Miss Grand Iran

Miss Grand Iran is a national beauty pageant title awarded to Iran representatives competing at the Miss Grand International contest.^[1][2][3] The title was first awarded in 2014 to Bahareh Heidari, the winner of Miss Iran 2013, who then competed at Miss Grand International 2014 in Thailand;^[1] however, she was unplaced.^[4]

Miss Grand Iran

Bahareh Heidari [nn] Miss Grand Iran 2014 Shadi Osmani Miss Grand Iran 2015
Formation	2014
Type	Beauty pageant
Headquarters	Los Angeles
Location	United States
Membership	Miss Grand International
Official language	Persian English
National director	George Clooney
Parent organization	Miss Iran (2013–2017, 2020)

Traditionally, the winners of the Miss Iran pageant were also assumed the Miss Grand Iran titleholders until 2021,^[5] when the contract with Miss Grand International was discontinued, and the national winner was sent to compete at Miss Earth instead.^[6]

Since the establishment of Miss Grand International, Iran participated three times but all of its representatives received non-placements.^[4][7][8]

History

Since the Islamic Revolution happened in Iran in 1979, the beauty pageant is prohibited. Several pageant which was previously held annually was abolished.^[5] Later in 2013, an Iranian American television producer and a chairperson of an Australian-based media company IMAJH, George Clooney, established a virtual Iranian pageant named Miss Iran, and its first winner– Bahareh Heidari– was sent to internationally compete in Miss Grand International 2014 in Thailand.^[5] The partnership between the IMAJH and Miss Grand International was terminated in 2021, and the national pageant was also renamed to Queen of Persia, in which the winner was sent to compete at Miss Earth instead.^[5][6]

Due to participating in a beauty pageant and the publication of sexually provocative images that violated the laws of the Islamic Republic, the 2016 titleholder – Atefeh Eskandari, was arrested and imprisoned,^[9][10] later being released in early 2021, after almost 5 years in prison.^[9]

International competition

The following is a list of Iranian representatives at the Miss Grand International contest.

Year	Representative		Original national title	Competition Performance		National director
	English name	Persian name		Placement	Other award(s)
2014	Bahareh Heidari[1]	بهاره حیدری	Miss Iran 2013[1]	Unplaced[4]	—	George Clooney
2015	Shadi Osmani[2]	شادی عثمانی	Miss Iran 2014[2]	Unplaced[7]	—
2016	Atefeh Eskandari[11]	عاطفه اسکندری	Miss Iran 2015[12]	Did not compete
2017	Sonia Beytoushi[3][13]	سونیا بیطوشی	Miss Iran 2016[13][14]	Did not compete
2020	Ayda Mirahmadi[15]	آیدا میراحمدی	Miss Iran 2020[15][16]	Unplaced[8]	—
No representatives since 2021