Iran

Extracted Attributes

• Area

  1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi)

• Capital

  Tehran

• Location

  West Asia

• Population

  92,417,700

• Economy Type

  Centrally planned economy with significant state ownership

• Largest City

  Tehran

• Also Known As

  Persia

• Highest Point

  Mount Damavand (5,610 m or 18,406 ft)

• Official Name

  Islamic Republic of Iran

• Asian Size Rank

  6th-largest country in Asia

• Government Type

  Islamic theocracy, unitary Islamic republic with a presidential system

• Major Resources

  Large reserves of fossil fuels, world's second largest natural gas supply, third largest proven oil reserves

• Global Size Rank

  17th-largest country

• Ultimate Authority

  Supreme Leader

• Human Rights Record

  Criticized for significant constraints and abuses against human rights and civil liberties

• Global Population Rank

  17th-most populous country

• Electoral Process Concerns

  International observers have raised concerns over fairness, especially vetting of candidates by unelected bodies

• UNESCO World Heritage Sites

  28

Timeline

• Iran was first unified as a political entity by the Medes under Cyaxares. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  0600 BCE

• Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  0550 BCE

• Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  0330 BCE

• An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  0247 BCE

• The Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire, marking a golden age in Iranian civilization. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  0224 CE

• Muslims conquered the region, leading to the Islamization of Iran. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  0651 CE

• The native Safavid dynasty re-established a unified Iranian state and made Twelver Shia Islam the official religion. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1501 CE

• During the Afsharid Empire, Iran was a leading world power. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1736 CE

• The Qajars took power, leading to Iran losing its world power status. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1796 CE

• The Persian Constitutional Revolution took place. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1905-1911

• Reza Shah ousted the last Qajar Shah and established the Pahlavi dynasty. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1925-12-15

• An Anglo-American coup occurred following Mohammad Mosaddegh's attempts to nationalize the oil industry. (Source: Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  1953-08-19

• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi launched a far-reaching series of reforms. (Source: DBPedia)

  1963-01-26

• The Iranian Revolution overthrew the monarchy, leading to the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran by Ruhollah Khomeini. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia)

  1979-02-11

• Iraq invaded Iran, sparking the eight-year-long Iran–Iraq War. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1980-09-22

• Ali Khamenei became Supreme Leader after Ruhollah Khomeini's death. (Source: DBPedia)

  1989-06-04

• The National Council of Resistance of Iran exposed the existence of two Iranian nuclear sites. (Source: Web Search)

  2002-08-14

• Compounding effects of international sanctions led Iran's economy to contract by 20 percent and unemployment to rise to 20 percent. (Source: Web Search)

  2011-01-01

• Hassan Rouhani won Iran's presidential election, campaigning on a promise to lift sanctions and restore the economy. (Source: Web Search)

  2013-08-03

• Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities following disputes over Iran's nuclear program. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Related Documents)

  2025-06-XX

• The US intervened with 'Operation Midnight Hammer', utilizing Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs against Iran's nuclear sites. (Source: Related Documents)

  2025-06-XX

• Donald Trump negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. (Source: Related Documents)

  2025-06-XX

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was reportedly injured when his secret site was hit in Israeli strikes. (Source: Web Search)

  2025-06-XX

• The US insisted that Iran's nuclear facilities were completely 'obliterated' during strikes. (Source: Web Search)

