Abstract Upper Paleozoic, probably Permian, komatiites have been found in the Paleo-Tethys suture zone in NE Iran. These rocks are divided into three groups: (i) differentiated and undifferentiated komatiite lava flows, (ii) komatiitic basalts, and (iii) ultramafic–mafic pillow lavas. The rocks have a wide range of textures including random olivine spinifex, layered olivine spinifex, random and string-beef pyroxene spinifex, micrographic intergrowths of plagioclase and clinopyroxene, and cumulate textures. MgO contents range from 7.1 wt % in basalts and gabbros in differentiated flows to 38.0 wt % in cumulates, flow margins and samples with olivine spinifex textures. The MgO content of the parental melt is estimated using the Fo content of olivine (89–91) to be between 20 and 25 wt %, and the higher MgO content in spinifex samples (30 to 36 wt %) is attributed to accumulation of olivine. The rocks have low Al2O3/TiO2 and are relatively depleted in heavy rare earth elements. They, therefore, are classified as Al-depleted komatiite, the first report of this magma type in a Phanerozoic locality. These characteristics are attributed to the presence of garnet in the source during mantle melting and melt extraction. The rocks also have relatively low contents of the more incompatible trace elements indicating derivation from a depleted source. Our study indicates that the parental magma formed by 10% to (about) 20% partial melting in a mantle plume at pressures of about 4 to 5 GPa (depths of 120–150 km). Ascent of the plume into the Late Paleozoic subduction zone at the margin of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean is a possible petrogenetic model for the generation of these komatiites.