Suicide Hotlines and Crisis Lines in Iran

A helpline is a place to talk to someone when you are struggling, before or instead of a crisis. The lines on this page are answered by social workers, psychologists, counsellors or doctors, depending on the service. If you are not in Iran, the worldwide list is organised by country.

What you share is kept private in almost all cases; if a counsellor believes a life is in immediate danger, they may arrange urgent help. Where a service publishes its own confidentiality wording, it is quoted beside that service below.

TherapyRoute is a directory. We do not answer calls or messages ourselves, so please use the numbers below rather than contacting us if you need someone now.

CRISIS LINES, SUICIDE HOTLINES, AND HELPLINES IN IRAN

Each number below was checked in August 2026 at the operating organisation's own website, or at a government or university health-authority page that runs or publishes the service.

Notice an error or a missing service? Please tell us so we can correct it.

Emergency numbers, and what each one is for

Social Emergency 123, answered round the clock

Seda-ye Moshaver 1480, the national counselling line

Iran Crisis Line, online chat in Persian

Rah-Ava, the Tehran psychiatric crisis line

National Addiction Line, 09628

While you are waiting to be answered

If you are worried about someone else

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Emergency numbers, and what each one is for

Iran has no single number that covers every emergency. Separate three-digit codes reach the ambulance service, the police and the fire service.

Ambulance: 115

This is the pre-hospital emergency service (اورژانس). One university emergency centre publishes its 115 stations as running round the clock.

Police: 110

The police emergency centre. Its hours are not published on any page we could read, although official pages treat it as the default number the public dials in an emergency.

Fire: 125

The fire service (آتش نشانی). Its hours are not published on the page we read.

Social Emergency 123, answered round the clock

اورژانس اجتماعی (Social Emergency), on the short code 123, is run by the State Welfare Organization of Iran (سازمان بهزیستی کشور, Behzisti). It is a national service, dialled without an area code.

Behzisti publishes the line as round the clock and free, "active 24 hours and free every day of the week", in its own words. The people who answer are, in its description, "trained social workers and psychologists".

The line explicitly covers suicide. Behzisti names among its target groups "people who intend suicide or have made a suicide attempt", and tells the public to call 123 rather than the police in that case.

Its scope is wider than suicide. Behzisti says you can call 123 "in a crisis situation such as domestic violence, child abuse, running away from home, a threat of suicide or other social harms".

One thing to know before you call: this is a social emergency service, and it can send a team. Behzisti states that if an emergency is reported through 123, its staff attend the location given.

Tel: 123

Hours: round the clock, every day, as published by Behzisti.

Cost: free, in Behzisti's own word ("رایگان").

Seda-ye Moshaver 1480, the national counselling line

صدای مشاور (Seda-ye Moshaver, "The Counsellor's Voice"), on the short code 1480, is Behzisti's free national counselling line, answered by psychologists and counsellors. Behzisti states that "all parts of the country, including cities, villages and remote areas" are covered, with no area code needed.

It is a counselling line rather than an emergency line. Behzisti's own pages route cases of suicide and abuse to 123, not to 1480. People call it about, in Behzisti's words, "child and adolescent problems, marriage and family matters, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive difficulties and so on".

On confidentiality, Behzisti publishes that contact with the 1480 line is "confidential and secure", and that all its counsellors "are committed to the principles of confidentiality regarding callers' information". Behzisti also states that in particular cases, such as suicide and abuse, necessary follow-up and monitoring take place to prevent harm.

Tel: 1480

Hours: Behzisti has published these in more than one form. Two of its pages say every day from 8 a.m. to midnight; its most recent page says 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in normal conditions. It has also answered 24 hours during national crises, and has made the line 24-hour in some provinces. If you need someone outside these hours, use 123, which is published as round the clock.

Cost: free. Behzisti states that its counselling services are free and that "all their costs are paid by the government".

Iran Crisis Line, online chat in Persian

سامانه طعم گیلاس (the "Taste of Cherry" service, Iran Crisis Line) is a written crisis support service run by a registered Iranian non-governmental association. In its own words, it is "a free national service providing 24-hour access to a crisis counsellor for Iranians and Persian speakers in emotional distress".

It describes itself as being for "anyone anywhere in Iran who is going through a personal crisis, is thinking of suicide, or is caring for someone in crisis", and says its trained crisis counsellors "listen without judgement, support you, and refer you if needed", regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

The service is text only. It has no telephone line of its own, and its site points people who would rather speak to the Behzisti 123 line. Because it runs over the open internet, it is the one service on this page a reader outside Iran can also reach.

Chat: irancrisisline.org/get-help/text

Hours: "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", in the organisation's own words.

Cost: free, in the organisation's own description.

Languages: Persian.

Rah-Ava, the Tehran psychiatric crisis line

خط بحران «ره آوا» (the Rah-Ava crisis line) is run from Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital, part of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. It is a hospital line based in Tehran, not a national service, which is why it sits below the national lines on this page.

The line is answered by trained doctors of the hospital, its psychiatry residents, for people in crisis who need urgent psychiatric intervention. The hospital's director describes it as being for people in crisis, "especially crisis related to suicide".

The university publishes that the line is free and, in its words, "does not record people's identifying details and is at no cost" to callers.

Tel: 54467000, as the university prints it, without an area code. Callers outside Tehran and mobile callers would need the Tehran area code; the operator does not publish that form.

Hours: from 2 p.m. to 12 midnight, as published when the line was launched. The university's most recent page confirms the number and that the line is free, but does not restate the hours.

Cost: free, in the university's own words.

Roozbeh Hospital's own psychiatric emergency department is, according to its director, open round the clock for admissions. The hospital's contact page gives its address as "تهران - خیابان کارگر جنوبی، پایین‌تر از چهارراه لشگر" and its switchboard as 021-5541-9151.

National Addiction Line, 09628

خط ملی اعتیاد (the National Addiction Line), on 09628, is Behzisti's free national line for questions about substance use: prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and referral to licensed treatment centres. It is a scoped service, not a general crisis line.

Behzisti describes it as answering "worried parents, teachers, counsellors, families, and anyone with a question or problem relating to addiction", so it is as much for the people around someone using substances as for that person.

Tel: 09628

Hours: Behzisti has published these in two forms, every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on one page and every day from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on another.

Cost: free, in Behzisti's own word ("رایگان").

While you are waiting to be answered

Some of these lines keep set hours, and a line that is open can still be busy. If you are waiting, try to stay with someone you trust, or ask someone to sit with you until the call or chat connects.

If you have anything near you that you could use to harm yourself, put it somewhere harder to reach, or ask someone else to hold it for you. Distance and time both help.

If waiting is not possible, dial 115, 110 or 123, or go to a hospital emergency department. You do not need an appointment and you do not need to explain yourself well.

If you are worried about someone else

Ask them directly. Asking someone whether they are thinking of suicide does not put the idea there, and it often comes as a relief to be asked plainly.

Listen more than you advise. You do not need the right words, and you are not expected to fix anything.

If they are willing, offer to sit with them while they call one of the numbers above, or to make the call together. If they are in immediate danger, treat it as you would any medical emergency.

Supporting someone through this is heavy, and it is reasonable to want support of your own. The same lines are open to you.

For services in other countries, see the list of helplines and suicide hotlines worldwide.

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