The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who speak the Persian language. They share the same culture and history. In Western writings, it is common to name all ancient Iranian peoples as Persian, although some of them were not of the Persian culture, and did not speak the Persian language.
Persian people include many groups, such as Lurs. Most Persians today live in Iran and have significant populations in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It is important to note that ethnic groups such as the Tajiks are sometimes seen as an extension of the Persians rather than their own group and are thus referred to as Central Asian Persians.