It’s time to re-install the House of Pahlavi in Persia.
--- Why did Persians choose Iran instead of historical name Persia for their country?
"Its a misconception the foreigners have, but the reason is so simple. Each country have some endonyms and exonyms.
For example, people know Hellas as Greece. Persians call it Younan; so if Greeks request others to call their land Hellas,
which is even more historical and valid than Greece (Hellas - Wikipedia), then some people may think that Hellas is a new nation.
Unfortunately, such a misconception exists about the name of Iran (Name of Iran - Wikipedia); Iran literally means the land of Aryans
and Aryans (or Iranians) were considered the common ethnicity of many Iranian ethnic groups, one of which are Persians (Refer to Iranian peoples - Wikipedia).
From the Parthian Empire or even before that time, people knew their land as Iran.
Its repeated hundreds of times in Shahnameh (Shahnameh - Wikipedia) as the national epic of Iranians; even Achaemenid knew themselves first Persian, and then Aryan.
In a royal inscription Darius the Great once stated I am a Persian, son of a Persian; Aryan; having Aryan lineage. DNa - Livius
About 80 years ago, Reza Shah of Iran requested the foreigners to use Iran instead of Persia, which could cover all ethnic groups of Iran.
Perhaps it was a bad idea, but Reza Shah requested to replace Persia with Iran for any mention of Persia throughout history;
No one said its a new name; It was just a more valid name. Later, Mohammad Reza Shah announced that both Persia and Iran are interchangeable.
In many cases Iran is a more technical term;
For example the valid term for Persian Empires (Persian Empire - Wikipedia), which refers to five major Empires from Iran should be called Iranian Empires;
for example Parthians (In fact Arsacid Empire) and Medes were Iranians and Achaemenid and Sassanid were Persians and again Iranians;
Safavis were a Perso-Turk (Persianate) Empire, and Iranian could be correct as we still have Azeris as a Trukic ethnic group (about 16%).
For an expert, the names are interchangeable, and sometimes one is more technical than the other. I hope people respect this rule."
~Bahram Amiri, Persian, lives in Iran; interested in history, politics~