Iran
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Iran,[a] also known as Persia[b] and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI),[c] is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Iraq to the west and Turkey to the northwest, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, the Gulf of Oman & the Persian Gulf to the south. With almost 90 million people in an area of 1.648 million square kilometres (0.64 million square miles), Iran ranks 17th in the world in both geographic size and population. The country is divided into five regions with 31 provinces. The nation's capital and most populous city is Tehran, with around 16 million people in its metropolitan area, other major urban centres include Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, and Shiraz.
Islamic Republic of Iran | |
|---|---|
| Motto: استقلال، آزادی، جمهوری اسلامی Esteqlâl, Âzâdi, Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi "Independence, freedom, the Islamic Republic" (de facto)[1] | |
| Anthem: سرود ملی جمهوری اسلامی ایران Sorud-e Melli-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân "National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran" | |
| Capital and largest city | Tehran 35°41′N 51°25′E / 35.683°N 51.417°E |
| Official languages | Persian |
| Recognised regional languages | |
| Ethnic groups (2003 estimate)[5] | |
| Demonym(s) | Iranian |
| Government | Unitary presidential theocratic Islamic republic |
| Ali Khamenei | |
| Ebrahim Raisi | |
| Mohammad Mokhber | |
| Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf | |
| Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i | |
| Ahmad Jannati | |
| Legislature | Islamic Consultative Assembly |
| Establishment history | |
| c. 3200 BC | |
| c. 678 BC | |
| 550 BC | |
| 247 BC | |
| 224 AD | |
| 819 | |
| 934 | |
| 1501 | |
| 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)[6] |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 89,658,000[7] (17th) |
• Density | 55/km2 (142.4/sq mi) (132nd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | $1,808 trillion[8] (19th) |
• Per capita | $19,942[8] (78th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | 366.4 billion[8] (41nd) |
• Per capita | $4,234[8] (120th) |
| Gini (2019) | 40.9[9] medium |
| HDI (2022) | 0.780[10] high (78th) |
| Currency | Iranian rial (ریال) (IRR) |
| Time zone | UTC+3:30 (IRST) |
| Date format | yyyy/mm/dd (SH) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +98 |
| ISO 3166 code | IR |
| Internet TLD | |
Iran is one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the Elamites in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes in the seventh century BC and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire, one of the largest empires in antiquity. Alexander the Great conquered the empire in the fourth century BC, and it was subsequently divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BC, which was succeeded in the third century AD by the Sasanian Empire. Arab Muslims conquered the region in the seventh century AD, leading to its Islamization. Iran became a major centre of Islamic culture and learning, and its culture, language, and customs spread across the Muslim world. A series of native Iranian Muslim dynasties ruled the country until the Seljuk and the Mongol conquests of the 11th to 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state with Twelver Shia Islam as the official religion, marking the beginning of modern Iranian history.
Under Nader Shah Afshar in the 18th century, Iran was a leading world power, though by the 19th century, it had lost significant territory through a series of conflicts with the Russian Empire. The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution, the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty, and efforts at modernization. Attempts to nationalise the country's vast fossil fuel supply led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953. After the Iranian Revolution, the monarchy was overthrown in 1979 and the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first supreme leader. Iran is officially governed as an Islamic Republic with a presidential system, albeit with ultimate authority vested in a theocratic supreme leader (rahbar), currently Ali Khamenei since Khomeini's death in 1989. The Iranian government is authoritarian and has attracted widespread criticism for its constraints and violations of human rights.
Iran is a major emerging, middle and regional power, due to its large reserves of fossil fuels, including the world's second largest natural gas supply, third largest proven oil reserves, its strategic location in the Asian continent, its military capabilities, its regional influence, and its role as the world's focal point of Shia Islam. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the ECO, the OIC, the OPEC, the G77, the SCO, and a member of BRICS.[12] Owing it to its long history and rich cultural legacy, Iran is home to 27 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the 10th highest number in the world, and ranks 5th globally in the number of inscriptions of Intangible Cultural Heritage, or human treasures.[13][14] The people of Iran are multicultural and comprise a wide variety of ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.
Etymology
The term Iran ("the land of the Aryans") derives from Middle Persian Ērān, first attested in a third-century inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam, with the accompanying Parthian inscription using Aryān, in reference to the Iranians.[16] The terms Ērān and Aryān are oblique plural forms of gentilic nouns ēr- (Middle Persian) and ary- (Parthian), both deriving from Proto-Iranian language *arya- (meaning "Aryan", i.e. "of the Iranians"),[16][17] recognised as a derivative of Proto-Indo-European language *ar-yo-, meaning "one who assembles (skilfully)".[18] According to Iranian mythology, the name comes from Iraj, a legendary king.[19]
Historically, Iran has been referred to as "Persia" by the West,[20][21] due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who referred to all of Iran as "Persís" (Ancient Greek: Περσίς),[22] meaning "the land of the Persians".[23] "Persia" is the Fars province in southwest Iran, also known as "Pârs".[24] The Persian word "Fârs" (فارس), derived from the earlier form "Pârs" (پارس), which is in turn derived from Pârsâ (Old Persian: 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿). Due to the province's historical importance,[25][26] the term "Persia" originated from this region by the Greeks in around 550 BC,[27] and Westerners started to refer the entire country as "Persia",[28][29] until 1935, when Reza Pahlavi requested the international community to refer to the country by its native and original name, Iran.[30][31] While the Iranians had been calling their nation Iran since at least 1000 BC, this name change was only made so that the Western World would begin to refer to the country by the same name as its people.[24] Today, both Iran and Persia are used in cultural contexts, while Iran remains mandatory in official state contexts.[32][33][34][35][36][37]
The Persian pronunciation of Iran is [ʔiːˈɾɒːn]. Common Commonwealth English pronunciations of Iran are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as /ɪˈrɑːn/ and /ɪˈræn/,[38] while American English dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster's provide pronunciations which map to /ɪˈrɑːn, -ˈræn, aɪˈræn/,[39] or likewise in Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary as /ɪˈræn, ɪˈrɑːn, aɪˈræn/. The Cambridge Dictionary lists /ɪˈrɑːn/ as the British pronunciation and /ɪˈræn/ as the American pronunciation. The pronunciation guide from Voice of America also provides /ɪˈrɑːn/.[40] The American English pronunciation /aɪˈræn/ may be heard in U.S. media.
History
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Prehistory
The earliest attested archaeological artifacts in Iran confirm human presence since the Lower Palaeolithic.[42] Iran's Neanderthal artifacts have been found mainly in the Zagros region, at sites such as Warwasi and Yafteh.[43][44][45] From the tenth to the seventh millennium BC, early agricultural communities began to flourish in and around the Zagros region, including Chogha Golan,[46][47] Chogha Bonut,[48][49] and Chogha Mish.[50][51][52][53] The occupation of grouped hamlets in the area of Susa ranges from 4395 to 3490 BC.[54] There are dozens of prehistoric sites across the Iranian Plateau, pointing to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the fourth millennium BC.[53][55][56]
During the Bronze Age, the territory was home to several civilizations,[57][58] including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayanderud. Elam, the most prominent of these, developed in the southwest alongside those in Mesopotamia, and continued its existence until the emergence of the Iranian empires. The advent of writing in Elam was parallelled to Sumer; the Elamite cuneiform developed beginning in the third millennium BC.[59] Diverse artifacts from The Bronze Age, huge structures from the Iron Age and various sites dating back to the Sassanid, Parthian and Islamic eras indicated suitable conditions for human civilization over the past 8,000 years in Piranshahr.[60][61]
From the 34th to the 20th century BC, northwestern Iran was part of the Kura-Araxes culture, which stretched into the neighbouring Caucasus and Anatolia. Since the earliest second millennium BC, Assyrians settled in swaths of western Iran and incorporated the region into their territories.
Ancient Iran
By the second millennium BC, the ancient Iranian peoples arrived in Iran from the Eurasian Steppe,[62] rivalling the native settlers of the region.[63][64] As the Iranians dispersed into the wider area of Greater Iran and beyond, the boundaries of modern Iran were dominated by Median, Persian, and Parthian tribes. The Ancient Iranian history began with the Elamites in the fourth millennium BC, in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was part of the early urbanization of the Near East during the Chalcolithic period. From the late tenth to the late seventh century BC, the Iranian peoples, together with the pre-Iranian kingdoms, fell under the domination of the Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia.[65][66] Under king Cyaxares, the Medes and Persians entered into an alliance with Babylonian ruler Nabopolassar, as well as the fellow Iranian Scythians and Cimmerians, and together they attacked the Assyrian Empire. Civil war ravaged the Assyrian Empire between 616 and 605 BC, freeing their respective peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule.[65]
The unification of the Median tribes under king Deioces in 728 BC led to the foundation of the Median Empire and their capital Ecbatana, unifying Iran as a nation for the first time in 625 BC.[67] By 612 BC, the Medes Empire controlled almost the entire territory of present-day Iran and eastern Anatolia.[68] This marked the end of the Kingdom of Urartu, which was subsequently conquered and dissolved.[69][70]
In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great took over the Median Empire, and founded the Achaemenid Empire by unifying other city-states. The conquest of Media was a result of what is called the Persian Revolt. Later conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded the empire to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, as well as lands to the west of the Indus and Oxus rivers. In 539 BC Persian forces defeated the Babylonian army at Opis, marking the end of around four centuries of Mesopotamian domination of the region by conquering the Neo-Babylonian Empire.[71][72]
In 518 BC, Persepolis was founded by Darius the Great as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire which, at its greatest extent, was the largest empire the world had yet seen,[72] and at its peak it ruled over 44% of the world's population.[73] The Achaemenid Empire is noted for the release of the Jewish exiles in Babylon,[74] building infrastructures such as the Royal Road and the Chapar (postal service), and the use of an official language, Imperial Aramaic.[72] In 334 BC, Alexander the Great defeated the last Achaemenid emperor, Darius III, at the Battle of Issus. Following the premature death of Alexander, Iran fell under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire.
