unconfirmed
Eleven claims and all eleven unconfirmed. The operative Iranian texts weren't reachable: what we could open is an official intergovernmental index, not the instrument. We know there's a permission layer for entering and stopping in the four protected classes, and that it doesn't answer overnighting. We know an instrument exists on border areas prohibited for travel and residence by foreigners — identified by its Persian title in a non-official index, and for that reason not turned into a claim. On the rest, nothing we can stand behind.
Checked July 2026
This is not legal advice: it's what the official sources say, checked by hand, plus what I lived myself. Verify before you bet the fine on it.
My nights in Iran
Protected areas and parks
National parks: permission to enter and stop
The indexed directive points to a licence or permission layer for entry, passage and stopping. What it doesn't do — and this is the point — is answer any overnight activity. We don't read "stopping" as sleeping.
- The operative Iranian text wasn't reachable: what we have is an official intergovernmental index, not the instrument. That's why everything here is low confidence with an early recheck.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 1, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Bivouac — Iranian national parks
The same permission layer, the same absence of an answer about the night.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 1, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Vehicle — Iranian national parks
The layer covers entry, passage and stopping. It doesn't cover sleeping inside.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 1, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Natural monuments
The directive treats natural monuments alongside national parks, with the same permission layer for entry, passage and stopping — and the same silence on overnighting.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 1, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Bivouac — natural monuments
Equally unresolved.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 1, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Vehicle — natural monuments
The same.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 1, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Wildlife refuges
The indexed text speaks of visiting, photography and tourism, subject to vegetation and wildlife conditions. It doesn't say "overnight camping", and we're not going to put it there.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in protected areas, article 5, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Protected areas
The fourth protected class, with the same visiting-and-tourism wording and the same gap: overnighting doesn't appear.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in protected areas, article 5, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
What the law wouldn't let us read
The environmental-harm article
The indexed article 8 points to a prohibition on acts harmful to vegetation and the ecosystem — which is not the same as a camping ban. Without the primary implementing regulation in hand, we publish no prohibition here.
- The index suggests a stronger prohibition than we can confirm; without the primary text, the force of it stays out.
Sources
Regulations on the Environmental Protection Law, article 8 — Council of Ministers of Iran, primary instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Environmental harm — natural monuments
Same reasoning, same limit: we don't turn a harm provision into a ban on sleeping.
Sources
Regulations on the Environmental Protection Law, article 8 — Council of Ministers of Iran, primary instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Kavir: what we couldn't verify
A result attributed to the Semnan Department of Environment described procedures for Kavir National Park, but the official page itself wasn't retrievable. No guide requirement, no fee, no booking channel: none of it was promoted into a claim.
Sources
Directive on entry, passage and stopping in national parks and national natural monuments, article 2, indexed with Iran's environmental instruments — Department of Environment of Iran, instrument indexed by FAOLEX
Checked July 2026
Before you go
Sleeping for free was half the budget
€3.16 per person, per day. The trip's full accounts — and the playbook to do it yourself — are in the budget dossier.