Iran

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Islamic Republic of Iran
جمهوری اسلامی ایران (Persian)
Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Īrān
Emblem of Iran
Emblem
Motto: 
استقلال، آزادی، جمهوری اسلامی
Esteghlāl, Āzādi, Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi
("Independence, freedom, the Islamic Republic")
(de facto)[1]
Anthem: سرود ملی جمهوری اسلامی ایران
Sorud-e Melli-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān
("National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran")
Location of Iran
Capital
and largest city
Tehran
35°41′N 51°25′E / 35.683°N 51.417°E / 35.683; 51.417
Official languagesPersian
Recognised regional languages
List of languages
Ethnic groups
List of ethnicities
Religion
Shia Islam (official)[4]
Demonym(s)
  • Iranian
GovernmentUnitary theocratic presidential Islamic republic
Ali Khamenei
• President
Ebrahim Raisi
Mohammad Mokhber
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
LegislatureIslamic Consultative Assembly
Establishment history
c. 678 BC
550 BC
247 BC
224 AD[5]
934
1501[6]
1736
1751
1796
15 December 1925
11 February 1979
3 December 1979
28 July 1989
Area
• Total
1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi) (17th)
• Water (%)
1.63 (as of 2015)[7]
Population
• 2019 estimate
Neutral increase 83,183,741[8] (17th)
• Density
48/km2 (124.3/sq mi) (162nd)
GDP (PPP)2022 estimate
• Total
Increase $1.246,26 trillion[9] (23th)
• Per capita
Increase $14,520[9] (66th)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
Increase $1.136,68 trillion[9] (17st)
• Per capita
Increase $13,240[9] (78th)
Gini (2018)Negative increase 42.0[10]
medium
HDI (2019)Decrease 0.783[11]
high · 70th
CurrencyIranian rial (ریال) (IRR)
Time zoneUTC+3:30 (IRST)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+4:30 (IRDT)
Date formatyyyy/mm/dd (SH)
Driving sideright
Calling code+98
ISO 3166 codeIR
Internet TLD
Khezr Beach, Hormoz Island, Persian Gulf, Iran, 02-09-2008

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, also known as Persia, is a country in Western Asia. It is part of the Middle East region. It shares borders with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.

Tehran is the capital and largest city. Iran is the eighteenth largest country in the world. It has more than 84.9 million people. Iran has been a member of the United Nations since 1945. It is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).[12] It is an Islamic republic.

History[change | change source]

In the past, Iran was called "Persia" by people outside of the country. The people that lived there called the country "Iran". The official name was Persia, The name Persia was used when dealing with other countries and in government papers.

In 1935, Reza Shāh Pahlavi was Shah of Iran. He officially asked foreigners to call the country "Iran". This was done to show that Iran belongs to all the non-Persian Iranians as well as to Persian Iranians. The name Iran means land of the Aryans. It is used in the ancient book of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta. 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 "Superior" or "perfect" race, but it first meant Iranians.[13] "Aryan" means "noble" in Iranian languages.

Persian Empire[change | change source]

Around 500 BC, the area that is now Iran was the center of the Achaemenid 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 the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. He ruled until he died,then the Greek Seleucids ruled until they were defeated by the Parthian Empire which later fought the Roman Empire.[14][15][16]

After the Parthians, the Sassanian dynasty (224-651) took over. Other people took Persia by conquest, like the Arabs (7th century), Turks (10th century) and Mongols (13th century). However, Iran has always had a different and distinct native Iranian culture which has continued to survive.

After the Muslim Arabs conquered the Iranians, Persian women were enslaved as domestic servants while Persian men were forced to build and farm and engage in hard labour.[17] The Arab Abbasid Harun caliph had Persian concubines like Marajil al-Badghisiyya whom the later Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun descended from in the maternal line. [18][19]

After World War II[change | change source]

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) worked in Iran to create 1953 riots which led to the removal of Prime Minister Mosaddegh. The United States and Great Britain then made the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the most powerful person in Iran, again. The Shah left Iran in 1979 in the face of a revolt. The Iranian government was changed to an Islamic Republic by Islamic Revolution. Soon afterwards, the Iranian Students Movement (Tahkim Vahdat), with the backing of the new government, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They held most of the diplomats hostage for 444 days.