In the middle of the second century BC, the Parthian Empire rose to become the main power in Iran, and the century-long geopolitical arch-rivalry between the Romans and the Parthians began, culminating in the Roman–Parthian Wars. The Parthian Empire continued as a feudal monarchy for nearly five centuries, until 224 CE, when it was succeeded by the Sasanian Empire.[75] They and their neighbouring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, were the world's two dominant powers for over four centuries.[76][77]
The Sasanians established an empire within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with their capital at Ctesiphon. Late antiquity is considered one of Iran's most influential periods, as under the Sasanians,[78] their influence reached ancient Rome (and through that as far as Western Europe),[79][80] Africa,[81] China, and India,[82] and played a prominent role in the formation of the mediaeval art of both Europe and Asia.[76][77]
Mediaeval period and Iranian Intermezzo
The prolonged Byzantine–Sasanian wars, most importantly the climactic war of 602–628, as well as the social conflict within the Sasanian Empire, opened the way for an Arab invasion in the seventh century.[83][84] The empire was initially defeated by the Rashidun Caliphate, which was succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate, followed by the Abbasid Caliphate. A proloynged and gradual process of state-imposed Islamization followed, which targeted Iran's then Zoroastrian majority and included religious persecution,[85][86][87] demolition of libraries[88] and fire temples,[89] a special tax penalty ("jizya"),[90][91] and language shift.[92][93]
In 750, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads.[94] Arabs Muslims and Persians of all strata made up the rebel army, which was united by the converted Persian Muslim, Abu Muslim.[95][96][97] In their struggle for power, society gradually became cosmopolitan. Persians and Turks began to replace Arabs in most fields. A hierarchy of officials emerged, a bureaucracy at first Persian and later Turkish which decreased Abbasid prestige and power for good.[98]
After two centuries of Arab rule, various native semi-independent and independent Iranian dynasties in the Iranian Plateau rose, namely the Tahirids, Saffarids, Sajids, Samanids, Ziyarids, Buyids, Sallarids, Rawadids, Marwanids, Shaddadids, Kakuyids, Annazids and Hasanwayhids, appearing on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate.[99] The period, known as the Iranian Intermezzo, was an interlude between the decline of Abbasid rule and power by Arabs and the "Sunni Revival" with the 11th-century emergence of the Seljuks. It consisted Iranian support based on Iranian territory, and most significantly a revived Iranian national spirit and culture in an Islamic form. It also revived the Persian language, with the most significant Persian-language literature from this period being Shahnameh by Ferdowsi, the country's national epic.[100][101][102][103]
The blossoming literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and art became major elements in a new age for Iranian civilization, during a period known as the Islamic Golden Age.[104][105] The Islamic Golden Age reached its peak by the 10th and 11th centuries, during which Iran was the main theatre of scientific activities.[106] The tenth century saw a mass migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia into the Iranian Plateau.[107] Turkic tribesmen were first used in the Abbasid army as mamluks (slave-warriors).[95] As a result, the Mamluks gained significant political power. In 999, large portions of Iran came briefly under the rule of the Ghaznavids, and longer subsequently under the Seljuk and Khwarezmian empires.[107] The Seljuks subsequently gave rise to the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia.[108][109] The result of the adoption and patronage of Persian culture by Turkish rulers was the development of a distinct Turco-Persian tradition.
From 1219 to 1221, under the Khwarazmian Empire, Iran suffered a devastating invasion by the Mongol Empire. According to Steven R. Ward, "Mongol violence and depredations killed up to three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Some historians have estimated that Iran's population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century."[110] Most modern historians either outright dismiss or are highly skeptical of such statistics and deem them to be exaggerations by Muslim chroniclers of that era. Indeed, as far as the Iranian plateau was concerned, the bulk of the Mongol onslaught and battles were in the northeast Iran, such as in the cities of Nishapur and Tus.[111][112][113]
Following the fracture of the Mongol Empire in 1256, Hulagu Khan established the Ilkhanate Empire in Iran. In 1357, the capital Tabriz was occupied by the Golden Horde khan Jani Beg and the centralised power collapsed, resulting in the emergence of rivalling dynasties. In 1370, yet another conqueror, Timur, took control over Iran, establishing the Timurid Empire. In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, killing 70,000 citizens.[114]
Early modern period
Safavids
By the 1500s, Ismail I established the Safavid Empire,[115][116] with his capital at Tabriz.[107] Beginning with Azerbaijan, he extended his authority over the Iranian territories, and established an intermittent Iranian hegemony over large parts of Greater Iran.[117] Iran was predominantly Sunni,[118] but Ismail instigated a forced conversion to the Shia branch, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam, and the beginning of modern Iranian history.[119][120][116][121][122] As a result, Iran is the only official Shia nation today, with it holding an absolute majority in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.[123][124]
The relationship between the Safavids and the West begins with the presence of the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf from the 16th century, oscillating between alliances and open war between the 17th and 18th century. The Safavid era saw the start of mass integration from Caucasian populations and their mass resettlement within the heartlands of Iran. In 1588, Abbas the Great came to the throne during a troubled period. Under his leadership, Iran developed the ghilman system where thousands of Circassian, Georgian, and Armenian slave-soldiers joined the civil administration and the military. With the help of these newly created layers in Iranian society, Abbas eclipsed the power of the Qizilbash in the civil administration, the royal house, and the military. Abbas was a great builder and moved his capital from Qazvin to Isfahan, making the city the pinnacle of Safavid architecture. Tabriz was returned to Iran after 18 years of Ottoman rule. In his later years, following a court intrigue involving several leading Circassians, Abbas became suspicious of his own sons and had them killed or blinded. Following a gradual decline in the late 1600s and the early 1700s, which was caused by internal conflicts, the continuous wars with the Ottomans, and the foreign interference (most notably Russian), the Safavid rule was ended by the Pashtun rebels who besieged Isfahan and defeated Soltan Hoseyn in 1722.
Afsharids
In 1729, Nader Shah successfully drove out and conquered the Pashtun invaders. He took back the annexed Caucasian territories which were divided among the Ottoman and Russian authorities by the ongoing chaos in Iran. During the reign of Nader Shah, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sasanian Empire, reestablishing Iranian hegemony over the Caucasus, as well as other major parts of west and central Asia, and briefly possessing arguably the most powerful empire at the time.[125][126][127][125]
Nader Shah invaded India and sacked Delhi by the late 1730s. His territorial expansion and military successes declined following the final campaigns in the Northern Caucasus against then revolting Lezgins. The assassination of Nader Shah sparked a brief period of civil war and turmoil, after which Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty came to power in 1750.[110]
Zands
Compared to its preceding dynasties, the geopolitical reach of the Zand dynasty was limited. Many of the Iranian territories in the Caucasus gained de facto autonomy and were locally ruled through Caucasian khanates. However, they remained subjects and vassals to the Zand king. It later quickly expanded to include much of the rest of contemporary Iran (except for the provinces of Balochistan and Khorasan) as well as parts of Iraq. The lands of present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia were controlled by khanates which were de jure part of the Zand realm, but the region was de facto autonomous.[128] The island of Bahrain was also held for the Zands by the autonomous Al-Mazkur sheikhdom of Bushire.[129][130] The reign of its most important ruler, Karim Khan, was marked by prosperity and peace. With his capital in Shiraz, arts and architecture flourished, with some themes in architecture being revived from the nearby sites of the Achaemenid and Sasanian era's of pre-Islamic Iran. Another civil war ensued after the death of Karim Khan in 1779, out of which Agha Mohammad Khan emerged, founding the Qajar Empire in 1794.
Qajars
Agha Mohammad Khan's reign is noted for the return of a centralized and unified Iran and for relocating the capital to Tehran.[131] In 1795, following the disobedience of the Georgian subjects and their alliance with the Russians, the Qajars captured Tbilisi by the Battle of Krtsanisi, and drove the Russians out of the Caucasus, reestablishing Iranian suzerainty over the region. The Russo-Iranian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 resulted in large territorial losses for Iran in the Caucasus, comprising all of the South Caucasus and Dagestan.[126] As a result of the 19th-century Russo-Iranian wars, the Russians took over Iran's integral territories in the region (comprising modern-day Dagestan, Georgia, Armenia, and Republic of Azerbaijan), which was confirmed per the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay.[127][132][133][134][135][136][137][138]
The weakening of Persia made it a victim of the colonial struggle between Russia and Britain known as the Great Game.[139] Especially after the treaty of Turkmenchay, Russia was the dominant force in Iran,[140] while the Qajars would also play a role in several 'Great Game' battles such as the sieges of Herat in 1837 and 1856. As Iran shrank, many South Caucasian and North Caucasian Muslims moved towards Iran,[141][142] especially until the aftermath of the Circassian genocide,[142] and the decades afterwards, while Iran's Armenians were encouraged to settle in the newly incorporated Russian territories,[143][144][145] causing significant demographic shifts. Around 1.5 million people—20 to 25% of the population of Iran—died as a result of the Great Famine of 1870–1872.[146]
Constitutional Revolution
Between 1872 and 1905, protesters objected to the sale of concessions to foreigners by Qajar monarchs Naser-ed-Din and Mozaffar-ed-Din, leading to the Constitutional Revolution in 1905. The first Iranian constitution and the first national parliament were founded in 1906, through the ongoing revolution. The Constitution included the official recognition of Iran's three religious minorities: Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.[147] The struggle related to the constitutional movement was followed by the Triumph of Tehran in 1909, when Mohammad Ali Shah was forced to abdicate. In 1907, the Anglo-Russian Convention divided Qajar Iran into influence zones, formalising many of the concessions. On the pretext of restoring order, the Russians occupied northern Iran and Tabriz and maintained a military presence in the region for years. But this did not end the civil uprisings and was soon followed by Mirza Kuchik Khan's Jungle Movement against both the Qajar monarchy and foreign invaders.
Despite Iran's neutrality during World War I, the Ottoman, Russian, and British Empires occupied western Iran and fought the Persian campaign before fully withdrawing their forces in 1921. At least 2 million Persian civilians died in the fighting, the Ottoman-perpetrated anti-Christian genocides or the war-induced famine of 1917–1919. A large number of Iranian Assyrian and Iranian Armenian Christians, as well as those Muslims who tried to protect them, were victims of mass murders committed by the invading Ottoman troops.[148][149][150][151][152]
Apart from the rule of Agha Mohammad Khan, the Qajar rule is characterised as misrule.[107] The inability of Qajar Iran's government to maintain the country's sovereignty during and immediately after World War I led to the British-directed 1921 Persian coup d'état and Reza Shah's establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Shah became Prime Minister and was declared monarch in 1925.
Pahlavis
During World War II, in July and August 1941 the British demanded that the Iranian government expel all Germans. Reza Shah refused and on 25 August 1941, the British and Soviets launched a surprise invasion; Reza Shah's government quickly surrendered.[153] The invasion's strategic purpose was to secure a supply line to the USSR (later named the Persian Corridor), secure the oil fields and Abadan Refinery (of the UK-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company), prevent a German advance on Baku's oil fields, and limit German influence in Iran. Following the invasion, on 16 September 1941 Reza Shah abdicated and was replaced by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[154][155][156] Iran became a major conduit for British and American aid to the Soviet Union and an avenue through which over 120,000 Polish refugees and Polish Armed Forces fled the Axis advance.[157] At the 1943 Tehran Conference, the Allied "Big Three"—Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill—issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran. However, at the end of the war, Soviet troops established two puppet states in north-western Iran: the People's Government of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Mahabad. This led to the Iran crisis of 1946, one of the first confrontations of the Cold War, which ended after oil concessions were promised to the USSR and Soviet forces withdrew in May 1946. The two puppet states were soon overthrown, and the oil concessions were later revoked.[158][159]
1951–1978: Mosaddegh, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected Prime Minister of Iran. Mosaddegh became enormously popular after he nationalized the oil industry, which had been largely controlled by foreign interests. He worked to weaken the monarchy until he was removed in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état—initially an Anglo-American covert operation that marked the first time the US had participated in an overthrow of a foreign government during the Cold War.[160]
After the coup, the Shah became increasingly autocratic and sultanistic, and Iran entered a decades-long phase of controversially close relations with the United States and other foreign governments.[161] While the Shah increasingly modernised Iran and claimed to retain it as a fully secular state,[162] arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police, the SAVAK, were used for crushing political opposition.[163]
Ruhollah Khomeini, a radical Muslim cleric,[164] became a critic of the Shah's reforms known as the White Revolution. Khomeini publicly denounced the government and was imprisoned for 18 months. After his release in 1964, he was eventually sent into exile.
