ears of violence by the Islamic State jihadist group have left many disillusioned with Islam, while a much longer history of state oppression has pushed some in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to see the millennia-old religion as a way of reasserting their identity.
"After Kurds witnessed the brutality of IS, many started to rethink their faith," said Asrawan Qadrok, the faith's top priest in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
During Fuad's conversion ritual in Darbandikhan, near the Iranian border, a high priest and his assistants wore white clothes representing purity and recited verses from the Zoroastrian holy book, the Avesta.
They knotted a cord three times around Fuad's waist to symbolise the faith's core values of good words, good thoughts and good deeds.
The newcomer raised her hand and swore to abide by those three values and to protect nature, respecting water, air, fire, earth, animals and humans.
"I feel very happy and refreshed," Fuad said, adorned with her Farawahar necklace, a powerful spiritual symbol given to her by the high priest.
She said she had been studying Zoroastrianism for a long time and was drawn to its philosophy, which "makes life easy".
"It is all about wisdom and philosophy. It serves mankind and nature," she said.
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The religion only gained official recognition by regional authorities in 2015, but since then, three new temples have opened -- although Tayib said the state has yet to build a cemetery for followers of the religion.
For some in the autonomous region, which overwhelmingly voted for independence in a 2017 referendum bid, turning to Zoroastrianism is a way for a stateless people to assert regional identity in defiance of Baghdad.
Tayib, the only female religious representative in the autonomous government, said Kurdish society is becoming more tolerant towards Zoroastrians.
AFP accompanied the high priest and his assistants to Islamic Friday prayers organised to condemn a Turkish military incursion into Kurdish parts of northern Syria.
As the Zoroastrian religious men arrived, they were surrounded by Muslims welcoming them and asking for selfies.
Islam is still by far the main religion in the Iraqi Kurdistan, while there are no official figures on Zoroastrians.
