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Sunni hegemony within the region. Since the Iranian Revolution, the country is widely considered to be the most determined 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
Inscription of Ardeshir Babakan (r. 224–242) in Naqsh-e Rostam: "This is the figure of Mazdaworshipper, the lord Ardashir, Shahanshah of Iran..."[11]
An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), reverse: "Coined on gold the word of kingdom in the world, Nader of Greater Iran and the world-conqueror king."[12]
The term
Middle Iranian 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"),[13][14] recognized as a derivative of Proto-Indo-European language*ar-yo-, meaning "one who assembles (skilfully)".[15] In the Iranian languages, the gentilic is attested as a self-identifier, included in ancient inscriptions and the literature of the Avesta,[16][d] and remains also in other Iranian ethnic names Alan (Ossetian: ИрIr) and Iron (Ирон).[14] According to the Iranian mythology, the country's name comes from the name of Iraj, a legendary prince and shah who was killed by his brothers.[17]
Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by
Fars.[20] As the most extensive interaction the ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, the term persisted, even long after the Greco-Persian Wars
(499–449 BC).
In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, Iran, on Nowruz, falling on 21 March 1935 (Esfand 30, 1313), 4:43 pm Tehran time; effective 22 March (the Iranian New Year on Farvardin 1, 1314) that year.[21][22] Opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision in 1959, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably.[23] Today, both Iran and Persia are used in cultural contexts, while Iran remains mandatory in official state contexts.[24]
The American English pronunciation /aɪˈræn/ may be heard in U.S. media. Max Fisher in The Washington Post[33] prescribed /iːˈrɑːn/ for Iran, while proscribing /aɪˈræn/. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, in the dictionary's 2014 Usage Ballot, addressed the topic of the pronunciations of Iran and Iraq.[34] According to this survey, the pronunciations /ɪˈrɑːn/ and /ɪˈræn/ were deemed almost equally acceptable, while /ɪˈrɑːn/ was preferred by most panelists participating in the ballot. With regard to the /aɪˈræn/ pronunciation, more than 70% of the panelists deemed it unacceptable. Among the reasons given by those panelists were that /aɪˈræn/ has "hawkish connotations" and sounds "angrier", "xenophobic", "ignorant", and "not... cosmopolitan". The /aɪˈræn/ pronunciation remains standard and acceptable, reflected in the entry for Iran in the American Heritage Dictionary itself, as well as in each of the other major dictionaries of American English.
Iranian Plateau, pointing to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the fourth millennium BC.[45][47][48] During the Bronze Age, the territory of present-day Iran was home to several civilizations,[49][50] including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayanderud. Elam, the most prominent of these civilizations, 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 paralleled to Sumer, and the Elamite cuneiform was developed since the third millennium BC.[51]
From the 34th to the 20th century BC, northwestern Iran was part of the
Kura-Araxes culture, which stretched into the neighboring Caucasus and Anatolia. Since the earliest second millennium BC, Assyrians
settled in swaths of western Iran and incorporated the region into their territories.
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.[55][page needed] 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. The civil war ravaged the Assyrian Empire between 616 and 605 BC, thus freeing their respective peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule.[55] The unification of the Median tribes under king Deioces in 728 BC led to the foundation of the Median Empire which, by 612 BC, controlled almost the entire territory of present-day Iran and eastern Anatolia.[56] This marked the end of the Kingdom of Urartu as well, which was subsequently conquered and dissolved.[57][58]
In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great, the son of Mandane and Cambyses I, 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. The brouhaha was initially triggered by the actions of the Median ruler Astyages, and was quickly spread to other provinces as they allied with the Persians. Later conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded the empire to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper, as well as the lands to the west of the Indus and Oxus rivers.
