Southern Asia
Video Chat with People from Iran
Iran's clock sits at UTC+3:30 all year, an unusual half-hour offset, so a 9 PM chat in Tehran lands in the early evening in Central Europe and around lunchtime in New York. You might meet someone from Tehran at the foot of the Alborz mountains, Isfahan with its tiled squares and old bridges, Shiraz with its gardens and poets' tombs, Tabriz in the northwest, desert Yazd or green Rasht near the Caspian Sea.
Persian (Farsi) is the shared language, and Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Gilaki and other languages are spoken in different regions. English comfort varies, so a few words of Persian are a nice touch. Food is a wonderful topic, especially tahdig, the crispy rice from the bottom of the pot, plus kebab koobideh, ghormeh sabzi and saffron ice cream. Poetry, Persian classical music, football and volleyball, skiing in the mountains near Tehran, and Nowruz, the New Year at the start of spring, all spark easy conversation. Our Persian phrase guide covers everyday basics.
Iran at a glance
| Flag | 🇮🇷 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Islamic Republic of Iran |
| Capital | Tehran |
| Region | Asia · Southern Asia |
| Official language | Persian (Farsi) |
| Currency | Iranian rial (﷼, IRR) |
| Calling code | +98 |
| Time zone | Iran Standard Time (Asia/Tehran) |
How to say hello
A few words of Persian (Farsi) make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persian | سلام! | salam (sah-LAAM) | Hi! / Hello! |
| Persian | حالت چطوره؟ | halet chetore (haa-LET cheh-TOH-reh) | How are you? (casual) |
| Persian | خوشبختم | khoshbakhtam (khosh-bakh-TAM) | Nice to meet you |
| Persian | مرسی | mersi (MER-see) | Thanks (very common in everyday Persian) |
Tips for chatting with people from Iran
- Ta'arof, the Persian etiquette of polite offers and refusals, means a first 'no, please, you go first' may just be courtesy. Keep things light and don't take it too literally.
- Ask if they have a favorite line of poetry. Hafez and Saadi come up often, and hearing a verse read aloud is a lovely moment on a call.
- If typing in Persian script is hard, Finglish (Persian written in Latin letters) is common in casual messages.
- Adding 'jan' (dear) after a first name, as in 'Sara jan', is affectionate rather than formal; you'll hear it once a chat warms up.
Only meet people from Iran
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Iran, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Iran and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Iran, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Iran are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Iran borders 7 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: