In 1934, Pars Agency was established by the Foreign Ministry of Iran as the country’s official national news outlet. For the next six years it operated under the Iranian Foreign Ministry working to disseminate national and international news.
In 1963 the activities of Pars Agency were brought under the newly created Information Ministry. Its name was changed to Pars News Agency, or PANA, and it began operating around the clock. In July 1975 the Iranian legislature passed a bill establishing the Ministry of Information and Tourism and changing the status of Pars News Agency to a joint public stock with capital assets of about 300 million rials.
