Editing Iranian Georgians (section)

===Modern Iran===
Despite their isolation from Georgia, many Georgians have preserved their language and some traditions, but embraced Islam. The ethnographer Lado Aghniashvili was first from Georgia to visit this community in 1890.

In the aftermath of [[World War I]], the Georgian minority in Iran was caught in the pressures of the rising [[Cold War]]. In 1945, this compact ethnic community, along with other ethnic minorities that populated northern Iran, came to the attention of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] as a possible instrument for fomenting unrest in Iranian domestic politics. While the [[Georgian SSR|Soviet Georgian]] leadership wanted to repatriate them to Georgia, Moscow clearly preferred to keep them in Iran. The Soviet plans were abandoned only after [[Joseph Stalin]] realized that his plans to obtain influence in northern Iran foiled by both Iranian stubbornness and United States pressure.<ref>Svetlana Savranskaya and Vladislav Zubok (editors), [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/f-research_notes.pdf Cold War International History Project Bulletin, I issue, 14/15 – Conference Reports, Research Notes and Archival Updates] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215145138/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/f-research_notes.pdf |date=2006-12-15 }}, p. 401. [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]. Accessed on September 16, 2007.</ref>

In June 2004, the new Georgian president, [[Mikheil Saakashvili]], became the first Georgian politician to have visited the Iranian Georgian community in [[Fereydunshahr]]. Thousands of local Georgians gave the delegation a warm welcome, which included waving of the newly adopted [[Flag of Georgia (country)|Georgian national flag]] with its five crosses.<ref>Sanikidze, George. Walker, Edward W. [http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7149d486#page-22 ''Islam and Islamic Practices in Georgia''] Publication Date; 08-01-2004. p 19</ref>{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=536}} Saakashvili who stressed that the Iranian Georgians have historically played an important role in defending Iran put flowers on the graves of the Iranian Georgian dead of the eight years long [[Iran–Iraq War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1383/830420/html/internal.htm |title=Iran Newspaper |access-date=2007-02-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051129005643/http://www.iran-newspaper.com/1383/830420/html/internal.htm |archive-date=2005-11-29 }}</ref>