Olea europaea, genetic diversity, SSR, chloroplast marker Evolution and spreading of olive cultivation around the world has been the focus of numerous research works. In fact, the long history of olive cultivation and the role played by the anthropic activities on the origin and domestication processes have contributed to shape the present distribution of variation. Some studies documented that olive was native to Asia Minor and spread to the Mediterranean basin since 6,000 years ago, others describe that cultivated olives come from the Western Mediterranean wild olives. The goal of this investigation was to evaluate how olive varieties and wild plants collected from different sites of Iran may trace back to the olives established during the ancient Persian empire and how they may have been displaced along the Mediterranean through ancient and recent commercial routes. Most effective SSRs and three chloroplast markers were used to characterize 124 samples, growing in semi-natural habitats in different provinces of Iran, representing feral forms growing under drought, salt and extreme temperature conditions and putative survivors of the traditional varietal patrimony. Results showed an unexpected richness of the Iranian olive germplasm and the co-presence of cultivated forms and genotypes belonging to the subspecies cuspidata, diffused along other Asian countries up to China. The common chlorotype of Iranian and Mediterranean varieties has envisaged a possible common ancestral origin of both gene pools.