Iraqi Moaveds (Persian:معاودین عراقی) are a group of 350,000-650,000Iraqi citizens of Persian descent who were deported fromIraq by theBa'athist regime because of their Iranian ancestry.[1][2][3] Hundreds of thousands of Shia Iraqis of Iranian ancestry whose families had resided in Iraq for many generations were expelled from Iraq in the early 1970s[4] and early 1980s before theIran-Iraq War. The exact number of deportations is not clear and ranges from 350,000[5] to 650,000.[6] Most of them could prove Iranian ancestry in the court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq afterSaddam's fall.[6]
Many Iraqi Moaveds hold or have held high positions in the government of theIslamic Republic of Iran such asShahroudi (head of Judicial system of Iran), GeneralMohammad Reza Naqdi (commander of theBasij paramilitary force),Hamid-Reza Assefi andAli Akbar Salehi (Minister of Foreign Affairs).