The Al Qasimi is an Arab dynasty and tribe that rules Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, today forming two of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates. They are one of the longest reigning royal families in the Arabian peninsula. Historically, they also controlled the town of Bandar Lengeh on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf from 1779, when the Zand rulers formally recognised a Qasimi as local governor (farmandar), until 1887, when the Tehran government evicted them as part of its policy of reclaiming its Gulf littoral — the territory having always remained nominally under Iranian sovereignty rather than constituting an independent Qasimi domain.