Enter the Iran market with a .CO.IR Domain

The third-level table in the rules describes co.ir in two short sentences: the zone is «for registered commercial companies», and the document required is a copy of valid proof of commercial registration. Individuals, associations and schools are therefore steered to their own zones — id.ir, org.ir, sch.ir — rather than this one. If you are not a company, or would rather not submit a document, the second level of .ir is an open alternative.

The rules do not say so explicitly, and we will not guess. They ask for «valid proof of commercial registration» and give the Iranian Official Gazette as the example; nothing limits the country of the document, but nothing states that a foreign record is accepted either. The right course is to have acceptance confirmed before you proceed. If your document is not accepted, .ir directly is an option that requires none.

The rules contain no such requirement. The fourth item of the eligibility clause counts «other individuals or organizations whose activity and use of the domain name are not in conflict with the laws, practices, and interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran» among those who may apply. No clause anywhere in the text asks for an Iranian address, a local representative or an agent. The only open point is the source of the document, not residency.

The document, and the signal the zone carries. The second level of .ir is open to all four eligibility categories and asks for no document at all; co.ir is reserved for registered commercial companies and requires proof of commercial registration. Naming rules, term options, the renewal chain and the transfer procedure are identical in both. The advantage of co.ir is that the zone itself signals the corporate nature of the name.

The registry's fee schedule defines only two items for third-level names as well: one year and five years. There is no two, three or four-year option at all. Third-level fees are lower than those for names directly under .ir. The agreement states that no obligation to activate or renew arises until payment for the service has been received in full.

The post-expiry chain is shared across the .ir family. Renewal notices go out 60, 30, 15 and 7 days before expiry. If no payment arrives the domain becomes inactive and can be reactivated within 30 days by paying through the admin panel; miss that and it is locked, and within the following 30 days it can be unlocked by paying the renewal fee plus a fine equal to one year's renewal. After that the domain is suspended.

The rules define a single set for the whole .ir family: the permitted characters are the 26 Latin letters, the digits 0 to 9 and the hyphen, with no spaces. A name runs from 3 to 63 characters. A hyphen may not be the first or last character, nor sit in the third and fourth positions simultaneously. Persian-script names are registered not under .ir but in a separate Persian top-level zone operated by IRNIC.

Yes. The registration agreement provides that the registrant may transfer the registration by strict adherence to the procedure in force at the time and payment of the applicable transfer fee; the fee schedule carries a separate transfer item. The party taking over must satisfy the zone's eligibility condition in its own right — being a registered commercial company and producing proof of registration. Start from the domain transfer page.