Due to the 1973 spike in oil prices, the economy was flooded with foreign currency, causing inflation. By 1974, Iran was experiencing a double-digit inflation rate, and despite many large projects to modernise the country, corruption was rampant. By 1975 and 1976, a recession increased unemployment, especially among millions of youths who had migrated to the cities looking for construction jobs during the boom years of the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, many of these people opposed the Shah's regime and began protesting against it.[165]
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution began in January 1978 with major demonstrations against Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi.[166] After a year of strikes and demonstrations paralyzing the country and its economy, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled to the United States, and Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in February 1979, forming a new government.[167] After holding a referendum, Iran officially became an Islamic republic in April 1979.[168] A second referendum in December 1979 approved a theocratic constitution.[169]
Immediate uprisings against the new government began with the 1979 Kurdish rebellion, the Khuzestan uprisings, and uprisings in Sistan and Baluchestan. Over the next several years, these uprisings were subdued violently. The new government began purging the non-Islamist political opposition. Although both nationalists and Marxists had initially joined with Islamists to overthrow the Pahlavis, tens of thousands were executed.[170] Following Khomeini's order to purge the new government of any remaining officials still loyal to Pahlavi, many former ministers and officials in Pahlavi's regime, including former prime minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, were executed.
On 4 November 1979, after the United States refused the extradition of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a group of Muslim students seized the US Embassy and took 52 personnel and citizens hostage.[171] Attempts by the Jimmy Carter administration to negotiate the release of the hostages, and a failed rescue attempt, helped with the falling popularity of Carter among US citizens. On Carter's final day in office, the last hostages were set free under the Algiers Accords. As a result of the Iranian takeover of the American Embassy, the US and Iran severed diplomatic relations in April 1980, and the two countries have had no formal diplomatic relationship since that date.[172]
The Cultural Revolution began in 1980, with threats to close universities which did not conform to Islamization demands from the new government. All universities were closed down in 1980, and reopened in 1983.[173][174][175]
On September 22, 1980, Iraq invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, initiating the Iran–Iraq War. Although the forces of Saddam Hussein made several early advances, by mid-1982, the Iranian forces began to gain momentum, with successfully driving the Iraqis back into Iraq, and regaining all lost territory by June 1982. After pushing Iraqi forces back to the pre-war border lines, Iran rejected United Nations Security Council Resolution 514 and launched an invasion of Iraq, conquered Iraqi territory and captured cities such as Basra. The subsequent Iranian offensive within Iraqi territory lasted for five years, with Iraq taking back the initiative and subsequently launching a series of major counter-offensives. The war continued until 1988, when the Iraqi army defeated the Iranian forces inside Iraq and pushed the remaining Iranian troops back across the border. Subsequently, Khomeini accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations, with both sides withdraw to their pre-war borders. It was the longest conventional war of the 20th century and the second longest war of this century after the Vietnam War. The total Iranian casualties in the war were estimated to be 123,220–160,000 KIA, 60,711 MIA, and 11,000–16,000 civilians killed.[176][177]
Following the Iran–Iraq War, in 1989, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani concentrated on a pragmatic pro-business policy of rebuilding and strengthening the economy without making any dramatic break with the ideology of the revolution. In 1997, Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government attempted, unsuccessfully, to make the country freer and more democratic.[178]
The 2005 presidential election brought conservative populist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.[179] By the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the Interior Ministry announced incumbent President Ahmadinejad had won 62.63% of the vote.
Hassan Rouhani was elected president on 15 June 2013,[180][181] improving relations with other countries.[182]
On 3 January 2020, the revolutionary guard's general, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated by the US in Iraq, which considerably heightened existing tensions between the two countries.[183] The BBC reported that millions of mourners attended Soleimani's funeral ceremony on 6 January.[184] His assassination lead to Operation Martyr Soleimani, the largest ballistic missile attack ever on Americans.[185] Initially, the U.S. was not willing to concede the seriousness of the attack,[186] but ultimately, the U.S. Department of Defense said that 110 service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.[187][188][189][190][191][192]
Ebrahim Raisi successfully ran for president a second time in 2021 with nearly 63% of the votes, succeeding Hassan Rouhani. Raisi is often seen as a frontrunner to succeed Khamenei as the Supreme Leader.[193][194][195][196][197]
On January 15, 2024, Iran launched ballistic missile and drone attacks against alleged Mossad headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan,[198][199][200] and ISIS bases in northern Syria,[201][202][203] in response to the killing of Razi Mousavi and the 2024 Kerman bombings.[204][205][202] As one of Iran's most extensive operations, the attack caused significant collateral damage in Erbil.[206][207][208] A day after the attack, Iran carried out a similar series of strikes in Panjgur District of Pakistan, targeting the Sunni terror group Jaish ul-Adl.[209][210][204]
Geography
Iran has an area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi).[4] It is the fourth-largest country entirely in Asia and the second-largest in West Asia.[213] It lies between latitudes 24° and 40° N, and longitudes 44° and 64° E. It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia (35 km or 22 mi), the Azeri exclave of Nakhchivan (179 km or 111 mi),[214] and the Republic of Azerbaijan (611 km or 380 mi); to the north by the Caspian Sea; to the northeast by Turkmenistan (992 km or 616 mi); to the east by Afghanistan (936 km or 582 mi) and Pakistan (909 km or 565 mi); to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; and to the west by Iraq (1,458 km or 906 mi) and Turkey (499 km or 310 mi).
Iran is in a seismically active area.[215] On average, an earthquake of magnitude seven on the Richter scale occurs once every ten years.[216] Most earthquakes are shallow-focus and can be very devastating, such as the 2003 Bam earthquake.
Iran consists of the Iranian Plateau, with the exception of the coasts of the Caspian Sea and Khuzestan. It is one of the world's most mountainous countries, its landscape dominated by rugged mountain ranges that separate various basins or plateaus. The populous western part is the most mountainous, with ranges such as the Caucasus, Zagros, and Alborz, the last containing Mount Damavand, Iran's highest point at 5,610 m (18,406 ft), which is also the highest mountain in Asia west of the Hindu Kush.[217]
The northern part of Iran is covered by the lush lowland Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests, near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. The eastern part consists mostly of desert basins, such as the Kavir Desert, which is the country's largest desert, and the Lut Desert, as well as some salt lakes. The Lut Desert is the hottest recorded spot on the Earth's surface according to NASA, with 70.7 °C recorded in 2005.[218][219][220][221] The only large plains are found along the coast of the Caspian Sea and at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, where the country borders the mouth of the Arvand river. Smaller, discontinuous plains are found along the remaining coast of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman.[222][223][224]
Islands
Iranian islands are mainly located in the Persian Gulf. Iran has 102 islands in Urmia Lake, 427 in Aras River, several in Anzali Lagoon, Ashurade Island in the Caspian Sea, Sheytan Island in the Oman Sea and several other inland islands. Iran also has an uninhabited island at the far end of the Gulf of Oman, near the Pakistani border. A small number of Iranian islands can be visited by tourists, as most are in the possession of the military or wildlife protection, and entry to them is generally prohibited or requires a permit.[225][226][227]
Iran took control of Bumusa, and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs in 1971, all located in the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Despite the islands being small and having little natural resources or population, they are highly valuable for their key strategic location.[228][229][230][231][232][233] Although the United Arab Emirates claims sovereignty over them,[234][235][236][237] it has constantly been met with strong response from the Iranian government,[238][239][240] based on their historical and cultural background.[241] Iran has control over the islands.[242][243]
Kish island, as a free trade zone, is touted as a consumer's paradise, with numerous malls, shopping centres, tourist attractions, and luxury hotels. Qeshm is the largest island in Iran, and a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2016.[244][245][246] Its salt cave, "Namakdan", is the largest salt cave in the world[247][248] and one of the world's longest caves.[249][250]
Climate
Iran's climate is diverse, ranging from arid and semi-arid, to subtropical along the Caspian coast and the northern forests.[251] On the northern edge of the country (the Caspian coastal plain), temperatures rarely fall below freezing and the area remains humid. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 29 °C (84.2 °F).[252][253] Annual precipitation is 680 mm (26.8 in) in the eastern part of the plain and more than 1,700 mm (66.9 in) in the western part. Gary Lewis, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Iran, has said that "Water scarcity poses the most severe human security challenge in Iran today".[254]
To the west, settlements in the Zagros basin experience lower temperatures, severe winters with freezing average daily temperatures and heavy snowfall. The eastern and central basins are arid, with less than 200 mm (7.9 in) of rain and have occasional deserts.[255] Average summer temperatures rarely exceed 38 °C (100.4 °F).[252] The southern coastal plains of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman have mild winters, and very humid and hot summers. The annual precipitation ranges from 135 to 355 mm (5.3 to 14.0 in).[252]
Wildlife
The wildlife of Iran includes bears, the Eurasian lynx, leopards, cheetahs, foxes, gazelles, grey wolves, jackals, panthers, and wild pigs.[256][257] Eagles, falcons, partridges, pheasants, and storks are also native to Iran. One of the most famous animals of Iran is the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), which today survives only in Iran. Iran lost all its Asiatic lions and the now extinct Caspian tigers by the early 20th century.[258]
There are around 200 protected areas in Iran to preserve the biodiversity and wildlife of the country, and as many as 16 of them are national parks.
Administrative divisions
Iran is divided into five regions with 31 provinces (ostān, استان),[259] each governed by an appointed governor. The provinces are divided into counties, and subdivided into districts and sub-districts.
The country has one of the highest urban growth rates in the world. From 1950 to 2002, the urban proportion of the population increased from 27% to 60%.[260] Iran's population is concentrated in its western half, especially in the north, north-west and west.[261]
Tehran, with a population of around 8.8 million (2016 census), is Iran's capital and largest city. The country's second most populous city, Mashhad, has a population of around 3.3 million (2016 census), and is capital of the province of Razavi Khorasan. Isfahan has a population of around 2.2 million (2016 census) and is Iran's third most populous city. It is the capital of Isfahan province and was also the third capital of the Safavid Empire.
