Zahedan (, also
Romanized as
Zahedan,
Zahidan, and
Zaidan; also known as
Zahedan-e Yek; formerly known as
Dowzdab,
Duzdab, and
Duzdap and renamed Zahedan by
Reza Shah Pahlavi in the late 1920s ) is a city in and the capital of
Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 552,706, in 109,488 families. "Zahedan" is the plural of the Arabic word
zahed meaning 'pious'.