539 BC was the year in which Persian forces defeated the Babylonian army at Opis, and marked the end of around four centuries of Mesopotamian domination of the region by conquering the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Cyrus entered Babylon and presented himself as a traditional Mesopotamian monarch. Subsequent Achaemenid art and iconography reflect the influence of the new political reality in Mesopotamia.[59][60][61]
It is estimated that in 480 BC, 50 million people lived in the Achaemenid Empire.[62][63] The empire at its peak ruled over 44% of the world's population, the highest such figure for any empire in history.[64]
The Achaemenid Empire is noted for the release of the Jewish exiles in Babylon,[65] building infrastructures such as the Royal Road and the Chapar (postal service), and the use of an official language, Imperial Aramaic, throughout its territories.[60] The empire had a centralized, bureaucratic administration under the emperor, a large professional army, and civil services, inspiring similar developments in later empires.[66][67]
Eventual conflict on the western borders began with the Ionian Revolt, which erupted into the Greco-Persian Wars and continued through the first half of the fifth century BC, and ended with the withdrawal of the Achaemenids from all of the territories in the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper.[68]
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Achaemenid Empire, defeating the last Achaemenid emperor, Darius III, at the Battle of Issus. Following the premature death of Alexander, Iran came under the control of the HellenisticSeleucid 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.[69] Together with their neighboring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, they made up the world's two most dominant powers at the time, for over four centuries.[70][71]
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,[72] their influence reached the culture of ancient Rome (and through that as far as Western Europe),[73][74]Africa,[75]China, and India,[76] and played a prominent role in the formation of the medieval art of both Europe and Asia.[70][71]
In 750, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads.[88] Arabs Muslims and Persians of all strata made up the rebel army, which was united by the converted Persian Muslim, Abu Muslim.[89][90][91] In their struggle for power, the society in their times gradually became cosmopolitan and the old Arab simplicity and aristocratic dignity, bearing and prestige were lost. Persians and Turks began to replace the Arabs in most fields. The fusion of the Arab nobility with the subject races, the practice of polygamy and concubinage, made for a social amalgam wherein loyalties became uncertain and a hierarchy of officials emerged, a bureaucracy at first Persian and later Turkish which decreased Abbasid prestige and power for good.[92]
After two centuries of Arab rule, semi-independent and independent Iranian kingdoms—including the Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, and Buyids—began to appear on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate.[93]
The blossoming literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and art of Iran became major elements in the formation of a new age for the Iranian civilization, during a period known as the Islamic Golden Age.[97][98] The Islamic Golden Age reached its peak by the 10th and 11th centuries, during which Iran was the main theater of scientific activities.[99]
The tenth century saw a mass migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia into the Iranian Plateau.[100] Turkic tribesmen were first used in the Abbasid army as mamluks (slave-warriors), replacing Iranian and Arab elements within the army.[89] As a result, the Mamluks gained significant political power. In 999, large portions of Iran came briefly under the rule of the Ghaznavids, whose rulers were of mamluk Turkic origin, and longer subsequently under the Seljuk and Khwarezmian empires.[100] The Seljuks subsequently gave rise to the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia, while taking their thoroughly Persianized identity with them.[101][102] 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 army of Genghis Khan. 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."[103] Most modern historians either outright dismiss or are highly skeptical of such statistics of colossal magnitude pertaining the Mongol onslaught on the Khwarazmian empire, mainland Iran and other Muslim regions and deem them to be exaggerations by Muslim chroniclers of that era (whose recordings were naturally of an anti-Mongol bent). Indeed, as far as the Iranian plateau was concerned, the bulk of the Mongol onslaught and battles were in the northeast of what is modern-day Iran, such as in the cities of Nishapur and Tus.[104][105][106]
Following the fracture of the Mongol Empire in 1256, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, established the Ilkhanate in Iran. In 1357, the capital Tabriz was occupied by the Golden Horde khan Jani Beg and the centralized power collapsed, resulting in the emergence of rivaling dynasties. In 1370, yet another conqueror, Timur from Transoxiana, took control over Persia, establishing the Timurid Empire which lasted for another 156 years. In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, reportedly killing 70,000 citizens.[107] The Ilkhans and the Timurids soon came to adopt the ways and customs of the Iranians, surrounding themselves with a culture that was distinctively Iranian.[108]
By the 1500s, Ismail I of Ardabil established the Safavid Empire,[109][110] with his capital at Tabriz.[100] Beginning with Azerbaijan, he subsequently extended his authority over all of the Iranian territories, and established an intermittent Iranian hegemony over the vast relative regions, reasserting the Iranian identity within large parts of Greater Iran.[111] Iran was predominantly Sunni,[112] but Ismail instigated a forced conversion to the Shia branch of Islam,[113][110][114][115] spreading throughout the Safavid territories in the Caucasus, Iran, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. As a result, modern-day Iran is the only official Shia nation of the world, with it holding an absolute majority in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, having there the first and the second highest number of Shia inhabitants by population percentage in the world.[116][117] Meanwhile, the centuries-long geopolitical and ideological rivalry between Safavid Iran and the neighboring Ottoman Empire led to numerous Ottoman–Iranian wars.[103]
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, bringing a period of relative peace and prosperity.[103]
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 various Caucasian khanates. However, despite the self-ruling, they all remained subjects and vassals to the Zand king.[122] Another civil war ensued after the death of Karim Khan in 1779, out of which Agha Mohammad Khan emerged, founding the Qajar dynasty in 1794.