Largest cities or towns in Iran 2016 census | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Province | Pop. | Rank | Name | Province | Pop. | ||
| Tehran Mashhad | 1 | Tehran | Tehran | 8,693,706 | 11 | Rasht | Gilan | 679,995 | Isfahan Karaj |
| 2 | Mashhad | Razavi Khorasan | 3,001,184 | 12 | Zahedan | Sistan and Baluchestan | 587,730 | ||
| 3 | Isfahan | Isfahan | 1,961,260 | 13 | Hamadan | Hamadan | 554,406 | ||
| 4 | Karaj | Alborz | 1,592,492 | 14 | Kerman | Kerman | 537,718 | ||
| 5 | Shiraz | Fars | 1,565,572 | 15 | Yazd | Yazd | 529,673 | ||
| 6 | Tabriz | East Azarbaijan | 1,558,693 | 16 | Ardabil | Ardabil | 529,374 | ||
| 7 | Qom | Qom | 1,201,158 | 17 | Bandar Abbas | Hormozgan | 526,648 | ||
| 8 | Ahvaz | Khuzestan | 1,184,788 | 18 | Arak | Markazi | 520,944 | ||
| 9 | Kermanshah | Kermanshah | 946,651 | 19 | Eslamshahr | Tehran | 448,129 | ||
| 10 | Urmia | West Azarbaijan | 736,224 | 20 | Zanjan | Zanjan | 430,871 | ||
Government and politics
Supreme Leader
The Supreme Leader ("Rahbar"), or Leader of the Revolution[262] is the head of state and is responsible for delineation and supervision of policy.[263] The Iranian president has limited power compared to the Rahbar Khamenei.[264] The current longtime Rahbar is Ali Khamenei.[265][266][267] Key ministers are selected with the Rahbar's agreement and he has the ultimate say on Iran's foreign policy.[264] The Rahbar is directly involved in ministerial appointments for Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs, as well as other top ministries after submission of candidates from the president.[268] Iran's regional policy is directly controlled by the office of the Rahbar with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' task limited to protocol and ceremonial occasions. All of Iran's ambassadors to Arab countries, for example, are chosen by the Quds Corps, which directly reports to the Rahbar.[265] The Rahbar can also order laws to be amended.[269] Setad is estimated at $95 billion in 2013 by Reuters, accounts of which are secret even to the Iranian parliament.[270][271]
The Rahbar is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, controls the military intelligence and security operations, and has sole power to declare war or peace.[263] The heads of the judiciary, the state radio and television networks, the commanders of the police and military forces, and six of the twelve members of the Guardian Council are directly appointed by the Rahbar.[263]
The Assembly of Experts is responsible for electing the Rahbar, and has the power to dismiss him on the basis of qualifications and popular esteem.[272] To date, the Assembly of Experts has not challenged any of the Rahbar's decisions nor attempted to dismiss him.[273] The previous head of the judicial system, Sadeq Larijani, appointed by the Rahbar, said that it is illegal for the Assembly of Experts to supervise the Rahbar.[274] Many believe the Assembly of Experts has become a ceremonial body without any real power.[275][276][277] There have been instances when the current Rahbar publicly criticised members of the Assembly of Experts, resulting in their arrest and dismissal.
Guardian Council
Presidential candidates and parliamentary candidates must be approved by the Guardian Council (all members of which are directly or indirectly appointed by the Leader) or the Leader before running to ensure their allegiance.[278] The Leader very rarely does the vetting himself directly but has the power to do so, in which case additional approval of the Guardian Council would not be needed. The Leader can also revert the decisions of the Guardian Council.[279] The Guardian Council can and has dismissed elected members of the Iranian parliament.[280][281]
President
After the Rahbar, the Constitution defines the president of Iran as the highest state authority.[263][283] The President is elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years, but is required to gain the Leader's official approval before being sworn in before the Parliament (Majlis). The Leader also has the power to dismiss the elected president.[284] The President can only be re-elected for one term.[283]
The President is responsible for the implementation of the constitution, and for the exercise of executive powers in implementing the decrees and general policies as outlined by the Rahbar, except for matters directly related to the Rahbar, which has the final say.[263] The procedures for presidential election and all other elections in Iran are outlined by the Rahbar.[285] The President functions as the executive of affairs such as signing treaties and other international agreements, and administering national planning, budget, and state employment affairs, all as approved by the Rahbar.[286][287][267]
The President appoints the ministers, subject to the approval of the Parliament, as well as the approval of the Rahbar, who can dismiss or reinstate any of the ministers at any time.[288][289][290] The President supervises the Council of Ministers, coordinates government decisions, and selects government policies to be placed before the legislature.[291] Eight Vice Presidents serve under the President, as well as a cabinet of twenty-two ministers, who must all be approved by the legislature.[292]
Legislature
The legislature of Iran, known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly, is a unicameral body comprising 290 members elected for four-year terms.[293] It drafts legislation, ratifies international treaties, and approves the national budget. All parliamentary candidates and all legislation from the assembly must be approved by the Guardian Council.[294]
The Guardian Council comprises twelve jurists, including six appointed by the Rahbar. Others are elected by the Parliament, from among the jurists nominated by the Head of the Judiciary.[295][296] The Council interprets the constitution and may veto the Parliament. If a law is deemed incompatible with the constitution or Sharia (Islamic law), it is referred back to the Parliament for revision.[283] The Expediency Council has the authority to mediate disputes between the Parliament and the Guardian Council, and serves as an advisory body to the Rahbar, making it one of the most powerful governing bodies in the country.[297] Local city councils are elected by public vote to four-year terms.
Law
The Rahbar appoints the head of the Supreme Court and the chief public prosecutor.[273] There are several types of courts, including public courts that deal with civil and criminal cases, and revolutionary courts which deal with certain categories of offences, such as crimes against national security. The decisions of the revolutionary courts are final and cannot be appealed.[273]
The Chief Justice is the head of the judicial system and is responsible for its administration and supervision. He is also the highest judge of the Supreme Court of Iran. The Chief Justice nominates some candidates for serving as minister of justice, and then the President select one of them. The Chief Justice can serve for two five-year terms.[298]
The Special Clerical Court handles crimes allegedly committed by clerics, although it has also taken on cases involving laypeople. The Special Clerical Court functions independently of the regular judicial framework and is accountable only to the Rahbar. The Court's rulings are final and cannot be appealed.[273] The Assembly of Experts, which meets for one week annually, comprises 86 "virtuous and learned" clerics elected by adult suffrage for eight-year terms.
Foreign relations
Since the time of the Iranian Revolution, Iran's foreign relations have often been portrayed as being based on two strategic principles: eliminating outside influences in its region and pursuing extensive diplomatic contacts with developing and non-aligned countries.[299]
As of 2009[update], the government of Iran maintains diplomatic relations with 99 members of the United Nations,[300] but not with the United States, and not with Israel—a state which Iran has derecognised since the Revolution.[301] Among Muslim nations, Iran has an adversarial relationship with Saudi Arabia due to different political and Islamic ideologies.[302]
Iran is a member of dozens of international organizations, including the G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, IDA, IDB, IFC, ILO, BRI, IMF, IMO, Interpol, OIC, OPEC,[303] WHO, and the United Nations, and currently has observer status at the World Trade Organization.
Iran's nuclear programme has become the subject of contention with the international community, mainly the United States. As of November 2023 Iran has uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile content, close to weapon grade.[304][305][306] Iran has been seeking nuclear weapons for decades.[307][308][309] Some analysts already regard the country as a de facto nuclear power.[310][311][312] Many countries have expressed concern that Iran could divert civilian nuclear technology into a weapons programme. This has led the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran. On 14 July 2015, Iran and the P5+1 agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan on Action (JCPOA), aiming to end economic sanctions in exchange for Iran's restriction in producing enriched uranium after demonstrating a peaceful nuclear research project that would meet the International Atomic Energy Agency standards.[313]
Military
The Iranian military is organized under a unified structure, the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran Army (Artesh), which includes the Ground Forces, Air Defence Force, Air Force, and Navy; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah), which consists of the Ground Forces, Aerospace Force, Navy, Quds Force, and Basij; and the Law Enforcement Force (Faraja), which serves an analogous function to a gendarme. While the IRIAF protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC is mandated to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic, principally against foreign interference, coups, and internal riots.[314] Since 1925, it is mandatory for all male citizen aged 18 to serve around 14 months in the IRIAF or the IRGC.[315][316][317][318]
Iran has over 610,000 active troops and around 350,000 reservists, totalling nearly 1 million trained military personnel, one of the world's highest percentage of citizens with military training.[319][320][321][322] The Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia within the IRGC, has over 20 million members, 600,000 members available for immediate call-up, 300,000 reservists, and a million that could be mobilized when necessary.[323][324][325][326] Faraja, the Iranian uniformed police force, has over 260,000 active personnel. Most statistical organizations do not include the Basij and Faraja in their ratings report.
Excluding the Basij and Faraja, Iran has been identified as a major military power, owing it to the size and capabilities of its armed forces. It possess the world's 14th strongest military.[327] It ranks 13th globally in terms of overall military strength,[328] 7th in the number of active military personnel,[328] and 9th in the size of both its ground force and armoured force. Iran's armed forces are the largest in West Asia and comprise the greatest Army Aviation fleet in the Middle East.[329][330][331] Iran is among the top 15 countries in terms of military budget.[332] In 2021, its military spending increased for the first time in four years, to $24.6 billion, 2.30% of the national GDP.[333] Funding for the IRGC accounted for 34% of Iran's total military spending in 2021.[334]
Since the Revolution, to overcome foreign embargoes, Iran has developed a domestic military industry capable of producing indigenous tanks, armoured personnel carriers, missiles, submarines, missile destroyer, radar systems, helicopters, naval vessels, and fighter planes.[335] Official announcements have highlighted the development of advanced weaponry, particularly in rocketry.[336][n 1] Consequently, Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East and is only the 5th country in the world with hypersonic missile technology.[337][338] It is the world's 6th missile power.[339] Iran designs and produces a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and is considered a global leader and superpower in drone warfare and technology.[340][341][342][343][344][345] It is one of the world's five countries with cyberwarfare capabilities and is identified as "one of the most active players in the international cyber arena".[346][347][348]
Following Russia's purchase of Iranian drones during the invasion of Ukraine,[349][350][351][352] in November 2023, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) finalized arrangements to acquire Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, Mil Mi-28 attack helicopters, air defence and missile systems.[353][354][355][356]
The Iranian Navy has had joint exercises with Russia and China.[357][358][359][360][361]
Regional influence
Since the Iranian Revolution, Iran has grown its influence across and beyond the region.[366][367][368][369][370] It has built military forces with a wide network of state and none-state actors, starting with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982.[371][372][373] Since its establishment as a primary branch to the Iranian Army, the IRGC has been key to Iranian influence, through its Quds Force.[374][375][376][377][378] The instability in Lebanon (from the 1980s),[379] Iraq (from 2003) [380] and Yemen (from 2014) [381] have allowed Iran to build strong alliances and foothold beyond its borders. Iran has a prominent influence in the social services, education, economy and the politics of Lebanon,[382][383] and analysts have argued that Lebanon provides Iran access to the Mediterranean Sea.[384][385] Hezbollah's strategic successes against Israel, such as its symbolic victory during the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War, elevated Iran's influence in Levant and strengthened its appeal across the Arab World.[386][387][388]
Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the arrival of ISIS in the mid-2010s, Iran has financed and trained militia groups in Iraq, including the PMF.[389][390][391][392] Since the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iran has shaped Iraq's politics.[393][394][395] Following Iraq's struggle against the ISIS in 2014, companies linked to the IRGC such as Khatam al-Anbiya, started to build roads, power plants, hotels and businesses in Iraq, creating an economic corridor worth around $9 billion before COVID-19.[396] This number is expected to grow to $20 billion in the coming years.[397][398]
During Yemen's civil war, Iran provided military support to the Houthis,[402][403][404] a Zaydi Shiite movement that has been fighting Yemen's Sunni government since 2004.[405][406] They gained significant power in recent years.[407][408][409] Iran also has considerable influence in Afghanistan and Pakistan through various militant groups such as Liwa Fatemiyoun and Liwa Zainebiyoun.[410][411][412][413]
In Syria, Iran has supported President Bashar al-Assad,[386][414][415][416] with the two countries being long-standing allies.[417][386] Iran has provided significant military and economic support to Assad's government,[414][418] and as a result, it has a considerable foothold in Syria.[419][420] Iran have long supported the anti-Israel fronts in North Africa in countries like Algeria and Tunisia, embracing Hamas in part to help undermine the popularity of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in North Africa.[421] Iran's support of Hamas emerged more clearly in later years.[422][423][424][425] According to US intelligence officials, Iran does not have full control over these state and none state groups.[426]
Human rights
Iran's human rights record is exceptionally poor.[427][428][429] The Iranian government is undemocratic,[430][431] has frequently persecuted and arrested critics of the government, and severely restricts the participation of candidates in elections and political activities. Sexual activity between members of the same sex is illegal and is punishable by death.[432][433]
UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman has reported discrimination against several ethnic minorities in Iran.[434] A group of UN experts in 2022 urged Iran to stop "systematic persecution" of religious minorities, adding that members of the Baháʼí Faith were arrested, barred from universities, or had their homes demolished.[435][436]
The 2006 election results were widely disputed,[437][438] and resulted in widespread protests[439][440] and the creation of the Iranian Green Movement.
