Semitic people
Iranian Mandaeans live mainly in the Khuzestan Province in southern Iran. Mandeans are a Mandaic speaking Semitic people who follow their own distinctive Gnostic religion Mandaeism, venerating John the Baptist as the true Messiah. Like the Assyrians of Iran, their origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia. They number some 10,000 people in Iran, though Alarabiya has put their number as high as 60,000 in 2011.