Sistan & Baluchestan province of Iran consists of two historical regions of Sistan in the northern part of the province and Baluchestan in the southern part. The name Sistan comes from Sakastan meaning the region inhabited by the Saka. The Saka were an Aryan people of the Iranian branch who originally lived in Central Asia and southern Russia. One branch of them migrated to the south and reached the Sistan region.

Baluchestan (also spelled Baluchistan, Balochistan, Baloochestan) owes its name to the Baluchi people, also an Iranian people who originally came from the southern Caspian area to this region some centuries ago. Before the coming of the Baluchi, there lived an aboriginal people in the region. Those people were a mixture of the Brahui and Gedrosians. Brahui are a Dravidian people who are related to the Dravidians of southern parts of the Indian sub-continent. Pockets of the Brahui-speakers are still found in the Iranian Baluchestan, but the greater pockets are found in Pakistan. Gedrosians were an Iranian people who came to Baluchestan at the time of the Achaemenids around 2500 years ago.

Baluchestan has a long coastal region which is known under the name of Makran. Makran was already a part of Iran at the time of the Persian Achaemenid Empire and the Makranis are listed among the people of the Persian Empire in the Persepolis inscriptions.

The mother tongue of the people of Sistan is Persian but in the Baluchestan region the Baluchi is the prevalent spoken language. The Baluchi language, together with Persian, Kurdish and Pashtu, belongs to the Iranian family of languages. It is a part of the so-called North-Western sub-branch of the Iranian languages.

In Zahedan, the capital city of the province, both Persian and Baluchi are spoken.

There are 4 main Baluchi dialects in Iran. Rakhshani in the north down to the Khash region. Saravani in the eastern and central parts of the province. Lashari in the western and the central parts and finally the Makrani which is the dialect of the coastal region.

The capital of Sistan & Baluchestan is Zahedan which was formerly known as Dozdab. Zahedan has developed only in the 20th century. Before being chosen as the provincial administrative center in the 1930s, Zahedan was a small village. Its population in the year 2001 reached 590,125. The city is home to a large number of the Afghan refugees who have entered Iran in the last decades. Zahedan possesses an international airport, railway station, a colorful bazaar called Rasouli Bazaar, a Sunni Mosque called Makki Mosque, which is the greatest mosque of Sunnites in Iran with stuccos and decorations in Indian architecture method, a Sikh temple, and an old fortress.

Chabahar is a large deep water port widely famed for its free trade and economic zone, and is a major hub of fisheries. Zabol is the agricultural center of the province, while Iranshahr is the industrial focal point.

There are 5 airports in the province, 11 industrial towns, an economical free zone and several universities. The largest textile manufacturing companies of Iran are located in Sistan and Baluchestan.