List of Iranian defectors

This is a list of individuals who have defected from Iran.

Name	Occupation	Year	Notes	Ref.
Kimia Alizadeh	Athlete	2020	First woman from Iran to win an Olympic medal (Taekwondo)	[1]
Saeid Mollaei	Athlete	2019	Olympic judoka and 2018 world champion	[2]
Pourya Jalalipour	Athlete	2019	Para-archer who qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan	[3]
Farzad Farhangian	Diplomat	2010	Former press attache at the Iranian embassy in Brussels, Belgium	[4]
Mohammad Reza Heydari	Diplomat	2010		[4]
Hossein Alizadeh	Diplomat	2010		[4]
Shahram Amiri	Nuclear scientist	2009	Returned to Iran in 2010; executed by the Iranian government in 2016 “for revealing top secrets to the enemy”	[5]
Ahmad Rezaee		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]
Abdolghassem Mesbahi	Intelligence operative	1996		[7]
Marzieh	Singer	1994		[8]
Mehdi Rezvani	Athlete	1986	Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea; won the bronze medal at the 242-pound class	[9]
Samad Montazeri	Athlete	1986	Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea	[9]
Siamak Bajand	Athlete	1986	Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea	[9]
Ardhir Bahmanyar	Athlete	1986	Weightlifter competing at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea	[9]
Ali Akbar Mohammadi	Pilot	1986	Former pilot for the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Akbar Rafsanjani; assassinated in Hamburg, West Germany, in 1987	[10]
Iraj Fazeli	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]
Parviz Khazai	Diplomat	1982	Chargé d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Oslo, Norway	[13]
Reza Abedi	Athlete	1982	Wrestler	[14]
Ardeshir Asgari	Athlete	1982	Wrestler	[14]
Keyhan Jahanfakhr	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]
Seyyed Jabbar Mehdiyoun	Athlete	1982	Wrestler; defected during the 1982 World Wrestling Championships in Edmonton, Canada	[17]
Mohammad Hossein Naghdi	Diplomat	1982	Charge d'affaires at the Iranian embassy in Rome, Italy; assassinated in Rome in 1993	[18][19]
Javad Hussain	Military	1981	Iranian Air Force colonel	[20]