section_path: Government and politics/Administrative divisions
section_name: Administrative divisions
paragraph_text: Administrative divisions
  
  Iran is subdivided into thirty-one provinces (Persian: استان ostân), each governed from a local centre, usually the largest local city, which is called the capital (Persian: مرکز, markaz) of that province. The provincial authority is headed by a governor-general (استاندار ostândâr), who is appointed by the Minister of the Interior subject to approval of the cabinet.