1826–1828 resulted in large irrevocable territorial losses for Iran in the Caucasus, comprising all of the South Caucasus and Dagestan, which made part of the very concept of Iran for centuries,[120]
and thus substantial gains for the neighboring Russian Empire.
As a result of the 19th-century Russo-Iranian wars, the Russians took over the Caucasus, and Iran irrevocably lost control over its integral territories in the region (comprising modern-day Dagestan,
1856
.
As Iran shrank, many South Caucasian and North Caucasian Muslims moved towards Iran,[132][133] especially until the aftermath of the Circassian Genocide,[133] and the decades afterwards, while Iran's Armenians were encouraged to settle in the newly incorporated Russian territories,[134][135][136] causing significant demographic shifts.
Around 1.5 million people—20 to 25% of the population of Iran—died as a result of the
Between 1872 and 1905, a series of protests took place in response to the sale of
Zoroastrians,[138] which has remained a basis in the legislation of Iran since then. The struggle related to the constitutional movement was followed by the Triumph of Tehran in 1909, when Mohammad Ali Shah was defeated and 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 the city of Tabriz and maintained a military presence in the region for years to come. But this did not put an end to the civil uprisings and was soon followed by Mirza Kuchik Khan's Jungle Movement
against both the Qajar monarchy and foreign invaders.
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company), prevent a German advance via Turkey or the USSR 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, his 21-year-old son.[145][146][147]
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 some other foreign governments.[152] While the Shah increasingly modernized Iran and claimed to retain it as a fully secular state,[153] arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police, the SAVAK, were used for crushing all forms of political opposition.[154]
Ruhollah Khomeini, a radical Muslim cleric,[155] became an active critic of the Shah's far-reaching series of reforms known as the White Revolution. Khomeini publicly denounced the government, and was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months. After his release in 1964, he refused to apologize and was eventually sent into exile.
Due to the 1973 spike in oil prices, the economy of Iran was flooded with foreign currency, which caused inflation. By 1974, the economy of Iran was experiencing a double-digit inflation rate, and despite the many large projects to modernize the country, corruption was rampant and caused large amounts of waste. By 1975 and 1976, an economic recession led to an increased unemployment rate, especially among millions of youths who had migrated to the cities of Iran 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 organizing and joining the protests against it.[156]
The immediate nationwide uprisings against the new government began with the
Sistan and Baluchestan and other areas. Over the next several years, these uprisings were subdued violently by the new Islamic government. The new government began purging itself of the non-Islamist political opposition, as well as of those Islamists who were not considered radical enough. Although both nationalists and Marxists had initially joined with Islamists to overthrow the Shah, tens of thousands were executed by the new regime afterward.[166] Following Khomeini's order to purge the new government of any remaining officials still loyal to the exiled Shah, many former ministers and officials in the Shah's government, including former prime minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, were executed
.
On 4 November 1979, after the United States refusal for the extradition of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the new government, a group of Muslim students seized the United States Embassy and took the embassy with 52 personnel and citizens hostage .[167] Attempts by the Jimmy Carter administration to negotiate for the release of the hostages, and a failed rescue attempt, helped with the falling popularity of Carter among the US citizens and it pushed him out of the presidential office and brought Ronald Reagan to power. On Jimmy Carter's final day in office, the last hostages were finally set free due to the Algiers Accords. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left the United States for Egypt, where he died of complications from cancer only months later, on 27 July 1980.
The Cultural Revolution began in 1980, with an initial closure of universities for three years, in order to perform an inspection and clean up in the cultural policy of the education and training system.[citation needed]
An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask on the front line during the Iran–Iraq War
On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army 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 successfully managed to drive the Iraqi army back into Iraq. In July 1982, with Iraq thrown on the defensive, the regime of Iran decided to invade Iraq and conducted countless offensives to conquer Iraqi territory and capture cities, such as Basra. 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. 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.[168][169]
Hassan Rouhani was elected as the president on 15 June 2013, defeating Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and four other candidates.[178][179] The electoral victory of Rouhani relatively improved the relations of Iran with other countries.[180]
2017–18 Iranian protests
were initiated on 31 December 2017 and continued for months.
