Iranian reference populations are thin in every consumer database. That does not make matches meaningless — it changes what a match means.
Three honest expectations
- A close match is possible and is a lead, not an answer. Coverage is uneven, so a genuine first cousin can read as a distant one.
- Regional percentages will look wrong. They describe the samples the company holds, not your ancestry.
- Upload your raw file to more than one service. Where the reference data is sparse, the number of people who uploaded matters more than the algorithm.
Genetic genealogy works best here as a second track next to paperwork. Arash was reunited with his birth brother in Tabriz in 2019 after three DNA matches and a decade of records requests — the matches pointed, the register confirmed.
If you are considering a test, the health section of the directory has people who will read your match list with you before you send anyone anything.