The 2017–18 Iranian protests swept across the country in response to the economic and political situation.[441] The scale of protests and the number of people participating were significant,[442] and it was formally confirmed that thousands of protesters were arrested.[443] The 2019–20 Iranian protests started on 15 November in Ahvaz, spreading across the country within hours, after the government announced increases in fuel prices of up to 300%.[444] A week-long total Internet shutdown marked one of the most severe Internet blackouts in any country, and in the bloodiest governmental crackdown of the protestors in the history of Islamic Republic;[445] tens of thousands were arrested and hundreds were killed within a few days according to multiple international observers, including Amnesty International.[446]
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, was a scheduled international civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv, operated by Ukraine International Airlines. On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 flying the route was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 occupants on board and leading to nation-wide protests. An international investigation led to the government admitting to the shootdown, calling it a "human error".[447][448]
Another Protests against the government began on 16 September 2022 after a woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody following her arrest by the Guidance Patrol,[449][450][451] known commonly as the "morality police".[452]
Censorship
Censorship in Iran is ranked among the most extreme worldwide.[453][454][455] Iran also has strict regulations when it comes to internet censorship,[456] with the government and the IRGC persistently blocking social media and other websites.[457][458][459] In January 2021, Iranian authorities added Signal to the list of blocked social media platforms, which included Facebook, Telegram, Twitter and YouTube. They carried out arbitrary arrests for social media postings deemed "counter-revolutionary" or "un-Islamic".[460]
Economy
Iran's economy is a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures.[461] In 2022, Iran's nominal GDP was $352.2 billion, while its nominal GDP per capita was $4,110.[462] The service sector contributes the largest percentage of the GDP, followed by industry (mining and manufacturing) and agriculture.[463]
The Central Bank of Iran is responsible for developing and maintaining the Iranian rial, the country's currency. The government does not recognise trade unions other than the Islamic labour councils, which are subject to the approval of employers and the security services.[464] The minimum wage in June 2013 was 487 million rials a month ($134).[465] Unemployment has remained above 10% since 1997, and the unemployment rate for women is almost double that of the men.[465]
In 2006, about 45% of the government's budget came from oil and natural gas revenues, and 31% from taxes and fees.[466] As of 2007[update], Iran had earned $70 billion in foreign-exchange reserves, mostly (80%) from crude oil exports.[467] Iranian budget deficits have been a chronic problem, mostly due to large-scale state subsidies, that include foodstuffs and especially petrol, totalling more than $84 billion in 2008 for the energy sector alone.[468][469] In 2010, the economic reform plan was approved by parliament to cut subsidies gradually and replace them with targeted social assistance. The objective is to move towards free market prices in a five-year period and increase productivity and social justice.[470]
The administration continues to follow the market reform plans of the previous one, and indicates that it will diversify Iran's oil-reliant economy. Iran has also developed a biotechnology, nanotechnology, and pharmaceutical industry.[471] However, nationalised industries such as the bonyads have often been managed badly, making them ineffective and uncompetitive. Currently, the government is trying to privatise these industries; problems include corruption in the public sector and lack of competitiveness.
Iran has leading manufacturing industries in the fields of automobile manufacture, transportation, construction materials, home appliances, food and agricultural goods, armaments, pharmaceuticals, information technology, and petrochemicals in the Middle East.[472] According to 2012 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization, Iran is among the world's top five producers of apricots, cherries, sour cherries, cucumbers and gherkins, dates, eggplants, figs, pistachios, quinces, walnuts, and watermelons.[473]
Economic sanctions against Iran have damaged the economy.[474] In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 reached a deal on the nuclear programme that removed the main sanctions pertaining to Iran's nuclear programme by 2016.[475] The United States under the Trump administration, withdrew from the deal on May 8, 2018, causing the return of sanctions and the resumption of uranium enrichment in Iran. Various countries, international organizations, and U.S. scholars have expressed regret or criticized the withdrawal, while U.S. conservatives, Israel and Saudi Arabia have supported it.
Tourism
Iran's tourism had constantly been growing before the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching nearly 9 million visitors in 2019, the world's third fastest-growing tourism destination before the pandemic.[479][480] Iran's tourism experienced a growth of 48.5% in 2023, attracting over 5.2 million visitors, but 37% lower compared to the pre-COVID statistics in 2019.[481] Over 400,000 visitors were motivated by trade, medical treatment and pilgrimage.[482][483][484] In September and October 2023, Iran achieved a positive balance compared to the same period in 2019.[481] Alongside the capital, the most popular tourist destinations are Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad.[485] Iran is fast emerging as a preferred destination for medical tourism.[486][487]
1.8 million visitors from West Asia travelled to Iran in the first seven months of 2023, a 31% growth compared to the same period in 2022. This growth surpassed that of Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.[488]
Domestic tourism in Iran is one of the largest in the world, with the Iranian tourists spent $33.3 billion in 2021.[489][490][491][492] Iran projects investment of over $32 billion in the country's tourism sector and targets 20 million tourists by 2026.[493]
Agriculture
Roughly one-third of Iran's total surface area is suited for farmland, but because of poor soil and lack of adequate water distribution, only 12% of the total land area is under cultivation. Less than one-third of the cultivated area is irrigated; the rest is devoted to dryland farming. Some 92 percent of agricultural products depend on water.[494] The western and northwestern portions of the country have the most fertile soils. Iran's food security index stands at around 96 percent.[495] At the end of the 20th century, agricultural activities accounted for about one-fifth of Iran's GDP and employed a comparable proportion of the workforce. Most farms are small, less than 25 acres (10 hectares), and are not economically viable, which has contributed to the wide-scale urbanization. In addition to water scarcity and areas of poor soil, seed is of low quality and farming techniques are antiquated.[496][497]
Industry and services
Iran is globally ranked 16th in car manufacturing, ahead of the UK, Italy, and Russia.[498][499] It has outputted 1.188 million cars in 2023, a 12% growth compared to the previous years. Iran has exported various cars to countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Belarus. From 2008 to 2009, Iran leaped to 28th place from 69th in annual industrial production growth rate.[500] Iranian contractors have been awarded several foreign tender contracts in different fields of construction of dams, bridges, roads, buildings, railroads, power generation, and gas, oil and petrochemical industries. As of 2011, some 66 Iranian industrial companies are carrying out projects in 27 countries.[501] Iran exported over $20 billion worth of technical and engineering services over 2001–2011. The availability of local raw materials, rich mineral reserves, experienced manpower have all played crucial role in winning the bids.[502] 45% of large industrial firms are located in Tehran, and almost half of these workers work for the government.[503] The Iranian retail industry is largely in the hands of cooperatives, many of them government-sponsored, and of independent retailers in the bazaars. The bulk of food sales occur at street markets, where the Chief Statistics Bureau sets the prices.[504] Iran's main exports are to Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Syria, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Canada, Venezuela, Japan, South Korea and Turkey.[505][506] Iran's automotive industry is the second most active industry of the country, after its oil and gas industry.[507] Iran Khodro is the largest car manufacturer in the Middle East, and ITMCO is biggest tractor manufacturer. Iran is the 12th largest automaker in the world. Construction is one of the most important sectors in Iran accounting for 20–50% of the total private investment.
Iran is one of the most important mineral producers in the world, ranked among 15 major mineral-rich countries.[508] Iran's oil and gas industry is the most active industry of the country.[507] Iran has the fourth largest reserves of oil and second largest reserves of gas in the world.
Iran manufactures 60–70% of its industrial equipment domestically.[509][510][511] Iran has become self-sufficient in designing, building and operating dams and power plants. Iran is one of the six countries in the world that manufacture gas- and steam-powered turbines.[512]
Iran's domestic consumer electronic market was estimated at $7.3 billion in 2008 ($8.2 billion in 2010), with 47% market share for computer hardware, 28% Audio/Video and 25% mobile phone.[513][514]
Transportation
In 2011 Iran had 173,000 kilometres (107,000 mi) of roads, of which 73% were paved.[515] In 2008 there were nearly 100 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.[516]The Tehran Metro is the largest metro system in the Middle East.[517][518] It carries more than 3 million passengers a day. In 2018, 820 million trips were made on Tehran Metro.[519][520] Trains operate on 11,106 km (6,942 mi) of track.[521] The country's major port of entry is Bandar-Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz. After arriving in Iran, imported goods are distributed throughout the country by trucks and freight trains. The Tehran–Bandar-Abbas railroad connects Bandar-Abbas to the railroad system of Central Asia via Tehran and Mashhad. Other major ports include Bandar e-Anzali and Bandar e-Torkeman on the Caspian Sea and Khorramshahr and Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni on the Persian Gulf.
Dozens of cities have airports that serve passenger and cargo planes. Iran Air, the national airline, was founded in 1962 and operated domestic and international flights. All large cities have mass transit systems using buses, and several private companies provide bus services between cities.
