The Iranian peoples, having descended from the Aryans (Proto-Indo-Iranians), separate from the Indo-Aryans, Nuristanis and Dards in the early second millennium BCE.

The Iranian languages form a sub-branch of the Indo-Iranian sub-family, which is a branch of the family of Indo-European languages.

The Iranian peoples stem from early Proto-Iranians, themselves a branch of the Indo-Iranians, who are believed to have originated in either Central Asia or Afghanistan circa 1800 BCE.