Objectives: Perhaps one of the most troublesome dilemmas in economics is why some people remain very poor for long periods of time, and why poverty persists across generations. Poverty alleviations and satisfying minimum requirements of a decent living standard have come to the focus of the governments, international agencies, as well as nongovernmental organizations. Different administrations in Iran, inspired by the Islamic teachings on poverty eradication, implemented numerous measures to combat poverty. In this regard, in addition to the direct measures taken to combat poverty, various policies implemented within different Five-Year Development Plans. In spite of all the efforts made to alleviate poverty, however, it seems that the goals have not been achieved and still poverty is a source of concern among the policy makers. In order to re-launch fresh policies to combat poverty, we have to have a comprehensive account of the results of the implemented policies. In this paper we provide an assessment of poverty changes that shows how incidence and intensity of poverty have been developed following more than two decades of poverty alleviation policy. Method: This article examines the changes in the incidence and intensity of poverty in Iran between 1989 and 2004 based on Household Income and Expenditure Surveys. To this end, using minimum basic needs approach absolute poverty lines for urban and rural areas have been estimated. The cost of minimum food requirements based on 2000 kcal. per day per adult is estimated. Accordingly, by application of Orshansky method the cost of minimum non-food requirements has been calculated. Then using Foster et al. (1984) indices, different poverty measures have been estimated. Findings: The findings indicate that in the most part of the time period of the study the rural poverty, in terms of incidence and intensity has been higher and more severe than the respected figures for the urban poverty. Moreover, the results show that the general trends of poverty in both rural and urban areas have been declining during the same time period.