The
2019–20 Iranian protests started on 15 November in Ahvaz, spreading across the country within hours, after the government announced increases in the fuel price of up to 300%.[184] A week-long total Internet shutdown throughout the country 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,[185] tens of thousands were arrested and hundreds were killed within a few days according to multiple international observers, including Amnesty International.[186]
On 3 January 2020, the revolutionary guard's general,
retaliatory attack on US forces in Iraq and by accident shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing all members on board the plane and leading to nation-wide protests. An international investigation led to the government admitting to the shootdown of the plane by a surface-to-air missile after three days of denial, calling it a "human error".[188][189]
Iran is located in a seismically active area.[196] On average, an earthquake of magnitude seven on the Richter scale occurs once every ten years.[197] Most earthquakes are shallow-focus and can be very devastating, such as the tragic 2003 Bam earthquake.
Iran consists of the
Khuzestan. It is one of the world's most mountainous countries, its landscape 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 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
.
The northern part of Iran is covered by the lush lowland
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.
Iran's climate is diverse, ranging from arid and semi-arid, to subtropical along the Caspian coast and the northern forests.[199] On the northern edge of the country (the Caspian coastal plain), temperatures rarely fall below freezing and the area remains humid for the rest of the year. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 29 °C (84.2 °F).[200][201] 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".[202]
To the west, settlements in the Zagros basin experience lower temperatures, severe winters with below zero 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.[203] Average summer temperatures rarely exceed 38 °C (100.4 °F).[200] The coastal plains of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern Iran have mild winters, and very humid and hot summers. The annual precipitation ranges from 135 to 355 mm (5.3 to 14.0 in).[200]
Persian leopard, which is the world's largest leopard subspecies and lives primarily in northern Iran, is also endangered.[208] Iran lost all its Asiatic lions and the now extinct Caspian tigers by the earlier part of the 20th century.[209]
At least 74 species of Iranian wildlife are on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a sign of serious threats against the country's biodiversity. The Iranian Parliament has been showing disregard for wildlife by passing laws and regulations such as the act that lets the Ministry of Industries and Mines exploit mines without the involvement of the Department of Environment, and by approving large national development projects without demanding comprehensive study of their impact on wildlife habitats.[210]
Iran is divided into five regions with 31 provinces (ostān, استان),[211] each governed by an appointed governor (ostāndār, استاندار). The provinces are divided into counties (šahrestān, شهرستان), and subdivided into districts (baxš, بخش) and sub-districts (dehestān, دهستان).
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%.[212] Most internal migrants have settled around the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Ahvaz, and Qom. The listed populations are from the 2006/07 (1385 AP) census.[213][failed verification]
Iran's population is concentrated in its western half, especially in the north, north-west and west of the country.[214]
Tehran, with a population of around 8.8 million (2016 census), is Iran's capital and largest city. It is an economical and cultural center, and is the hub of the country's communication and transport network.
It is also home to
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. Being the site of the Imam Reza shrine, it is a holy city in Shia Islam. About 15 to 20 million pilgrims visit the shrine every year.[215][216]
Map showing locations for Iran's most populated cities as of 2010
The fourth most populous city of Iran, Karaj, has a population of around 1.9 million (2016 census). It is the capital of Alborz province, and is situated 20 km (12 miles) west of Tehran, at the foot of the Alborz mountain range. It is a major industrial city in Iran, with large factories producing sugar, textiles, wire, and alcohol.
With a population of around 1.7 million (2016 census), Tabriz is the fifth most populous city of Iran, and had been the second most populous until the late 1960s. It was the first capital of the Safavid Empire and is now the capital of the province of East Azerbaijan. It is also considered the country's second major industrial city (after Tehran).
Shiraz, with a population of around 1.8 million (2016 census), is Iran's sixth most populous city. It is the capital of the province of Fars, and was also the capital of Iran under the reign of the Zand dynasty. It is located near the ruins of Persepolis and Pasargadae, two of the four capitals of the Achaemenid Empire.
Iran's syncretic political system combines elements of an Islamic theocracy with vetted democracy.
