.ir

.ir is the ccTLD for Iraq. It is managed by the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences.^[1]

Rules and Restrictions

The following may apply to .ir:

organizations legally represented within the geographic boundary of Iran;
individuals residing officially in Iran;
organizations connected with the official representations of Iran abroad;
other individuals or organizations whose activity and the use of the domain name are not in conflict with the laws, practices and interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The following domain names are not allowed:

Generic and Sponsored Top Level Domains. The current set of these top level domains is comprised of the following 15: aero, arpa, biz, com, coop, edu, gov, info, int, mil, museum, name, net, org and pro;
generic Internet-related names. For a current list see Generic Internet-Related Names;

Names and codes of provinces, cities and towns in Iran. These are reserved for respective administrative units (see Names of Geographic Administrative Units in Iran);

names of national significance such as names of famous personalities, events, natural features and resources of the country. These are reserved for appropriate applicants as designated by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance;
restricted or forbidden Domain Names:
- applicants for names of religious significance must provide written approval of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance;
- Domain names that suggest illegal activity or are publicly offensive are forbidden.^[2]

The following second-level Domains can be registered. In each case the domain name must closely reflect the official name of the applicant.

.ac.ir: for academic organizations licensed by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, The Supervisory Council of Islamic Seminaries, or the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution. The applicant must provide a copy of official license.
.co.ir: for registered commercial companies. The applicant must provide a copy of currently valid proof of registration.
.gov.ir: for administrative bodies and organizations under the executive, legislative or judiciary branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The applicant must provide a letter from a responsible authority of the organization on official letterhead.
.id.ir: for individuals with Iranian citizenship or legal residence. The applicant must provide proof of citizenship or residence.
.net.ir: for official ISPs or other entities whose statutes provide for network services. The applicant must provide copy of ISP license or statutes.
.org.ir: for registered not-for-profit companies and associations, learned societies, international organizations and the like. The applicant must provide copy of currently valid proof of registration or statutes.
.sch.ir: for schools, institutes and other academic organizations under the license of the Ministry of Education of Iran. The applicant must provide official proof of such status on official letterhead.^[2]

The following rules pertaining to the characters used in the domain name must be observed:

the only allowable characters are the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, digits 0 through 9 and hyphen (-). Letters are not case-sensitive. No empty space is allowed;
domain names must be at least 3 and at most 63 characters long. Hyphens cannot be used as the first or the last character of the domain name, nor can they be used simultaneously as the third and the fourth character.^[2]