  2025-06-XX

Iran

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, and the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. Iran ranks 17th globally in both geographic size and population and is the sixth-largest country in Asia. Iran is officially an Islamic republic, divided into five regions with 31 provinces. Tehran is the nation's capital, largest city and financial center. A cradle of civilization, Iran was inhabited by various peoples, including the Elamites from 3200 BCE in the southwest, before the arrival of the Iranian peoples. A large part of Iran was first unified as a political entity by the Medes under Cyaxares in the 7th century BCE and reached its territorial height in the 6th century BCE, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire. Alexander the Great conquered the empire in the 4th century BCE. An Iranian rebellion in the 3rd century BCE established the Parthian Empire, which later liberated the country. In the 3rd century CE, the Parthians were succeeded by the Sasanian Empire, whose era was considered a golden age in the history of Iranian civilization. Ancient Iran saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanization, religion and administration. Once a center for Zoroastrianism, Muslims conquered the region in the 7th century, leading to the Islamization of Iran. The literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and art which blossomed during the Sasanian era were renewed during the Islamic Golden Age and Iranian Intermezzo, when a series of Iranian Muslim dynasties ended Arab rule, revived the Persian language, and ruled the country. This era was followed by Seljuk and Khwarazmian rule, Mongol conquests and the Timurid Renaissance from the 11th to 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the native Safavid dynasty re-established a unified Iranian state with Twelver Shia Islam as the official religion. During the Afsharid Empire in the 18th century, Iran was a leading world power, but it lost this status after the Qajars took power in the 1790s. The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution and the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty by Reza Shah, who ousted the last Qajar Shah in 1925. Attempts by Mohammad Mosaddegh to nationalize the oil industry led to the Anglo-American coup in 1953. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 overthrew the monarchy, and the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ruhollah Khomeini, the country's first supreme leader. In 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, sparking the eight-year-long Iran–Iraq War which ended in a stalemate. Iran is a threshold state with one of the most scrutinized nuclear programs, which it claims is solely for civilian purposes. This claim has been disputed by Israel and the Western world; Israel attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in June 2025. Iran is an Islamic theocracy governed by elected and unelected institutions, with ultimate authority vested in the supreme leader. While Iran holds elections, key offices—including the head of state and military—are not subject to public vote. The Iranian government has been regarded by some as authoritarian and criticized for its human rights record, including restrictions on freedom of assembly, expression, and the press, as well as its treatment of women, ethnic minorities, and political dissidents. International observers have raised concerns over the fairness of its electoral processes, especially the vetting of candidates by unelected bodies such as the Guardian Council. Iran maintains a centrally planned economy with significant state ownership in key sectors, though private enterprise exists alongside. Iran is a major regional power, due to its large reserves of fossil fuels (including the world's second largest natural gas supply and third largest proven oil reserves), its geopolitically significant location, and its role as the world's focal point of Shia Islam. Iran is a founding member of the United Nations, OIC, OPEC, and ECO as well as a current member of the NAM, SCO, and BRICS. Iran has 28 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (the 10th-highest in the world) and ranks 5th in intangible cultural heritage or human treasures.

Web Search Results

• Iran - Wikipedia

  Iran is officially governed as a unitary Islamic republic with a presidential system, with ultimate authority vested in a supreme leader. The government is authoritarian and has attracted widespread criticism for its significant violations of human rights and civil liberties. Iran is a major 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 geopolitically significant location, military [...] Iran has an area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi). It is the sixth-largest country entirely in Asia and the second-largest in West Asia. 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), 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 [...] Iran consists of the Iranian Plateau. It is one of the world's most mountainous countries; its landscape is dominated by rugged mountain ranges that separate basins or plateaus. The populous west 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 the highest volcano in Asia. Iran's mountains have impacted its politics and economics for centuries.

• Iran | People, Religion, Leader, Map, Conflict, Allies ... - Britannica

  Iran, a mountainous, arid, and ethnically diverse country of southwestern Asia. The country maintains a rich and distinctive cultural and social continuity dating back to the Achaemenian period, which began in 550 bce. Since 1979 it has become known for its unique brand of Islamic republic. Although the system of government was intended as a parliamentary democracy, persistent instability both at home and abroad have steered its slide into a more theocratic authoritarianism and aggressive [...] ## Land Iran is bounded to the north by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and the Caspian Sea, to the east by Pakistan and Afghanistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. Iran also controls about a dozen islands in the Persian Gulf. About one-third of its 4,770-mile (7,680-km) boundary is seacoast. [...] The heart of the storied Persian empire of antiquity, Iran has long played an important role in the region as an imperial power and later—because of its strategic position and abundant natural resources, especially petroleum—as a factor in colonial and superpower rivalries. From the Achaemenian period the region that is now Iran—traditionally known as Persia—has been influenced by waves of indigenous and foreign conquerors and immigrants, including the Hellenistic Seleucids and native Parthians

• Culture of Iran - Wikipedia

  Iran is a multi-ethnic nation. Although the cultures of its ethnic groups are very similar and in most areas nearly identical, each has its own distinct and specific dance style. Iran possesses four categories of dance with these being: group dances, solo improvisational dances, war or combat dances, and spiritual dances. [...] Iran is the place of origin of complex instruments, with the instruments dating back to the third millennium BC.( Several trumpets made of silver, gold, and copper were found in eastern Iran that are attributed to the Oxus civilization and date back between 2200 and 1750 BC. The use of both vertical and horizontal angular harps have been documented at the archaeological sites of Madaktu (650 BC) and Kul-e Fara (900–600 BC), with the largest collection of Elamite instruments documented at Kul-e [...] cuisine is famous for its sweets. One of the most famous of which includes "baklava" with almonds, cardamom, and egg yolks. Iranian sweets typically involve the use of honey, cinnamon, lime juice, and sprouted wheat grain. One very popular dessert drink in Iran, "sherbet sharbat-portagal", is made from a mixture of orange peel and orange juice boiled in thin sugar syrup and diluted with rose water. Just like the people of many Middle Eastern countries the preferred drink of the people of Iran