Transport in Iran is inexpensive because of the government's subsidization of the price of petrol. The downside is a huge draw on government coffers, economic inefficiency because of highly wasteful consumption patterns, smuggling to neighbouring countries and air pollution. In 2008, more than one million people worked in the transportation sector, accounting for 9% of GDP.[522]
Energy
Iran has the world's second largest proved gas reserves, with 33.6 trillion cubic metres,[524] and the third largest natural gas production. It also ranks fourth in oil reserves with an estimated 153,600,000,000 barrels.[525][526] It is OPEC's second largest oil exporter. Despite this, Iran spent $4 billion on fuel imports as of 2005 due to a lack of domestic refining capacity.[527] Oil industry output averaged 4 million barrels per day (640,000 m3/d) in 2005, compared with the peak of six million barrels per day reached in 1974.[528]
In 2004, a large share of Iran's natural gas reserves were untapped. The addition of new hydroelectric stations and the streamlining of conventional coal and oil-fired stations increased installed capacity to 33,000 megawatts. Of that amount, about 75% was based on natural gas, 18% on oil, and 7% on hydroelectric power. In 2004, Iran opened its first wind-powered and geothermal plants, and the first solar thermal plant was to come online in 2009. Iran is the world's third country to have developed GTL technology.[529]
Demographic trends and intensified industrialization have caused electric power demand to grow by 8% per year. The government's goal of 53,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2010 is to be reached by bringing on line new gas-fired plants, and adding hydropower and nuclear power generation capacity. Iran's first nuclear power plant went online in 2011. It is the second nuclear power plant in the Middle East.[530][531]
Education, science, technology and telecommunications
Science and technology
Iran has made considerable advances in science and technology, despite international sanctions during the past 30 years. In recent years, the growth in Iran's scientific output is reported to be the fastest in the world. In the biomedical sciences, Iran's Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics has a UNESCO chair in biology.[532] In late 2006, Iranian scientists successfully cloned a sheep at the Royan Research Center in Tehran.[533] Stem cell research in Iran is among the top 10 in the world.[534] Iran ranks 15th in the world in nanotechnologies.[535][536][537] Iranian scientists outside Iran have also made some major contributions to science. In 1960, Ali Javan co-invented the first gas laser, and fuzzy set theory was introduced by Lotfi A. Zadeh.[538] Iranian cardiologist Tofigh Mussivand invented and developed the first artificial cardiac pump, the precursor of the artificial heart. Furthering research and treatment of diabetes, the HbA1c was discovered by Samuel Rahbar. A substantial number of papers in string theory are published in Iran.[539] In August 2014, Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman, as well as the first Iranian, to receive the Fields Medal, the highest prize in mathematics.[540] Iran has increased its publication output nearly tenfold from 1996 through 2004, and has been ranked first in terms of output growth rate, followed by China.[541] According to a study by SCImago in 2012, Iran would rank fourth in the world in terms of research output by 2018, if the current trend persists.[542]
The Iranian humanoid robot Sorena 2, which was designed by engineers at the University of Tehran, was unveiled in 2010. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has placed the name of Surena among the five prominent robots of the world after analyzing its performance.[543]
Education
Education in Iran is highly centralised. K–12 is supervised by the Ministry of Education, and higher education is under the supervision of the Ministry of Science and Technology. According to UNESCO, Iran's literacy rate among people aged 15 years and older was 85.54% as of 2016, with men (90.35%) being significantly more educated than women (80.79%).[544] According to this report, Iranian government expenditure on education amounts to around 4% of the GDP.
The requirement to enter into higher education is to have a high school diploma and pass the Iranian University Entrance Exam (the konkur). Many students do a 1–2-year course of pre-university (piš-dānešgāh).[545] Iran's higher education is sanctioned by different levels of diplomas, including an associate degree (kārdāni; also known as fowq e diplom) delivered in two years, a bachelor's degree (kāršenāsi; also known as lisāns) delivered in four years, and a master's degree (kāršenāsi e aršad) delivered in two years, after which another exam allows the candidate to pursue a doctoral programme (PhD; known as doktorā).[546]
According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (as of January 2017[update]), Iran's top five universities include Tehran University of Medical Sciences (478th worldwide), the University of Tehran (514th worldwide), Sharif University of Technology (605th worldwide), Amirkabir University of Technology (726th worldwide), and the Tarbiat Modares University (789th worldwide).[547] Iran was ranked 62nd in the Global Innovation Index in 2023, up from 67th in 2020.[548][549]
Iranian Space Agency
The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) was established on 28 February 2004. Iran became an orbital-launch-capable nation in 2009,[550] and is a founding member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Iran placed its domestically built satellite Omid into orbit on the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, on 2 February 2009,[551] through its first expendable launch vehicle Safir, becoming the ninth country in the world capable of both producing a satellite and sending it into space from a domestically made launcher.[552] Simorgh's launch in 2016, is the successor of Safir.[553]
On January 20, 2024, Iran launched the Soraya satellite into its highest orbit yet (750 km),[554][555] a new space launch milestone for the country.[556][557] It was launched by Qaem 100 rocket.[558][559][560]
On January 28, 2024, Iran successfully launched three indigenous satellites, The Mahda, Kayan and Hatef,[561] into orbit using the Simorgh carrier rocket.[562][563] It was the first time in country's history that it simultaneously sent three satellites into space.[564][565] The three satellites are designed for testing advanced satellite subsystems, space-based positioning technology, and narrowband communication.[566]
On February 29, 2024, Iran launched its domestically developed imaging satellite, Pars 1, from Russia into orbit.[567][568] This was done for the second time since August 2022, when Russia launched another Iranian remote-sensing, The Khayyam satellite, into orbit from Kazakhstan, reflecting deep scientific cooperation between the two countries.[569][570]
The Iranian nuclear programme was launched in the 1950s. Iran is the world's 7th country to produce uranium hexafluoride, and controls the entire nuclear fuel cycle.[571]
Telecommunication
Iran's telecommunications industry is almost entirely state-owned, dominated by the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). Fixed-line penetration in 2004 was relatively well-developed by regional standards, at 22 lines per 100 people, compared with Egypt with 14. Iran had more than one mobile phone per inhabitant by 2012.[572]
As of 2020, 70 million Iranians use high-speed mobile internet. Iran is among the first five countries which have had a growth rate of over 20 percent and the highest level of development in telecommunication.[573] Iran has been awarded the UNESCO special certificate for providing telecommunication services to rural areas. By the end of 2009, Iran's telecom market was the fourth-largest market in the region at $9.2 billion.[574]
Demographics
Iran's population grew rapidly from about 19 million in 1956 to about 85 million by February 2023.[575] However, Iran's fertility rate has dropped dramatically, from 6.5 children born per woman to about 1.7 two decades later,[576][577][578] leading to a population growth rate of about 1.39% as of 2018.[579] Due to its young population, studies project that the growth will continue to slow until it stabilises around 105 million by 2050.[580][581][582]
Iran hosts one of the largest refugee populations, with almost one million,[583] mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq.[584] According to estimates, about five million Iranian citizens have emigrated to other countries, mostly since the 1979 Revolution.[585][586]
According to the Iranian Constitution, the government is required to provide every citizen with access to social security, covering retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, accidents, calamities, health and medical treatment and care services.[587] This is covered by tax revenues and income derived from public contributions.[588]
Languages
The majority of the population speaks Persian, the official language of the country.[3] Others include speakers of several other Iranian languages within the greater Indo-European family and languages belonging to some other ethnicities living in Iran.
The Gilaki and Mazenderani languages are widely spoken in Gilan and Mazenderan, in northern Iran. The Talysh language is also spoken in parts of Gilan. Varieties of Kurdish are concentrated in the province of Kurdistan and nearby areas. In Khuzestan, several distinct varieties of Persian are spoken. Southern Iran also houses the Luri and Lari languages.
Azerbaijani, the most-spoken minority language in the country,[589] and other Turkic languages and dialects are found in various regions, especially Azerbaijan.
Notable minority languages in Iran include Armenian, Georgian, Neo-Aramaic, and Arabic. Khuzi Arabic is spoken by the Arabs in Khuzestan, and the wider group of Iranian Arabs. Circassian was also once widely spoken by the large Circassian minority, but, due to assimilation, no sizable number of Circassians speak the language anymore.[590][591][592][593]
Percentages of spoken language continue to be a point of debate, most notably regarding the largest and second largest ethnicities in Iran, the Persians and Azerbaijanis. Percentages given by the CIA's World Factbook include 53% Persian, 16% Azerbaijani, 10% Kurdish, 7% Mazenderani and Gilaki, 7% Luri, 2% Turkmen, 2% Balochi, 2% Arabic, and 2% the remainder Armenian, Georgian, Neo-Aramaic, and Circassian.[4]
Ethnic groups
Ethnic group composition remains a point of debate, mainly regarding the largest and second largest ethnic groups, the Persians and Azerbaijanis, due to the lack of Iranian state censuses based on ethnicity. The World Factbook has estimated that around 79% of the population of Iran is a diverse Indo-European ethno-linguistic group,[594] with Persians (including Mazenderanis and Gilaks) constituting 61% of the population, Kurds 10%, Lurs 6%, and Balochs 2%. Peoples of other ethnolinguistic groups make up the remaining 21%, with Azerbaijanis constituting 16%, Arabs 2%, Turkmens and other Turkic tribes 2%, and others (such as Armenians, Talysh, Georgians, Circassians, Assyrians) 1%.[4]
The Library of Congress issued slightly different estimates: 65% Persians (including Mazenderanis, Gilaks, and the Talysh), 16% Azerbaijanis, 7% Kurds, 6% Lurs, 2% Baloch, 1% Turkic tribal groups (including Qashqai and Turkmens), and non-Iranian, non-Turkic groups (including Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, and Arabs) less than 3%.[595][4][596]
Health
Healthcare is provided by the public-governmental system, the private sector, and NGOs.[598] The healthcare sector's market value in Iran was almost US$24 billion in 2002.
