This paper reports on the synthesis of iron oxide nanowires using thermal oxidation of iron. The α-Fe2O3 (hematite) and Fe3O4 (magnetite) were successfully formed using this method. The morphological observation was done through the FESEM, while the XRD, EDX and Raman spectroscopy were used to determine the physical and structural properties of the produced nanostructures. It was found that the peaks intensities relative to the hematite, increased with the extent of oxidation period. The growth and final morphology of hematite was significantly controlled by the heating duration. A surface diffusion mechanism for nano-hematite growth was then proposed to account for the growth phenomena of this nanostructured formation.