sociologist and author, with a focus on the racialization of migrants from Iran, as well as the entire Middle Eastern and North African region.
Iran–United States conflict The escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States in the early 2020s also produced concerns among Iranian Americans about discrimination and ethnic profiling. Following the United States' killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, some Iranian Americans expressed concern that heightened security measures and public rhetoric about Iran could contribute to anti-Iranian sentiment. Lily Tajaddini, an Iranian-American activist in Washington, D.C., told Al Jazeera that rhetoric portraying Iran as a terrorist country could cause people to associate Iranian identity with terrorism.
In January 2020, Iranian Americans returning to the United States through the Peace Arch border crossing in Washington state reported being detained and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers following Soleimani's killing. Some reported being questioned about their family members, military service, social-media accounts and travel, with some people reportedly held for several hours. NBC News subsequently obtained a CBP memorandum instructing officers to conduct additional screening of people with connections to Iran, although CBP had initially denied issuing such a directive.
The United States Commission on Civil Rights expressed concern over reports of heightened scrutiny of Iranians and Iranian Americans at airports and borders and called for an investigation into possible discriminatory treatment.
Concerns about discrimination continued in subsequent years. A 2024 survey conducted by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans found that 79% of respondents were concerned about increased discrimination against Iranian Americans, compared with about 60% in the comparable 2023 survey. A 2025 PAAIA survey found that 53% of respondents said that they or someone close to them had experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity or national origin; 54% reported bias from airlines or airport security, while 35% reported workplace or business discrimination.
In April 2025, PAAIA reported receiving accounts from Iranian-American travelers who said they had experienced prolonged or repeated questioning at U.S. ports of entry, including reports that travelers had been singled out because they were born in Iran.
In June 2025, the Trump administration issued Proclamation 10949, which suspended the entry of Iranian nationals into the United States, subject to specified exceptions. The proclamation cited national-security and vetting concerns, including Iran's designation by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism. The restrictions were continued under Proclamation 10998, which took effect on 1 January 2026 and continued to include Iran among the countries subject to full entry restrictions.
Depictions of Iranians in Hollywood Since the 1980s and especially since the 1990s, Hollywood's depiction of Iranians has vilified them as inThe U.S. Media and the Middle East: Image and Perception. Praeger, 1997; Greenwood, 1995. television programs such as 24,Los Angeles Times: Iranians moving past negative depictions in pop culture June 27, 2010. John Doe, On Wings of Eagles (1986),Tv View; 'On Wings Of Eagles' Plods To Superficial Heights, The New York Times. and Escape From Iran: The Canadian Caper (1981), which was based on a true story. Critics maintain that Hollywood's "tall walls of exclusion and discrimination have yet to crumble when it comes to the movie industry's persistent misrepresentation of Iranians and their collective identity". In March 2013, Iran complained to Hollywood about various films, such as Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning Argo, that portray the country in an unrealistically negative light.
For decades, U.S. entertainment companies have been tried to illustrate Iran as a bloodthirsty country concerned about "bringing down America".
Not Without My Daughter (1991) The 1991 film Not Without My Daughter was criticized for its portrayal of Iranian society. Filmed in Israel, it was based on an autobiography of the same name by Betty Mahmoody. In the book and film, an American woman (Mahmoody) traveled to Tehran with her young daughter to visit her Iranian-born family of her husband. Mahmoody's husband then undergoes a strange transformation in Iran, ranging from an educated and sophisticated citizen to an abusive, backwards peasant, eventually deciding that they will not return to the United States. Betty is told that she can divorce him and leave, but their daughter must stay in Tehran under Islamic law. Ultimately, after 18 months in Iran, Betty and her daughter escape to the American embassy in Turkey.
Several Western critics, including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times and Caryn James of The New York Times, criticized the film for stereotyping Iranians as misogynistic and fanatical. According to Ebert, the film depicts Islamic society "in shrill terms", where women are "willing or unwilling captives of their men", deprived of "what in the West would be considered basic human rights". Furthermore, Ebert says, "No attempt is made—deliberately, I assume—to explain the Muslim point of view, except in rigid sets of commands and rote statements". Ebert then contends, "If a movie of such a vitriolic and spiteful nature were to be made in America about any other ethnic group, it would be denounced as racist and prejudiced."Ebert, Roger. "Not Without My Daughter", Chicago Sun Times, January 11, 1991.
According to Jane Campbell, the film "only serves to reinforce the media stereotype of Iranians as terrorists who, if not actively bombing public buildings or holding airline passengers hostage, are untrustworthy, irrational, cruel, and barbaric."
The film was also criticized in Iran. A 2002 Islamic Republic News Agency article claimed that the film "[made] smears...against Iran" and "stereotyped Iranians as cruel characters and wife-beaters". In a Finnish documentary, Without My Daughter, film maker Alexis Kouros tells Mahmoody's husband's side of the story, showing Iranian eyewitnesses accusing the Hollywood film of spreading lies and "treasons". Alice Sharif, an American woman living with her Iranian husband in Tehran, accuses Mahmoody and the filmmakers of deliberately attempting to foment anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States.
Alexander (2004) The 2004 film Alexander by American director Oliver Stone has been accused of negative and inaccurate portrayal of Persians. In particular, according to historian Kaveh Farrokh, the Persian soldiers who fought at the Battle of Gaugamela are wrongly portrayed as unclean, disorganized, and wearing turbans, in contrast to the well-disciplined Greek army."World: Oliver Stone's Alexander Stirs Up Controversy", RadioFreeEurope. The destruction of Persepolis was done by Alexander who is a hated figure in eyes of Iranians. According to Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University: "Oliver Stone's movie Alexander (2004) displays all the familiar Orientalist notions about the inferiority and picturesqueness of Eastern societies. So much so, indeed, that in terms of its portrayal of East–West relationships, Alexander has to be seen as a stale cultural statement and a worn-out reflection of the continuing Western preoccupation with an imaginary exotic Orient."
300 (2007)