The country faces the common problem of other young demographic nations in the region, which is keeping pace with growth of an already huge demand for various public services. An anticipated increase in the population growth rate will increase the need for public health infrastructures and services.[599] Total health spending was equivalent to 6% of GDP in Iran in 2017. About 90% of Iranians have some form of health insurance.[600] Iran is also the only country with a legal organ trade.[601] Iran has been able to extend public health preventive services through the establishment of an extensive Primary Health Care Network. As a result, child and maternal mortality rates have fallen significantly, and life expectancy at birth has risen. Iran's medical knowledge rank is 17th globally, and 1st in the Middle East and North Africa. In terms of medical science production index, Iran ranks 16th in the world.[602]
Religion
| Religion | Percent | Number |
| Muslim | 99.3789% | 74,682,938 |
| Christian | 0.1566% | 117,704 |
| Zoroastrian | 0.0336% | 25,271 |
| Jewish | 0.0117% | 8,756 |
| Other | 0.0653% | 49,101 |
| Undeclared | 0.3538% | 265,899 |
Twelver Shia Islam is the official state religion, to which about 90% to 95% of the population adhere.[604][605][606] According to the World Values Survey, 96.6% of Iranians believe in Islam, but 14.3% identify as not religious.[607] A self-selecting social media-based Gamaan survey found only 40.4% identified as Muslim, and 22.2% identified with no religion.[608][609] About 4% to 8% of the population are Sunni Muslims, mainly Kurds and Baloches. Other religious minorities include Christians, Baháʼís, agnostics, Zoroastrians, Jews,[4] Mandaeans[610] and Yarsanis. Iran was scored zero out of 4 for religious freedom by Freedom House.[611]
There is a large population of adherents of Yarsanism, a Kurdish indigenous religion,[613][614][615] estimated to be over half a million[616] to one million followers.[617] The Baháʼí Faith is not officially recognized and has been subject to official persecution.[618] According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Baháʼís are the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, with an estimated 350,000 adherents.[619] Since the Revolution, the persecution of Baháʼís has increased.[618][620][621]
Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and the Sunni branch of Islam are officially recognised by the government and have reserved seats in the Iranian Parliament.[147] Iran has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel.[622] Around 250,000 to 370,000 Christians reside in Iran,[623][624] and Christianity is the country's largest recognised minority religion.[625] Most are of Armenian background, as well as a sizable minority of Assyrians.[626] The Iranian government has supported the rebuilding and renovation of Armenian churches, and has supported the Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran. In 2019, the government registered the Vank Cathedral, in the New Julfa district of Isfahan, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Currently three Armenian churches in Iran have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.[627][628]
Culture
Art
The art of Iran encompasses many disciplines, including stonemasonry, metalworking, pottery, painting, and calligraphy. Iranian works of art show a great variety in style, in different regions and periods.[630] The art of the Medes has been theoretically attributed to the Scythian style.[631] The Achaemenids borrowed heavily from the art of their neighbouring civilizations,[632] but produced a synthesis of a unique style.[633] Greek iconography was imported by the Seleucids, followed by the recombination of Hellenistic and earlier Near Eastern elements in the art of the Parthians.[634]
By the time of the Sasanians, Iranian art came across a general renaissance.[635] During the Middle Ages, Sasanian art played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian mediaeval art.[636][637][638][639] The Safavid era is known as the Golden Age of Iranian art.[640] Safavid art exerted noticeable influences upon the neighbouring Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Deccans, and was also influential through its fashion and garden architecture on 11th–17th-century Europe.
Iran's contemporary art traces its origins to the time of Kamal-ol-molk,[641] a prominent realist painter at the court of the Qajar dynasty who affected the norms of painting and adopted a naturalistic style that would compete with photographic works. A new Iranian school of fine art was established by Kamal-ol-Molk in 1928,[641] and was followed by the so-called "coffeehouse" style of painting.
Iran's avant-garde modernists emerged by the arrival of new western influences during World War II.[641] The vibrant contemporary art scene originates in the late 1940s, and Tehran's first modern art gallery, Apadana, was opened in September 1949 by painters Mahmud Javadipur, Hosein Kazemi, and Hushang Ajudani.[642] The new movements received official encouragement by the mid-1950s,[641] which led to the emergence of artists such as Marcos Grigorian.[643]
Architecture
The history of architecture in Iran goes back to the seventh millennium BC,[645] with an eclectic architecture remaining at sites such as Persepolis and Pasargadae. The Iranians made early use of mathematics, geometry and astronomy in their architecture, yielding a tradition with both great structural and aesthetic variety.[646] The guiding motif of Iranian architecture is its cosmic symbolism.[647] Iran ranks seventh among UNESCO's list of countries with the most archaeological ruins and attractions from antiquity.[648] Iranian architecture displays great variety, both structural and aesthetic, from a variety of traditions and experience. Without sudden innovations, and despite the repeated trauma of invasions and cultural shocks, it developed a recognizable style distinct from other regions of the Muslim world. Its virtues are "a marked feeling for form and scale; structural inventiveness, especially in vault and dome construction; a genius for decoration with a freedom and success not rivalled in any other architecture".[649]
Weaving
Iran's carpet-weaving has its origins in the Bronze Age and is one of the most distinguished manifestations of Iranian art. Iran is the world's largest producer and exporter of handmade carpets, producing three-quarters of the world's output and having a share of 30% of export markets.[650][651] In 2010, the "traditional skills of carpet weaving" in Fars Province and Kashan were inscribed to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.[652][653][654] Carpet weaving is an essential part of Persian culture and Iranian art. Within the group of Oriental rugs produced by the countries of the "rug belt", the Persian carpet stands out by the variety and elaborateness of its manifold designs. Carpets woven in towns and regional centres like Tabriz, Kerman, Ravar, Neyshabour, Mashhad, Kashan, Isfahan, Nain and Qom are characterized by their specific weaving techniques and use of high-quality materials, colours and patterns. Hand-woven Persian rugs and carpets have been regarded as objects of high artistic and utilitarian value and prestige since the first time they were mentioned by ancient Greek writers.
Literature
Iran's oldest literary tradition is that of Avestan, the Old Iranian sacred language of the Avesta, which consists of the legendary and religious texts of Zoroastrianism and the ancient Iranian religion.[655]
Persian is considered one of the four main bodies of world literature.[656] The Persian language was used and developed further through Persianate societies in Asia Minor, Central Asia, and South Asia, leaving extensive influences on Ottoman and Mughal literatures, among others. Iran has a number of famous mediaeval poets, most notably Rumi, Ferdowsi, Hafez, Sa'adi, Omar Khayyam, and Nezami Ganjavi.[657]
World Heritage Sites
Iran ranks 10th globally in terms of UNESCO-listed monuments, with 27.[658] These include Persepolis, Naghsh-e Jahan Square, Chogha Zanbil, Pasargadae, Golestan Palace, Arg-e Bam, Behistun Inscription, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Susa, Takht-e Soleyman, Hyrcanian forests, the city of Yazd and more. Iran also has 24 Intangible Cultural Heritage, or "Human treasures", which ranks 5th worldwide.[659][660]
Dance
Iran has known dance in the forms of music, play, drama or religious rituals since at least the 6th millennium BC. Artifacts with pictures of dancers were found in many archaeological prehistoric sites.[661] Genres of dance in Iran vary depending on the area, culture, and language of the local people, and can range from sophisticated reconstructions of refined court dances to energetic folk dances.[662] Each group, region, and historical epoch has specific dance styles associated with it. The earliest researched dance from historic Iran is a dance worshipping Mithra. Ancient Persian dance was significantly researched by Greek historian from Herodotus. Iran was occupied by foreign powers, causing a slow disappearance of heritage dance traditions. The Qajar dynasty had an important influence on Persian dance. In this period, a style of dance began to be called "classical Persian dance". Dancers performed artistic dances in the court of the king for entertainment purposes such as coronations, marriage celebrations, and Norouz celebrations. In the 20th century, the music came to be orchestrated and dance movement and costuming gained a modernistic orientation to the West. In 1928, ballet came to Iran and impacted dance performance.[citation needed]
Philosophy
The Cyrus Cylinder, which is known as "the first charter of human rights", is often seen as a reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed by Zoroaster and developed in Zoroastrian schools of the Achaemenid era.[663][664] The earliest tenets of Zoroastrian schools are part of the extant scriptures of the Zoroastrian religion in Avestan. Among them are treatises such as the Zatspram, Shkand-gumanik Vizar, and Denkard, as well as older passages of the Avesta and the Gathas.[665] Contemporary Iranian philosophy has been limited in its scope by intellectual repression.[666] Scholars Pavilion is a monument donated by Iran to the United Nations Office at Vienna. The monument architecture is Persian Achaemenid architecture, with the statues of Iranian mediaeval scholars, Omar Khayyam, Al-Biruni, Rhazes and Avicenna inside the pavilion.[667]
Folklore
Storytelling has an significant presence in Iranian folklore and culture.[672][673] In classical Iran, minstrels performed for their audiences at royal courts[672] and in public theatres.[672][674] A minstrel was referred to by the Parthians as gōsān, and by the Sasanians as huniyāgar.[672][675] Since the Safavid Empire, storytellers and poetry readers appeared at coffeehouses.[672][676] After the Iranian Revolution, it took until 1985 to found the MCHTH (Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts),[677] a now heavily centralized organization, supervising all kinds of cultural activities. It held the first scientific meeting on anthropology and folklore in 1990.[678]
Mythology
Iranian mythology consists of ancient Iranian folklore and stories of extraordinary beings reflecting on good and evil (Ahura Mazda and Ahriman), actions of the gods, and the exploits of heroes and creatures. The tenth-century Persian poet, Ferdowsi, is the author of the national epic known as the Šāhnāme ("Book of Kings"), which is for the most part based on Xwadāynāmag, a Middle Persian compilation of the history of Iranian kings and heroes,[681] as well as the stories and characters of the Zoroastrian tradition, from the texts of the Avesta, the Denkard, the Vendidad and the Bundahishn.
Music
Iran is the apparent birthplace of the earliest complex instruments, dating to the third millennium BC.[683][better source needed] The use of angular harps have been documented at the sites Madaktu and Kul-e Farah, with the largest collection of Elamite instruments documented at Kul-e Farah. Xenophon's Cyropaedia mentions singing women at the court of the Achaemenid Empire. Under the Parthian Empire, the gōsān (Parthian for "minstrel") had a prominent role in society.[684][better source needed]
The history of Sasanian music is better documented than the earlier periods and is especially more evident in Avestan texts.[685] By the time of Chosroes II, the Sasanian royal court hosted a number of prominent musicians, namely Azad, Bamshad, Barbad, Nagisa, Ramtin, and Sarkash. Iranian traditional musical instruments include string instruments such as chang (harp), qanun, santur, rud (oud, barbat), tar, dotar, setar, tanbur, and kamanche, wind instruments such as sorna (zurna, karna) and ney, and percussion instruments such as tompak, kus, daf (dayere), and naqare.
Iran's first symphony orchestra, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, was founded by Qolam-Hoseyn Minbashian in 1933. By the late 1940s, Ruhollah Khaleqi founded the country's first national music society and established the School of National Music in 1949.[686]
Iranian pop music has its origins in the Qajar era.[687] It was significantly developed since the 1950s, using indigenous instruments and forms accompanied by electric guitar and other imported characteristics. Iranian rock emerged in the 1960s and hip hop in the 2000s.[688][689][690][691]
Theatre
The oldest Iranian initiation of theatre can be traced to ancient epic ceremonial theatres such as Sug-e Siāvuš ("mourning of Siāvaš"), as well as dances and theatre narrations of Iranian mythological tales reported by Herodotus and Xenophon.
Iran's traditional theatrical genres include Baqqāl-bāzi ("grocer play", a form of slapstick comedy), Ruhowzi (or Taxt-howzi, comedy performed over a courtyard pool covered with boards), Siāh-bāzi (in which the central comedian appears in blackface), Sāye-bāzi (shadow play), Xeyme-šab-bāzi (marionette), and Arusak-bāzi (puppetry), and Ta'zie (religious tragedy plays).[692]
Before the Iranian Revolution, the Iranian national stage had become a famous performing scene for known international artists and troupes,[693] with the Roudaki Hall of Tehran constructed to function as the national stage for opera and ballet. The hall is home to the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, the Tehran Opera Orchestra, and the Iranian National Ballet Company, and was officially renamed Vahdat Hall after the Revolution.
