: Ир Ir, Ирӕттӕ Irættæ; West Ossetian: Ирон Iron, pl.

The majority of Irons profess Russian Orthodoxy and a small minority profess Sunni Islam mainly in the lowland villages of North Ossetia, while the Uatsdin faith has also been preserved by a minority of Irons.

Following the Mongol invasions of the 1200s and incursions by Tamerlane in the late 1300s, the Alans fled from their homeland to seek refuge in the remote Caucasian valleys while others were incorporated into the conquering society.

The Alans who retreated into the Caucasus were unable to reform the Kingdom of Alania and eventually split into different petty subgroups.

[1] By the Russian conquest in the late 1700s, Orthodox Christianity had become the dominant religions among the Irons after going through a revival.