The political system of the Islamic Republic is based on the 1979 Constitution.[217]Juan José Linz wrote in 2000 that "it is difficult to fit the Iranian regime into the existing typology, as it combines the ideological bent of totalitarianism with the limited pluralism of authoritarianism and holds regular elections in which candidates advocating differing policies and incumbents are often defeated".[218] Iran ranked 154th in the 2022 The Economist Democracy Index.[219]
Ali Khamenei voting in the 2017 presidential election
The
armed forces, controls the military intelligence and security operations, and has sole power to declare war or peace.[223] 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 Supreme Leader.[223]
The
Khamenei publicly called then-member of the Assembly of Experts Ahmad Azari Qomi a traitor, resulting in Qomi's arrest and eventual dismissal from the Assembly of Experts. Another instance is when Khamenei indirectly called Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani a traitor for a statement he made, causing Rafsanjani to retract it.[247]
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 to the Supreme Leader.[248] 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.[249] The Guardian Council can, and has dismissed some elected members of the Iranian parliament in the past.[250] For example, Minoo Khaleghi was disqualified by Guardian Council even after winning election, as she had been photographed in a meeting without wearing headscarf.[251]
After the Supreme Leader, the Constitution defines the President of Iran as the highest state authority.[223][255] The President is elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years, however, the president is still 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 anytime.[256] The President can only be re-elected for one term.[255]
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 Supreme Leader, except for matters directly related to the Supreme Leader, who has the final say in all matters.
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran sets forth the qualifications for presidential candidates. The procedures for presidential election and all other elections in Iran are outlined by the Supreme Leader.[233] 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 Supreme Leader.[226][227][228][229][230][231][257]
The President appoints the ministers, subject to the approval of the Parliament, as well as the approval of the Supreme Leader, who can dismiss or reinstate any of the ministers at any time, regardless of the decisions made by the President or the Parliament.
Council of Ministers, coordinates government decisions, and selects government policies to be placed before the legislature.[259] The current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has fired as well as reinstated Council of Ministers members.[260][261] Eight Vice Presidents serve under the President, as well as a cabinet of twenty-two ministers, who must all be approved by the legislature.[262]
The legislature of Iran, known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly, is a unicameral body comprising 290 members elected for four-year terms.[263] 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.[264]
The Guardian Council comprises twelve jurists, including six appointed by the Supreme Leader. Others are elected by the Parliament, from among the jurists nominated by the Head of the
Local city councils
are elected by public vote to four-year terms in all cities and villages of Iran.
The Supreme Leader appoints the head of the country's judiciary, appointing the head of the Supreme Court and the chief public prosecutor.[241] 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 offenses, such as crimes against national security. The decisions of the revolutionary courts are final and cannot be appealed.[241]
The Chief Justice of Iran is the head of the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is responsible for its administration and supervision. He is also the highest judge of the Supreme Court of Iran. The Supreme Leader of Iran appoints and can dismiss the Chief Justice. 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.[268]
The
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 Supreme Leader. The Court's rulings are final and cannot be appealed.[241]
The Assembly of Experts, which meets for one week annually, comprises 86 "virtuous and learned" clerics elected by adult suffrage for eight-year terms.
Since the time of the 1979 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.[269]
Since 2005, Iran's nuclear program has become the subject of contention with the international community, mainly the United States. Many countries have expressed concern that Iran's nuclear program could divert civilian nuclear technology into a weapons program. This has led the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran which had further isolated Iran politically and economically from the rest of the global community. In 2009, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence said that Iran, if choosing to, would not be able to develop a nuclear weapon until 2013.[270]
As of 2009[update], the government of Iran maintains diplomatic relations with 99 members of the United Nations,[271] but not with the United States, and not with Israel—a state which Iran's government has derecognized since the 1979 Revolution.[272] Among Muslim nations, Iran has an adversarial relationship with Saudi Arabia due to different political and Islamic ideologies. While Iran is a Shia Islamic Republic, Saudi Arabia is a conservative Sunni monarchy.[273] Regarding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the government of Iran has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, after Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.[274][275][276]
Sophisticated indigenous long range missile system Bavar-373
paraded in Tehran
The Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces has several components: the regular forces of the Army, which includes the Ground Forces, the Air Defense Force, the Air Force, and the Navy, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), totaling about 545,000 active troops. Iran also has around 350,000 Reserve Force, totaling around 900,000 trained troops.[281] While the regular army protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC's mandate is to ensure the integrity of the Islamic Republic and its system.[282]
The government of Iran has a paramilitary, volunteer militia force within the IRGC, called the Basij, which includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty uniformed members. Up to 11 million men and women are members of the Basij who could potentially be called up for service. In 2007, Iran's military spending represented 2.6% of the GDP or $102 per capita, the lowest figure of the Persian Gulf nations.[283] Iran's military doctrine is based on deterrence.[284] In 2014, the country spent $15 billion on arms, while the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council spent eight times more.[285]
The government of Iran supports the military activities of its allies in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon (
Syrian Civil War.[287] According to some estimates, Iran controlled over 80,000 pro-Assad Shi'ite fighters in Syria.[287][288]
Since the 1979 Revolution, to overcome foreign embargoes, the government of Iran has developed its own military industry, produced its own
missile with an undisclosed range which was developed and produced domestically, is currently the most advanced ballistic missile of the country.