Relations between the two countries have not been good since. For example, the United States claims that Iran supports terrorist groups against Israel. Iran does not see Israel as a country. Iran, along with many Arab League countries, believes that Israel does not have the right to co-exist. However, Iran has collaborated with the United Nations at times. These deals have been about energy or about fighting terrorism.

Iran fought the Iran–Iraq War in the 1990s-1980s. Many foreign countries supported Iraqi people’s regime.

Now, the West and United Nations is trying to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear technology country, even though Iran is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s has reported many 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 December 2007 CIA report on nuclear activity in Iran said that Iran's secret program to get nuclear weapons technology was stopped in 2003. It said that Iran will probably not be able to build a nuclear weapon soon. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is a political strategy to deal with this issue.

Economy[change | change source]

Iran has the natural resource of oil. It is a member of OPEC. Oil is one of its main exports. Rice, handicrafts, carpets and crocus are important local products. Iran is the world's largest exporter and producer of caviar.[20] Iran is also one of the world's biggest exporters of pistachio nuts.

Iran has factories that produce industrial products. Iran is also involved in the field of biomedical sciences.

Rial is the money used in Iran.

Religion in Iran[change | change source]

About 90% of Iranian people are Muslim. The state religion is Shia Islam. It has been the state religion since the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century.[21] This is the religion of about 75% of Iranians.[3] They belong to the Twelver branch. About 9% of Iranians Muslim belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. The 9% of Iranians who are not Muslim are Bahá'ís, Mandeans, Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews.[3] It is thought that there are between 300,000 and 310,000 Persian (Iranian) Jews.

Regions and provinces[change | change source]

Roof hafez tomb
Roof hafez tomb

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. Jeroen Temperman (2010). State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law: Towards a Right to Religiously Neutral Governance. Brill. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-90-04-18148-9. Archived from the original on 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2022-02-23. The official motto of Iran is Takbir ('God is the Greatest' or 'God is Great'). Transliteration Allahu Akbar. As referred to in art. 18 of the constitution of Iran (1979). The de facto motto however is: 'Independence, freedom, the Islamic Republic.'
  2. "Iran - Languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (2008-04-15). "CIA - The World Factbook -- Iran". U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  4. "Iran".
  5. Sarkhosh Curtis, Vesta; Stewart, Sarah (2005), Birth of the Persian Empire: The Idea of Iran, London: I.B. Tauris, p. 108, ISBN 978-1-84511-062-8, archived from the original on 2022-12-18, retrieved 2022-02-23, Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name 'Iran' disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or 'Iranian lands', which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations.
  6. Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I. B. Tauris (30 March 2006)
  7. "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  8. "داده‌ها و اطلاعات آماری". amar.org.ir. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2021". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  10. "GINI index (World Bank estimate)". World Bank. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  11. Human Development Report 2020 The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. pp. 343–346. ISBN 978-92-1-126442-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  12. "United Nations Member States". un.org. 2009-04-30. Archived from the original on 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  13. Norton, 2002
  14. "Iran Country Profile". BBC News. 16 August 2011. Archived from the original on 25 November 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  15. ""CESWW" – Definition of Central Eurasia". Cesww.fas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 5 August 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  16. "Iran Guide". National Geographic. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 12 December 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  17. Fisher, William Bayne; Frye, Richard Nelson; Avery, Peter; Gershevitch, Ilya; Boyle, John Andrew; Yarshater, Ehsan; Jackson, Peter, eds. (1975). "CHAPTER I THE ARAB CONQUEST OF IRAN AND ITS AFTERMATH". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4. Vol. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs (illustrated, reprint, reissue ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0521200938. Archived from the original on 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2022-02-22.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  18. Fisher, William Bayne; Frye, Richard Nelson; Avery, Peter; Gershevitch, Ilya; Boyle, John Andrew; Yarshater, Ehsan; Jackson, Peter, eds. (1975). "CHAPTER I THE ARAB CONQUEST OF IRAN AND ITS AFTERMATH". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4. Vol. The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs (illustrated, reprint, reissue ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 94. ISBN 0521200938. Archived from the original on 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2022-02-22.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  19. "Al-Ma'mun vs. Al-Amin Clash and Crumbling Power of Abbasids". SAED News. February 27, 2021. Archived from the original on June 17, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  20. "Caviar". Russia-Iran.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  21. Mark W. Janis, Carolyn Maree Evans (1999). Religion and International Law. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 381. ISBN 9789041111746. Archived from the original on 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2022-02-22.

More reading[change | change source]