Iran





The Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in the Middle East, in the
southwest of Asia. It was known until 1935 as Persia. The country borders
Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east; Turkmenistan to northeast, the Caspian
Sea in the middle north and Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest; Turkey
and Iraq to the west and finally the waters of the Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea to the south.

                                       National motto:    Allahu Akbar
                                            (Arabic: "God is greater")
History                                Official language  Persian
                                       Capital            Tehran
                                       Faqih              Ali Khamenei
Persia emerged in the 6th century BC   President          Mohammad Khatami
under the Achaemenid dynasty as a vast
empire that controlled an area from    Area               Ranked 17th
India to Greece. It was conquered by   Ê- Total           1,648,000
Alexander the Great, but soon after    Ê- % water         km²
Persia regained its independence in                       0.7%
the form of the Parthian and Sassanid  Population         Ranked 18th
Empires. The latter was defeated by    Ê- Total (2002)    66,622,704
Islamic Arab forces in the 7th century Ê- Density         40/km²
AD, who were followed by Seljuk Turks,
the Mongols, and Tamerlane.            Establishment      Islamic
                                       Ê- Date            Revolution
                                                          April 1, 1979
The 16th century saw renewed
independence with the Safavids and     Currency           Rial
then other lines of kings or shahs.    Time zone          UTC +3.30
During the 19th century Persia came
under pressure from both Russia and    National anthem    Sorood-e
                                                          Jomhoori-e Eslami
the United Kingdom and a process of
modernisation began that continued     Internet TLD       .IR
into the 20th century. In 1953, prime  Calling Code       98
minister Mohammed Mossadeq, who had
been elected to parliament in 1923 and again in 1944, and who had been prime
minister since 1951, was removed from power in a complex plot orchestrated
by British and US intelligence agencies, leading to the dictatorship of the
shah (Iran's monarch), Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. With strong support from the
USA and the UK, the Shah further modernised Iranian industry but crushed
civil liberties. His autocratic rule, including systematic torture and other
human rights violations, led to revolution and overthrow of his regime in
1979. After over a year of struggle between a variety of different political
groups, an Islamic republic was established under the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The new theocratic regime instituted many conservative and often repressive
Islamic reforms, as well as engaging in an anti-Western course, in
particular against the United States. Strict Islamic law was implemented,
and women lost many of their rights. Human rights abuses, such as torture
and violent executions continue. In 1980 Iran was attacked by neighbouring
Iraq and the destructive Iran-Iraq War continued until 1988. However, in
more recent years, the democratic political structure has led to the
election of many reformist politicians, including the president, Mohammad
Khatami. During the first decade of the 21st century, the struggle for power
between reformists and conservatives over the future of the country
continues through a mix of electoral politics and restrictions on civil liberties.

Politics

Since the revolution of 1979 the Iranian head of state is the Leader of the
Revolution or faqih, or in absence of a single leader a council of religious
leaders. They are elected from the clerical establishment on the basis of
their qualifications and the high popular esteem in which they are held. The
faqih appoints the six religious members of the 12-member Council of
Guardians, as well as the highest judicial authorities and is
commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The president is elected by universal suffrage to a 4-year term by an
absolute majority of votes and supervises the affairs of the executive
branch. All presidential candidates must be approved by the Council prior to
running. After his election, the president appoints and supervises the
Council of Ministers (the cabinet), coordinates government decisions, and
selects government policies to be placed before the parliament. The Council
of Guardians certifies the competence of candidates for the presidency and
the parliament.

The unicameral Iranian parliament, the Islamic Consultative Assembly or
Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami, consists of 290 members elected to a 4-year term.
The members are elected by direct and secret ballot. All legislation from
the assembly must be reviewed by the Council of Guardians. The Council's six
lay-members, all lawyers appointed by parliament, vote only on limited
questions of the constitutionality of legislation; the six religious members
consider all bills for conformity to Islamic principles.

Political parties are technically illegal, though many informal
organisations of politically like-minded people exist.

Provinces

Iran consists of 28 provinces (ostanha, singular - ostan):

   * Ardabil
   * Bushehr
   * Chahar Mahall e Bakhtiari
   * East Azerbaijan
   * Esfahan
   * Fars
   * Gilan
   * Golestan
   * Hamadan
   * Hormozgan
   * Ilam
   * Kerman
   * Kermanshah
   * Khorasan
   * Khuzestan
   * Kohkiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad
   * Kurdistan
   * Lorestan
   * Markazi
   * Mazandaran
   * Qazvin
   * Qom
   * Semnan
   * Sistan and Baluchistan
   * Tehran
   * West Azerbaijan
   * Yazd
   * Zanjan

Geography

The Iranian landscape is dominated by rugged mountain ranges that separate
various basins or plateaus from one another. The populous western part is
the most mountainous, with ranges such as the Zagros and Elburz Mountains,
the latter of which also contains Iran's highst point, the Damavand at 5,607
m. The eastern half consists mostly of uninhabited desert basins with the
occasional salt lake.

The only large plains are found along the coast of the Caspian Sea and at
the northern end of the Persian Gulf, where Iran borders on the mouth of the
Shatt al-Arab. Smaller, discontinuous plains are found along the remaining
coast of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea. The
Iranian climate is mostly arid or semiarid, though subtropical along the
Caspian coast.

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. The current administration has continued to
follow the market reform plans of the previous one and has indicated that it
will pursue diversification of Iran's oil-reliant economy.

The strong oil market in 1996 helped ease financial pressures on Iran and
allowed for Tehran's timely debt service payments. Iran's financial
situation tightened in 1997 and deteriorated further in 1998 because of
lower oil prices. The subsequent rise in oil prices in 1999-2000 afforded
Iran fiscal breathing room but does not solve Iran's structural economic
problems, including the encouragement of foreign investment.

Demographics

Almost two-thirds of Iran's people are of Aryan origin and speak one of the
Indo-Iranian languages, though only Persian (Farsi), which is written in the
Arabic alphabet, is an official language. The major groups in this category
include Persians (51%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%), Kurds (7%), Lurs (2%),
and Baluchi (2%). The remainder are primarily Turkic people such as the
Azeri (24%) and Turkmen (2%), but also include Arabs (3%), Armenians, Jews,
and Assyrians and others. Arabic, being the language of the Qur'an, is
taught in schools as well.

Most Iranians are Muslims; 89% belong to the Shiite branch of Islam, the
official state religion, and about 10% belong to the Sunni branch, which
predominates in most Muslim countries. Non-Muslim religious minorities
include Baha'is and Zoroastrians, both being religions that originated in
Iran, as well as Jews and Christians. Only the latter three are officially
recognised minority religions. Iran's population size increased dramatically
in the latter part of the 20th century.