This is a list of individuals who have defected from Iran.
| Name | Occupation | Year | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athlete | 2020 | First woman from Iran to win an Olympic medal (Taekwondo) | [1] | ||
| Athlete | 2019 | Olympic judoka and 2018 world champion | [2] | ||
| Athlete | 2019 | Para-archer who qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan | [3] | ||
| Diplomat | 2010 | Former press attache at the Iranian embassy in Brussels, Belgium | [4] | ||
| Diplomat | 2010 | ||||
| Diplomat | 2010 | ||||
| Nuclear scientist | 2009 | Returned to Iran in 2010; executed by the Iranian government in 2016 “for revealing top secrets to the enemy” | [5] | ||
| 1998 | Eldest son of Iranian conservative politician and senior military officer Mohsen Rezaee; found dead in 2011 at a hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (possible assassination) | [6] | |||
| Intelligence operative | 1996 | [7] | |||
| Singer | 1994 | [8] | |||
| Athlete | 1986 | Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea; won the bronze medal at the 242-pound class | [9] | ||
| Athlete | 1986 | Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea | |||
| Athlete | 1986 | Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea | |||
| Athlete | 1986 | Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea | |||
| Pilot | 1986 | Former pilot for the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Akbar Rafsanjani; assassinated in Hamburg, West Germany, in 1987 | [10] | ||
| Pilot | 1983 | Due to his opposition to the Iranian regime, he first flew to Van in Turkey in a Northrop F-5 (the plane returned a week later). He later went to the U.S. before disappearing there in 1989. | [11] [12] | ||
| Diplomat | 1982 | Chargé d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Oslo, Norway | [13] | ||
| Athlete | 1982 | Wrestler | [14] | ||
| Athlete | 1982 | Wrestler | |||
| Pilot | 1982 | Iranian airline pilot; applied for political asylum in Austria after piloting his Iran Air Boeing 727 on a flight from Tehran | [15] [16] | ||
| Athlete | 1982 | Wrestler; defected during the 1982 World Wrestling Championships in Edmonton, Canada | [17] | ||
| Diplomat | 1982 | Charge d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Rome, Italy; assassinated in Rome in 1993 | [18] [19] | ||
| Military | 1981 | Iranian Air Force colonel | [20] |