Iran Scout Organization

Iranian Scouting was founded in 1928, and Iran became a member of the World Bureau of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1955. Scouting grew for many years until the fall of the Shah in 1979.

The 15th World Jamboree was scheduled to be held in Neyshâbûr, Iran in 1979, the hometown of Omar Khayyám, near the Afghan and Turkmen borders, but the destabilizing events of the Islamic Revolution cancelled that gathering near the end of 1978. Instead, there were international camps in Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States that took up the impetus.

Since the 1970s, Iranian Scouting has faced difficulty, and lost WOSM membership. The government placed restraints on Scouting during the 1980s, and the wars that Iran has become involved in have taken into the military many of the Scout-age boys, as well as the leaders. Scouting is nascent, but little information is yet available.