Sustainable tourism in a rural setting is the subject of a growing literature, reflecting interest amongst academics and industry practitioners from both public and private sectors. There is some evidence of this trend in Iran where government is attaching increased importance to rural tourism and has launched several initiatives, but little research has been conducted there in general and within a local community context. The current study aims to help in filling this gap and has three main objectives of identifying the positive and negative impacts of tourism on a village and its resources as perceived by villagers; examining the concerns and priorities of villagers related to tourism; and investigating the concept of sustainable rural tourism from the perspectives of residents and their willingness to participate. Attention is also given to the role of rural tourism as an economic development tool and the effectiveness and appropriateness of current government policies. The paper opens with a review of the literature which is followed by introductions to tourism in Iran and the study area in order to set the scene. The qualita- tive research methodology of semi-structured interviews is then described and the findings are discussed before a final conclusion.