Abstract: The oblique collision between the northeastern margin of the Arabian platform and the

Iranian microcontinent has led to transpressional deformation in the Zagros orogenic belt in the

central part of the Alpine–Himalayan orogenic belt. Although previous articles have emphasized the

dextral sense of shear in the Zagros orogenic belt, in this paper, using several indicators of kinematic

shear sense upon field checking and microscopic thin-section studies, evidence of the development

of a sinistral top-to-the NW deformation belt is presented. The mean attitudes of the foliations and

lineations in this belt are 318_/55_NE and 19_/113_, respectively.