Cinema and animation
A third-millennium BC earthen goblet discovered at the Burnt City in southeastern Iran depicts what could be the world's oldest example of animation.[695] The earliest attested Iranian examples of visual representations, however, are traced back to the bas-reliefs of Persepolis, the ritual centre of the Achaemenid Empire.[696]
The first Iranian filmmaker was probably Mirza Ebrahim (Akkas Bashi), the court photographer of Mozaffar-ed-Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty. Mirza Ebrahim obtained a camera and filmed the Qajar ruler's visit to Europe. Later in 1904, Mirza Ebrahim (Sahhaf Bashi) opened the first public cinema in Tehran.[697] The first Iranian feature film, Abi and Rabi, was a silent comedy directed by Ovanes Ohanian in 1930. The first sounded one, Lor Girl, was produced by Ardeshir Irani and Abd-ol-Hosein Sepanta in 1932.
Iran's animation industry began by the 1950s and was followed by the establishment of the influential Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in January 1965.[698][699] With the screening of the films Qeysar and The Cow, directed by Masoud Kimiai and Dariush Mehrjui respectively in 1969, alternative films set out to establish their status in the film industry and Bahram Beyzai's Downpour and Nasser Taghvai's Tranquility in the Presence of Others followed soon. Attempts to organise a film festival, which had begun in 1954 within the framework of the Golrizan Festival, resulted in the festival of Sepas in 1969. The endeavours also resulted in the formation of Tehran's World Film Festival in 1973.[700] After the Revolution of 1979, and following the Cultural Revolution, a new age emerged in Iranian cinema, starting with Long Live! by Khosrow Sinai and followed by many other directors, such as Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi. Kiarostami, an acclaimed Iranian director, planted Iran firmly on the map of world cinema when he won the Palme d'Or for Taste of Cherry in 1997.[701] The continuous presence of Iranian films in prestigious international festivals, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, attracted world attention to Iranian masterpieces.[702] In 2006, six Iranian films represented Iranian cinema at the Berlin International Film Festival. Critics considered this a remarkable event in the history of Iranian cinema.[703][704]
Asghar Farhadi, a well-known Iranian director, has received a Golden Globe Award and two Academy Awards, representing Iran for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012 and 2017, with A Separation and The Salesman.[705][706][707]
In 2020, Ashkan Rahgozar's "The Last Fiction" became the first representative of Iranian animated cinema in the competition section in both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture categories at the Academy Awards.[708][709][710][711][712][713]
Observances
Iran's official New Year begins with Nowruz, an ancient Iranian tradition celebrated annually on the vernal equinox and described as the Persian New Year.[716] It was registered on the UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2009.[717][718][719][720] On the eve of the last Wednesday of the preceding year, as a prelude to Nowruz, the ancient festival of Čāršanbe Suri celebrates Ātar ("fire") by performing rituals such as jumping over bonfires and lighting fireworks.[721][722]
Yaldā, another ancient tradition,[723] commemorates the ancient goddess Mithra and marks the longest night of the year on the eve of the winter solstice (usually falling on 20 or 21 December),[724][725] during which families gather to recite poetry and eat fruits.[726][727] In some regions of Mazanderan and Markazi,[728][729][730][731] there is a midsummer festival, Tirgān,[732] which is observed on Tir 13 (2 or 3 July) as a celebration of water.[733][734]
Islamic annual events such as Ramezān, Eid e Fetr, and Ruz e Āšurā are marked by the country's large Muslim population, Christian traditions such as Noel,[735] Čelle ye Ruze, and Eid e Pāk[736] are observed by the Christian communities, Jewish traditions such as Purim,[737] Hanukā,[738] and Eid e Fatir (Pesah)[739][740] are observed by the Jewish communities, and Zoroastrian traditions such as Sade[741] and Mehrgān are observed by the Zoroastrians.
Public holidays
Iran's official calendar is the Solar Hejri calendar, beginning at the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.[742] Each of the 12 months of the Solar Hejri calendar correspond with a zodiac sign, and the length of each year is solar.[742] Alternatively, the Lunar Hejri calendar is used to indicate Islamic events, and the Gregorian calendar marks international events.
Legal public holidays based on the Iranian solar calendar include the cultural celebrations of Nowruz (Farvardin 1–4; 21–24 March) and Sizdebedar (Farvardin 13; 2 April), and the political events of Islamic Republic Day (Farvardin 12; 1 April), the death of Ruhollah Khomeini (Khordad 14; 4 June), the Khordad 15 event (Khordad 15; 5 June), the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution (Bahman 22; 10 February), and Oil Nationalization Day (Esfand 29; 19 March).[743]
Lunar Islamic public holidays include Tasua (Muharram 9), Ashura (Muharram 10), Arba'een (Safar 20), the death of Muhammad (Safar 28), the death of Ali al-Ridha (Safar 29 or 30), the birthday of Muhammad (Rabi-al-Awwal 17), the death of Fatimah (Jumada-al-Thani 3), the birthday of Ali (Rajab 13), Muhammad's first revelation (Rajab 27), the birthday of Muhammad al-Mahdi (Sha'ban 15), the death of Ali (Ramadan 21), Eid al-Fitr (Shawwal 1–2), the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq (Shawwal 25), Eid al-Qurban (Zulhijja 10), and Eid al-Qadir (Zulhijja 18).[743]
Cuisine
Iranian main dishes include varieties of kebab, pilaf, stew (khoresh), soup and āsh, and omelette. Lunch and dinner meals are commonly accompanied by side dishes such as plain yogurt or mast-o-khiar, sabzi, salad Shirazi, and torshi, and might follow dishes such as borani, Mirza Qasemi, or kashk e bademjan.
In Iranian culture, tea is widely consumed.[747][748] Iran is the world's seventh major tea producer.[749] One of Iran's most popular desserts is the falude.[750] There is also the popular saffron ice cream, known as Bastani Sonnati ("traditional ice cream"),[751] which is sometimes accompanied with carrot juice.[752] Iran is also famous for its caviar.[753]
Sports
Iran is most likely the birthplace of polo,[754][755] locally known as čowgān, with its earliest records attributed to the ancient Medes.[756] Freestyle wrestling is traditionally considered the national sport of Iran, and the national wrestlers have been world champions on many occasions. Iran's traditional wrestling, called košti e pahlevāni ("heroic wrestling"), is registered on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.[citation needed]
Being a mountainous country, Iran is a venue for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, rock climbing,[757] and mountain climbing.[758][759] It is home to several ski resorts, the most famous being Tochal, Dizin, and Shemshak.[760] The resort of Tochal, located in the Alborz mountain rage, is the world's fifth-highest ski resort (3,730 m or 12,238 ft at its highest station). Dizin is the largest Iranian ski resort, and its officially granted the title by FIS to administer official and international competitions.[761]
Iran's National Olympic Committee was founded in 1947. Wrestlers and weightlifters have achieved the country's highest records at the Olympics. In September 1974, Iran became the first country in West Asia to host the Asian Games.[762][763][764]
Football is the most popular sport in Iran, with the men's national team having won the Asian Cup on three occasions. The men's national team ranks first in Asia and 22nd in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings (as of September 2021[update]).[765] The Azadi Stadium in Tehran is the largest association football stadium in Western Asia and on the list of top-20 best stadiums in the world.[766]
Volleyball is the second most popular sport.[767][768] Having won the 2011 and 2013 Asian Men's Volleyball Championships, the men's national team is the strongest team in Asia, and ranks eighth in the FIVB World Rankings (as of July 2017[update]).
Basketball is also popular,[769] with the men's national team having won three Asian Championships since 2007.
In 2016, Iran made global headlines for international female champions boycotting tournaments in Iran in chess (U.S. Woman Grandmaster Nazí Paikidze)[770][771] and in shooting (Indian world champion Heena Sidhu),[772] as they refused to enter a country where they would be forced to wear a hijab.
Museums
The National Museum of Iran in Tehran is the country's most important cultural institution.[773] As the first and biggest museum in Iran, the institution includes the Museum of Ancient Iran and the Museum of the Islamic Era. The National Museum is the world's most important museum in terms of preservation, display and research of archaeological collections of Iran,[774] and ranks as one of the few most prestigious museums globally in terms of volume, diversity and quality of its monuments.[775]
There are many other popular museums across the country such as the Golestan Palace (UNESCO World Heritage Site), The Treasury of National Jewels, Reza Abbasi Museum, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Sa'dabad Complex, The Carpet Museum, Abgineh Museum, Pars Museum, Azerbaijan Museum, Hegmataneh Museum, Susa Museum and more. In 2019, around 25 million people visited the museums.[776][777]
Media
According to the Press Freedom Index, Iran ranks 174th out of 180 countries as of 2021.[778][779] The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is responsible for the cultural policy, including activities regarding communications and information.[780] Most of the newspapers published in Iran are in Persian, the country's official language. The country's most widely circulated periodicals are based in Tehran, among which are Etemad, Ettela'at, Kayhan, Hamshahri, Resalat, and Shargh.[491] Tehran Times, Iran Daily, and Financial Tribune are among English-language newspapers based in Iran.
Since the Iranian Revolution, Iran's largest media corporation is the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).[491] Despite the restrictions on non-domestic television, about 65% of the residents of Tehran and about 30 to 40% of residents outside the capital access worldwide television channels through satellite dishes, although observers state that the figures are likely to be higher.[781][782]
According to Internet World Stats, as of 2017[update], around 69.1% of the population are Internet users.[783] Iran ranks 17th among countries by number of Internet users. Google Search is Iran's most widely used search engine and Instagram is the most popular online social networking service.[784] Direct access to many worldwide mainstream websites has been blocked in Iran, including Facebook, which has been blocked since 2009 due to the organization of anti-governmental protests on the website.[785] However, as of 2017[update], Facebook has around 40 million subscribers based in Iran (48.8% of the population) who use virtual private networks and proxy servers to access the website.[783] About 90% of Iran's e-commerce takes place on the Iranian online store Digikala, which has around 750,000 visitors per day and is the most visited online store in the Middle East.[786][784]
Fashion and clothing
The exact date of the emergence of weaving in Iran is not yet known, but it is likely to coincide with the emergence of civilization. Ferdowsi and many historians have considered Keyumars to be first to use animals' skin and hair as clothing, while others propose Hushang.[787] Ferdowsi considers Tahmuras to be a kind of textile initiator in Iran. The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced form, and the fabric and colour of clothing became very important. Depending on the social status, eminence, climate of the region and the season, Persian clothing during the Achaemenian period took various forms. This clothing, in addition to being functional, had an aesthetic role.[787]
See also
Explanatory notes
References
Footnotes
Citations
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The official motto of Iran is [the] 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.'
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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 traditio