Iran competed at the Summer Olympic Games for the first time at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England. 36 competitors, all men, took part in 23 events in 5 sports. The country's sole medal was a weightlifting bronze won in the featherweight division by Jafar Salmasi.
Iranian fencer Freydoun Malkom had competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, which made him the first Olympic athlete from Iran, but the first time the nation sent a team to compete at the Olympics was at the 1948 Summer Olympics.