Tehran Council renames streets in nine districts

Tehran’s City Council has renamed streets and squares in nine districts of the capital during its 367th session on November 2, according to an official press release.

A contentious feature of Tehran’s successive administrations since the 1979 revolution has been renaming streets and landmarks across the city. Renaming a street often gets very little attention before the renaming occurs, with residents usually not consulted on affected streets. In the past, streets were renamed in honour of people who had died in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, with more recent renamings named in honour of people killed in the recent 12-day conflict with Israel or in the run-up.

Council members changed names of streets and squares in districts one, seven, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21 and 22, and named two bridges, Municipality Shahr news agency reported on November 2.

In district one, bridge B9 on Artesh Boulevard was named after Seyyed Abdolkarim Ghodsi. In district seven, Davari alley on Shahid Madani Street was renamed after Asghar Abdi, whilst Shahidzdeh alley was renamed after Reza Deini.

In district 10, Afshar alley on Khosh Street was renamed after Ghahreman Ghasede Hefzabad, and Bahram alley on Shahid Davooti Street was renamed after Ahmad Eshaghi.

District 12 saw Kourosh alley in Shohada Square renamed after Mostafa Kolahdouzan, whilst Bank alley on Ferdowsi Street was renamed after Bank Melli martyrs.

In district 15’s Khavarshar area, Afarinesh 3 alley was renamed after Abbas Fallah and Afarinesh 2 alley after Jafar Hedavand Heidari.

District 18’s Abdi alley in Valiasr township was renamed after Safar Abanvaz. In district 21’s Tehransar, 19th West alley was renamed after Mosayeb Mastouri whilst ninth East street on Islamic Revolution Committee Martyrs Boulevard was renamed after Mohammad Hossein Heshmati.

District 22 saw an unnamed underpass bridge on Tabiat Boulevard named after Gholam Hossein Taghavi Goodarzi, Nasim 20th street renamed after Naser Teymouri and Laleh 2nd West street renamed after Hamid Rafiei.

In district 14, streets were renamed including Shahed 5 alley after Gholam Reza Ali Asgari, Etemad alley after Hamidreza Faramarzi and Firoozeh alley after Mahdi Karimi Shahrabi.

Interesting tidbit!

Tehran’s history of naming streets after foreign figures even goes well before the 1979 revolution. Interestingly, following the 1943 Tehran Conference, three streets near foreign embassies were named after Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, marking the first time streets were named after foreign leaders.

After the 1979 revolution, these names were changed, with Roosevelt Avenue renamed Mofateh Avenue and Eisenhower Avenue becoming Azadi Avenue. One of Tehran’s most affluent districts, previously called Jordan Street after American Presbyterian missionary Samuel Jordan, was renamed Nelson Mandela Boulevard and before that Africa, but despite this everyone still calls it Jordan. Wikipedia

In 1981, Winston Churchill Boulevard, home to the British Embassy, was renamed Bobby Sands Street after the Irish Republican Army member who died on hunger strike in a Northern Ireland prison. The British Embassy subsequently changed its entrance to avoid using that address.

In 2011, Tehran named a street after Rachel Corrie, an American pro-Palestinian activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, marking the first time since the 1979 revolution that a street was named after a US national.

Tehran also named a street after Khalid al-Islambuli, the Egyptian army lieutenant who assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981, though the city council announced in June 2025 it would rename this street as part of improving relations with Egypt.