Archeological excavations in different parts of Shahrud Plain indicate the existence of villages in this area during 7-5 millennium BC. The town was visited by
Nasser Khosrow Qubadiani, the Iranian poet of the 12th century, and mentioned by him as the center of the Qomis province. Shahrud is absent from earlier historical sources and became an important town since the 19th century because of its location on the road from
Tehran east to
Khorasan. It now also is on the railway. A road runs from Shahrud across the
Alborz mountains to the
Caspian coastal plains in the north; it is accessible throughout winter. Shahrud was renamed
Imāmrūd after the
Iranian Revolution of 1979, and has since reverted to the old name. It is just south of the historical city of
Bastam. ==Demographics==