In June 1925,
1979 revolution. Iranian constitution obliges all men of 18 years old and higher to serve on military or police bases. They cannot leave the country or be employed without completion of the service period.[citation needed
Over the past decade, numbers of anti-government protests have broken out throughout Iran (such as the 2019–20 Iranian protests), demanding reforms or the end to the Islamic Republic. However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and police often suppressed mass protests violently, resulting in thousands of protesters being killed.
Censorship in Iran under the government of the Islamic Republic was ranked among the most extreme worldwide.[305][306][307] Iran also has strict regulations when it comes to internet censorship,[308] with the government and the IRGC persistently blocking social media and other websites.[309][310][311][312][313] 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".[314]
A proportional representation of Iran exports, 2019
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.[315] In 2022, Iran's nominal GDP was $352.2 billion, while it's nominal GDP per capita was $4,110.[316] Iran is ranked as a lower-middle income economy by the World Bank.[317] In the early 21st century, the service sector contributed the largest percentage of the GDP, followed by industry (mining and manufacturing) and agriculture.[318]
The
trade unions other than the Islamic labour councils, which are subject to the approval of employers and the security services.[319] The minimum wage in June 2013 was 487 million rials a month ($134).[320] Unemployment has remained above 10% since 1997, and the unemployment rate for women is almost double that of the men.[320]
In 2006, about 45% of the government's budget came from oil and natural gas revenues, and 31% came from taxes and fees.
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.[325]
The administration continues to follow the
pharmaceutical industry.[326] However, nationalized industries such as the bonyads have often been managed badly, making them ineffective and uncompetitive with years. Currently, the government is trying to privatize these industries, and, despite successes, there are still several problems to be overcome, such as the lagging 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.
Economic sanctions against Iran, such as the embargo against Iranian crude oil, have damaged the economy.[329] In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 reached a deal on the nuclear program that removed the main sanctions pertaining to Iran's nuclear program by 2016.[330] According to the BBC, renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran "have led to a sharp downturn in Iran's economy, pushing the value of its currency to record lows, quadrupling its annual inflation rate, driving away foreign investors, and triggering protests".[331]
Although tourism declined significantly during the war with Iraq, it has been subsequently recovered.[333] About 1,659,000 foreign tourists visited Iran in 2004, and 2.3 million in 2009, mostly from Asian countries, including the republics of Central Asia, while about 10% came from the European Union and North America.[334][335] Since the removal of some sanctions against Iran in 2015, tourism has re-surged in the country. Over five million tourists visited Iran in the fiscal year of 2014–2015, four percent more than the previous year.[336][337]
Alongside the capital, the most popular tourist destinations are
Iran's Tourism Organization, Iran is rated fourth among the top 10 destinations in the Middle East.[340]Domestic tourism in Iran is one of the largest in the world.[341][342][343]
Iran has a long paved road system linking most of its towns and all of its cities. In 2011 the country had 173,000 kilometers (107,000 mi) of roads, of which 73% were paved.[344] In 2008 there were nearly 100 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants.[345]
Trains operate on 11,106 km (6,942 mi) of railroad track.
. 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
smuggling to neighboring countries and air pollution. In 2008, more than one million people worked in the transportation sector, accounting for 9% of GDP.[347]
oil reserves and 15% of its gas. It is OPEC's second-largest exporter and the world's seventh largest oil producer.[348]
Iran has the world's second largest proved
cubic meters,[349] and the third largest natural gas production after Indonesia and Russia. It also ranks fourth in oil reserves with an estimated 153,600,000,000 barrels.[350][351] It is OPEC's second largest oil exporter. Despite this, Iran spent US$4 billion on fuel imports as of 2005 due to a lack of domestic refining capacity.[352] 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. In the early 2000s, industry infrastructure was increasingly inefficient because of technological lags. Few exploratory wells
were drilled in 2005.
