Iran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Islamic Republic of Iran
جمهوری اسلامی ایران
Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān
Flag Emblem
Motto: استقلال. آزادی. جمهوری اسلامی
Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic
Anthem: 
National Anthem of Islamic Republic of Iran  (official)
Ey Iran  (De facto)
(Persian: Oh Iran)
Capital
(and largest city)
Tehran
35°41′N 51°25′E / 35.683°N 51.417°E / 35.683; 51.417
Official language(s) Persian
Spoken languages Persian, Azeri(Turkic), Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Armenian, Kurdish, Lori, Balochi, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Arabic, Turkmen
Demonym Iranian
Government Unitary state, Islamic republic
 -  Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
 -  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
 -  First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi
 -  Speaker of the Parliament Ali Larijani
 -  Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani
Legislature Islamic Consultative Assembly
Unification[1]
 -  Median Empire 625 BC 
 -  Safavid Empire 1501[2] 
 -  Islamic Republic 1 April 1979 
 -  Current constitution 24 October 1979 
Area
 -  Total 1,648,195 km2 (18th)
636,372 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 0.7
Population
 -  2011 estimate 75,330,000 [3] (17th)
 -  2010 census 74,700,000 
 -  Density 45/km2 (163rd)
116.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2010 estimate
 -  Total $863.5 billion[4] 
 -  Per capita $10,864[5] 
GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate
 -  Total $357.221 billion[5] 
 -  Per capita $4,740[5] 
Gini (2008) 38[6] (medium
HDI (2010) 0.702[7] (high) (70th)
Currency Rial (﷼) (IRR)
Time zone IRST (UTC03:30)
 -  Summer (DST) Iran Daylight Time (IRDT) (UTC04:30)
Drives on the right
Internet TLD .ir, ایران.
Calling code 98
1 Bookrags.com
2 Iranchamber.com
3 Statistical Center of Iran. "جمعيت و متوسط رشد سالانه" (in Persian). http://pe.icro.ir/files/pdf/amar/c01.pdf. Retrieved 31 January 2012. 
4 CIA Factbook

Iran Persian: ايران, once known as Persia, is a country in South-central Asia part of the Greater Middle East region. It shares borders with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.

Jungles of Iran

Tehran is the capital and its biggest city. Iran is the 18th largest country in the world and has more than 70 million people. It is one of only four countries known as Islamic Republics, which are governed by Sharia (Islamic religious law).[source?] Hottest point of Middle East is in Iran(Kavir_e_lout). Iran is a member of UN (since 1945) and OPEC.[8]

Contents

[change] History

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari Father world History Born Iran, Amol city

[change] Persian Empire

Iran used to be called Persia (for a long time by people outside of Iran). Iranians or Persians since the Sassanian era called their country "Iran". But, the official name was Persia, meaning that this was the name used in foreign relations and in government papers. In 1935, Reza Shāh Pahlavi, then shāh of Iran, officially renamed the country "Iran", first time, a move which was made to please Adolf Hitler.[9] The name Iran comes from Aryan and is also mentioned in the ancient book of the Zoroastrians, which was called the Avesta. Iran means "Aryan" in Persian. In the 19th and early 20th century, the name Aryan was used by Europeans to mean all Indo-Europeans. The "Aryan Race" was a term that Hitler used to describe his ideal "Superior" or "perfect" race, though it originally meant Iranians.[10]

Around 500 BC, present-day Iran was the center of the Persian Empire. The Greek city states fought against the Persian armies led by Darius the Great and Xerxes. Then, Alexander the Great took the country by fighting and the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia later ruled. After them the Sassanian dynasty (AD 224-651) took over. Other people took Persia by fighting, like the Arabs (7th century), Turks (10th century) and Mongols (13th century). However, Iran has always maintained a distinct culture and continued to survive.

[change] New Iran

The CIA worked in Iran to create riots which led to the removal of Prime Minister Mossadegh. The United States and Great Britain then made the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi King of Iran , again. He ruled in Iran for less than a year when he left Iran and the Iranian government was changed to an Islamic Republic by Islamic Revolution. Soon afterwards, Iranian Students Movement (Tahkim Vahdat), with the backing of the new government took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held most of the diplomats hostage for 444 days. Relations between the two countries have not been good since. For example. The US has imposed various types of economic sanctions against Iran. The US claims the Iran supports terrorist groups against Israel. Iran does not recognize Israel as a state. Iran, along with most Arab countries believe that Israel does not have the right to occupy the land of Palestinians.

Iran defence against Iraq,in War

Iran has long borders in common with Iraq. (The words "Iran" and "Iraq" are similar only in Latin alphabet. In Arabic and Persian, they are written differently.) This war changed politics in the Middle East and world wide. Iranians are ethnically not Arabs. Iran defended itself against Iraqi invasion in 1980, a war that lasted eight years. Many Arab and Western countries, including the United States, provided weapons (including biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction) and technical support for Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

Now, the West is trying to prevent Iran from mastering nuclear technology, even though Iran is a member of the NPT. They voice their concern claiming that Iran's intention is to develop nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported numerous times that there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, however, it also says that it can not say for sure that Iran is not doing so in secret. A CIA report on nuclear activity in Iran, in December 2007 claimed that Iran's secret program to achieve nuclear weapons technology was stopped in 2003, and that since then, it was never restarted. It reports that Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon will probably not happen soon.

[change] Economy

[change] Oil and gas

Iran has oil. It is a member of OPEC and oil is one of its main exports.

[change] Other products

Rice, Handicrafts & Carpet & Crocus.

[change] Rial

Rial is the money used in Iran

[change] Islam in Iran

About 98% of Iranian people are Muslim and About 89% of Iranian people are Shi'a.[11]

Many are Shi'a Muslim and some are Sunni . There are also a few Zoroastrian, Christian and Jewish people living in Iran.[source?]

[change] Regions and provinces

Modern Tehran

[change] Other pages

[change] References

  1. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Encyclop.C3.A6dia_Britannica_Encyclopedia_Article:_Media_ancient_region.2C_Iran
  2. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Andrew_J._Newman_2006
  3. "Official Iranian Population clock". Amar.org.ir. http://www.amar.org.ir/default.aspx?tabid=52. Retrieved 2011-06-17. 
  4. "Iran Economy 2011, CIA World Factbook". Theodora.com. http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/iran/iran_economy.html. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Iran". International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2008&ey=2011&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=429&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=39&pr.y=7. Retrieved 2011-04-21. 
  6. "Central Bank of Iran: Economic Trends 2008/2009". http://www.cbi.ir/page/5881.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
  7. "Human Development Report 2010". United Nations. 2010. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Table1.pdf. Retrieved 5 November 2010. 
  8. http://www.un.org/en/members/index.shtml
  9. Akbarzadeh, 2003
  10. Norton, 2002
  11. U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (2008-04-15). "CIA - The World Factbook -- Iran". U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.html. Retrieved 2008-04-18. 

[change] Further reading

Commons-logo.svg
Wikimedia Commons has images, video, and/or sound related to:


Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Getting around
Print/export
Toolbox
In other languages