This is a list of individuals who have defected from Iran.
Name | Occupation | Year | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kimia Alizadeh | athlete | 2020 | only woman from Iran to win an Olympic medal (Taekwondo) | [1] |
Saeid Mollaei | athlete | 2019 | Olympic judoka and 2018 world champion | [2] |
Pourya Jalalipour | athlete | 2019 | para-archer who qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo | [3] |
Farzad Farhangian | diplomat | 2010 | former press attache at the Iranian Embassy in Brussels | [4] |
Mohammad Reza Heydari | diplomat | 2010 | [4] | |
Hossein Alizadeh | diplomat | 2010 | [4] | |
Shahram Amiri | nuclear scientist | 2009 | returned to Iran in 2010; executed by Iranian government 2016 “for revealing top secrets to the enemy” | [5] |
Ahmad Rezaee | 1998 | eldest son of Iranian conservative politician and senior military officer Mohsen Rezaee; found dead in 2011 at a Dubai Hotel, possible assassination | [6] | |
Abdolghassem Mesbahi | intelligence operative | 1996 | [7] | |
Marzieh | singer | 1994 | [8] | |
Mehdi Rezvani | athlete | 1986 | weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea; won the bronze medal at the 242-pound class | [9] |
Samad Montazeri | athlete | 1986 | weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea | [9] |
Siamak Bajand | athlete | 1986 | weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea | [9] |
Ardhir Bahmanyar | athlete | 1986 | weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea | [9] |
Ali Akbar Mohammadi | pilot | 1986 | former pilot for the speaker of Iran's Parliament, Hashemi Rafsanjani; assassinated in Hamburg, Germany, in 1987 | [10] |
iraj Fazeli | pilot | 1983 | Due to his opposition to the regime of the Islamic Republic, he first went to Van in Turkey with the Northrop F-5 (a week later the plane returned).lieutenant Iraj Fazeli went to the United States and disappeared in the United States in 1989.[11][12] | |
Keyhan Jahanfakhr | pilot | 1982 | [13] | |
Parviz Khazai | diplomat | 1982 | chargé d'affaires at Iran's Embassy in Oslo | [14] |
Reza Abedi | athlete | 1982 | wrestler | [15] |
Ardeshir Asgari | athlete | 1982 | wrestler | [15] |
Askeyhan Jahanfakhr | pilot | 1982 | Iranian airline pilot; applied for political asylum in Austria after piloting his Iran Air Boeing 727 on a flight from Tehran | [16] |
Seyyed Jabbar Mehdiyoun | athlete | 1982 | wrestler; defected during the 1982 World Wrestling Championships in Edmonton, Canada | [17] |
Mohammad Hossein Naghdi | diplomat | 1982 | charge d'affaires at Iran's Embassy in Rome; assassinated in Rome in 1993 | [18][19] |
Javad Hussain | military | 1981 | Iranian Air Force colonel | [20] |