What was the title of the Mongol rulers in Persia?

The title of the Mongol rulers in Persia was Ilkhan.

The title belonged especially to the rulers of the Ilkhanate, the Mongol state founded by Hülegü, grandson of Genghis Khan, in southwestern Asia. The dynasty ruled much of present-day Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and parts of Anatolia from the mid-13th century until 1335.

“Ilkhan” combines il or el, referring to a people, nation, or realm, with khan, meaning a ruler. It originally suggested that Hülegü and his successors governed as subordinate khans under the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, although the Ilkhans later exercised broad independence.

A common mix-up is Khan, which is a general Mongol and Turkic title, not the specific title for the rulers of Persia. Sultan and padishah were also used by some later Ilkhans, particularly after the dynasty’s conversion to Islam, but Ilkhan is the distinctive dynastic title.