the remaining armenian minority in the islamic republic of iran is still the largest christian community in the country, ahead of the assyrians. the armenians remain the most powerful religious minority in iran. they are appointed two seats in iranian parliament (the most within the religious minority branch) and are the only minority with official observing status in the guardian and expediency discernment councils. today in iran there are about 150,000 - 300,000 armenians left, half of which live in the tehran area. a quarter live in isfahan, and the other quarter is concentrated in northwestern iran or iranian azerbaijan. the majority of armenians live in the suburbs of tehran, most notably narmak, majidiyeh, nadershah, etc.