Iran — map and facts

#### About Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a major Middle Eastern nation occupying the Iranian Plateau in Western Asia. With a population of approximately 88 million, it is one of the most populous countries in the region and among the world's oldest continuous civilisations. Tehran is the capital and by far the largest city. Iran is a predominantly Shia Muslim country governed under a system of Islamic jurisprudence, known as velayat-e faqih, which combines elected institutions with supreme authority vested in a religious leader. The country possesses vast petroleum and natural gas reserves, among the largest in the world, and its economy has long been shaped by the energy sector, though it has faced extensive international sanctions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

#### Geography and Landscape Iran covers approximately 1.65 million square kilometres, making it the seventeenth largest country in the world. The landscape is dominated by a vast interior plateau ringed by mountain ranges, including the Alborz in the north, where Mount Damavand — a dormant stratovolcano at 5,610 metres — rises as the highest peak in the Middle East and the highest volcano in Asia. The Zagros Mountains run in a broad arc through the west and southwest. Large portions of the interior consist of salt deserts, including the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut, the latter recognised as one of the hottest places on Earth. Iran borders the Caspian Sea to the north and the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman to the south, providing access to crucial maritime routes.

#### History Iran is home to some of the world's earliest urban settlements, with civilisation in the region dating back more than seven thousand years. The Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE, became one of antiquity's largest empires, stretching from the Aegean to Central Asia. Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 330 BCE, and subsequent dynasties including the Parthians and Sassanids maintained Persian culture through the ancient world. The Arab Muslim conquest of the seventh century CE transformed the region religiously, though Persian language and culture proved remarkably resilient. The Safavid dynasty established Shia Islam as the state religion in the sixteenth century, a defining moment in Iranian identity. The twentieth century brought constitutional revolution, oil nationalisation, the Pahlavi monarchy, and the 1979 Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini.