The emblem was designed by Hamid Nadimi, and was officially approved by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader of Iran, on 9 May 1980.

[citation needed] During the Achaemenid era, especially at the time of Cyrus the Great, the Imperial Standard was made up of a kinglike image, Square in shape, split into four equivalent triangles.

[5] The latter meaning is an identification with an Iranian legend in which the Derafshe Kāviyān was the standard of a mythological Persian blacksmith-turned-hero named Kaveh the Blacksmith, who led a popular uprising against the foreign demon-like ruler Zahhak.

Recalling the legend, the 10th-century epic Shahnameh recasts Zahhak as an evil and tyrannical ruler, against whom Kaveh called the people to arms, using his leather blacksmith apron as a standard, with a spear as its hoist.

In the story, after the war that called for the kingship of Fereydun had been won, the people decorated the apron with jewels and the flag became the symbol of Iranian nationalism and resistance against foreign tyranny.

The symbol of Derafsh Kāviyāni is a lotus flower, whose history goes back to the beliefs of ancient Iran from the Achaemenid period.

[8] The motif, which combines "ancient Iranian, Arab, Turkish, and Mongol traditions", became a popular symbol in Iran in the 12th century.

In the 19th century, European visitors at the Qajar court attributed the lion and sun to remote antiquity and since then it got a nationalistic interpretation.

The lion could be the metaphor for Ali, heroes of Iran who are ready to protect the country against enemies, and finally its ancient meaning as the symbol of kingship.

[12] The Supplementary Fundamental Laws of 7 October 1907 described the flag as a tricolour of green, white, and red, with a lion and sun emblem in the middle.

The imperial motto reads, Marā dād farmud o khod dāvar ast (مرا داد فرمود و خود داور است), translated in English as 'He gave me power to command, and He is the judge'.

[15] Following the Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for the dismantling of the lion and sun symbols during a speech on 1 March 1979.