• Iran's Conflict With Israel and the United States

  Iran has pursued a nuclear program since at least 1957, with varying degrees of success. By the late 1980s, during a war with Iraq, Iran decided to develop nuclear weapons to ensure its security. Consequently, throughout the 1990s, Iran pursued agreements with China and Russia to support the program’s research. In the summer of 2002, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella organization made up of Iranian dissident groups,exposed the existence of two Iranian nuclear sites that [...] Iraqbuild missile capabilities. The U.S. government considers Iran to be theforemost state sponsor of terrorism, spending more than one billion dollars on terrorist financing annually. There are between140,000 and 185,000IRGC-Quds Force partner forces in Afghanistan, Gaza, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen. [...] Between 2011 and 2015, the compounding effects of international sanctions led Iran’seconomy to contractby 20 percent and unemployment to rise to 20 percent [PDF]. In 2013, Hassan Rouhani, a noted pragmatist, won Iran’s presidential election, campaigning on a promise tolift sanctions and restore the economy. Over the next two years, the United States convened several rounds of bilateral talks and led the other P5+1 coalition members—China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom—in

• Iran - BBC News

  # Iran Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Photo: June 2025 ## Iran president was reportedly injured in Israeli strikes Iran's Fars news agency says President Masoud Pezeshkian had a leg injury when his secret site was hit in June. Satellite Image of Isfahan nuclear facilitiy ## Iran could recover some enriched uranium after US strikes, Israeli official says The US has insisted that Iran's nuclear facilities were completely 'obliterated' during strikes in June.

• Country

  Iran

• Instance Of

  Q6256

• Population

  92,417,700

• Coordinates

  Lat: 32.0, Lon: 53.0

• Inception Date

  4/1/1979

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of 1.64 million square kilometres (0.63 million square miles), making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which became one of the largest empires in history and a superpower. The Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC and 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 Sassanid Empire, a major world power for the next four centuries. Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century AD, which led to the Islamization of Iran. It subsequently became a major center of Islamic culture and learning, with its art, literature, philosophy, and architecture spreading across the Muslim world and beyond during the Islamic Golden Age. Over the next two centuries, a series of native Iranian Muslim dynasties emerged before the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols conquered the region. In the 15th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state and national identity, and converted the country to Shia Islam. Under the reign of Nader Shah in the 18th century, Iran presided over the most powerful military in the world, though by the 19th century, a series of conflicts with the Russian Empire led to significant territorial losses. The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution. Efforts to nationalize its fossil fuel supply from Western companies led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953, which resulted in greater autocratic rule under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and growing Western political influence. He went on to launch a far-reaching series of reforms in 1963. After the Iranian Revolution, the current Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first Supreme Leader. The government of Iran is an Islamic theocracy that includes some elements of a presidential system, with the ultimate authority vested in an autocratic "Supreme Leader"; a position held by Ali Khamenei since Khomeini's death in 1989. The Iranian government is authoritarian, and has attracted widespread criticism for its significant constraints and abuses against human rights and civil liberties, including several violent suppressions of mass protests, unfair elections, and limited rights for women and for children. It is also a focal point for Shia Islam within the Middle East, countering the long-existing Arab and Sunni hegemony within the region. Since the Iranian Revolution, the country is widely considered to be the largest adversary of Israel and also of Saudi Arabia. Iran is also considered to be one of the biggest players within Middle Eastern affairs, with its government being involved both directly and indirectly in the majority of modern Middle Eastern conflicts. Iran is a regional and middle power, with a geopolitically strategic location in the Asian continent. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the ECO, the OIC, and the OPEC. It has large reserves of fossil fuels—including the second-largest natural gas supply and the third-largest proven oil reserves. The country's rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Historically a multi-ethnic country, Iran remains a pluralistic society comprising numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, with the largest of these being Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Mazandaranis, and Lurs.