Pasdaran (District)

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Pasdaran is a neighborhood of northern Tehran centered around Pasdaran Ave. This avenue connects Niavaran road (from the north) to Shariati road (in the south). It is about 8-9 km long and is a major commercial thoroughfare for northern Tehran.

Pasdaran in Persian means "guardians". The old name for this road was "Saltanat Abad", which means "built by the monarchy", and refers to the palace of the Shah (the last king of Iran), situated at the northernmost tip of this street.

Pasdaran Ave., along with the network of streets that extend out from it, make up the Pasdaran Neighborhood of Tehran, which includes areas like Farmaniye, Darrous, Rostam Abad, Saltanat abad, Ekhtiyariyeh, Ehteshamiyeh, Doulat, Dibaji, and Chizar.

[edit] Borj-e Sefid

The Borj-e Sefid (meaning "White Tower" in English) is a skyscraper built along Pasdaran Ave. within which is contained a fashionable shopping center as well as many offices. The tower has cemented Pasdaran's status as an attractive, upscale suburb of Tehran, raising the area's profile and spurring a series of developments in the surrounding areas.

Although the tower is a center of business and commerce and is part of a trend towards increasing urbanity in the district (mainly witnessed along the district's northern edge near Farmaniye), the majority of the area's housing remains relatively suburban in nature, consisting mostly of mansions (often stereotypically Persian Palaces) and townhomes or duplex.