Karaj, Iran · UTC+3:30 ☆

Karaj is one of the most populated cities in Iran, sitting around 40 kilometers west of Tehran[3] in the Alborz mountain foothills. It shares Iran Standard Time, a clock that stands apart from most of the world by being offset at 30 minutes: UTC+3:30, fixed year-round since Iran abolished daylight saving in September 2022.[4]

commuting to Tehran, living on Iranian time

Iran’s half-hour offset dates to 1946, when the country standardized its clocks to better match solar noon for the country’s geographic center.[4] Most of the world rounds to whole hours. Iran, like India and a handful of others, did not. It’s a small act of non-conformity preserved across nearly eight decades.

Karaj grew rapidly in the second half of the 20th century, absorbing Tehran’s overspill into a city of over 1.5 million.[3] Many residents commute to Tehran, which means their day is structured around traffic more than the clock. The highway between Karaj and Tehran is famously congested, and rush hour here is less a time of day than a permanent condition.

Iran abolished daylight saving in September 2022, keeping the clock at UTC+3:30 year-round.

9am in Karaj is 5:30am in London in winter, a reminder that the half-hour offset cascades through every time conversion.

Read more about time in Iran →