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.[353]
The rate of adult literacy (among Iranians of ages 10 to 49) has reached 96% on March 19, 2020;[356] while according to UNESCO it had rated 85.0% in 2008 (up from 36.5% in 1976).[357]
According to the data provided by 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%), with the number of illiterate people of the same age amounting to around 8,700,000 of the country's 85 million population.[358] According to this report, Iranian government's expenditure on education amounts to around 4% of the GDP.
The requirement to enter into higher education is to have a
A-levels and the International Baccalaureate. The completion of the pre-university course earns students the Pre-University Certificate.[359]
is one of Iran's most prestigious higher education institutions.
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 program (PhD; known as doktorā).[360]
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.[365] 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.[366]
The production line for AryoSeven at the Iranian biopharmaceutical company of AryoGen
In 2009, a SUSE Linux-based HPC system made by the Aerospace Research Institute of Iran (ARI) was launched with 32 cores, and now runs 96 cores. Its performance was pegged at 192 GFLOPS.[367] 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.[368]
According to a study by David Morrison and Ali Khadem Hosseini (Harvard-MIT and Cambridge), stem cell research in Iran is amongst the top 10 in the world.[371] Iran ranks 15th in the world in nanotechnologies.[372][373][374]
Iran placed its domestically built satelliteOmid into orbit on the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Revolution, on 2February 2009,[375] 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.[376]
Population of Iranian provinces and counties in 2021
Iran's population growth (1880–2016)
Iran is a diverse country, consisting of numerous ethnic and linguistic groups that are unified through a shared Iranian nationality.[382][5]
Iran's population grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century, increasing from about 19 million in 1956 to about 85 million by February 2023.[383] However, Iran's fertility rate has dropped significantly in recent years, coming down from a fertility rate of 6.5 per woman to just a little more than 1.7 two decades later,[384][385][386] leading to a population growth rate of about 1.39% as of 2018.[387] Due to its young population, studies project that the growth will continue to slow until it stabilizes around 105 million by 2050.[388][389][390]
Iran hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with almost one million refugees,[391] mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq.[392] Since 2006, Iranian officials have been working with the UNHCR and Afghan officials for their repatriation.[393] According to estimates, about five million Iranian citizens have emigrated to other countries, mostly since the 1979 Revolution.[394][395]
According to the
social security, covering retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, accidents, calamities, health and medical treatment and care services.[396] This is covered by tax revenues and income derived from public contributions.[397]
The majority of the population speaks Persian, which is also the official language of the country. Others include speakers of several other Iranian languages within the greater Indo-European family and languages belonging to some other ethnicities living in Iran.
In northern Iran, mostly confined to
several distinct varieties of Persian are spoken. Luri and Lari
are also spoken in southern Iran.
Azerbaijani, which is by far the most spoken language in the country after Persian,[398] as well as several other Turkic languages and dialects, is spoken in various regions of Iran, especially in the region of Azerbaijan.
Notable minority languages in Iran include
Arabs in Khuzestan, as well as the wider group of Iranian Arabs. Circassian was also once widely spoken by the large Circassian minority, but, due to assimilation over the many years, no sizable number of Circassians speak the language anymore.[399][400][401][402]
Percentages of spoken language continue to be a point of debate, as many opt that they are politically motivated; most notably regarding the largest and second largest ethnicities in Iran, the Persians and
As with the spoken languages, the ethnic group composition also 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 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 (incl. Qashqai and Turkmens), and non-Iranian, non-Turkic groups (incl. Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, and Arabs) less than 3%. It determined that Persian is the first language of at least 65% of the country's population, and is the second language for most of the remaining 35%.[404][3][405]
CIA World Factbook, around 90–95% of Iranian Muslims associate themselves with the Shia branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 5–10% with the Sunni and Sufi branches of Islam.[417][418]
There are a large population of adherents of
Lorestan
mainly.
Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and the Sunni branch of Islam are officially recognized by the government and have reserved seats in the Iranian Parliament.
Around 250,000 to 370,000 Christians reside in Iran,[422][423] and Christianity is the country's largest recognized minority religion.[424] Most are of Armenian background, as well as a sizable minority of Assyrians.[425] A large number of Iranians have converted to Christianity from the predominant Shia Islam.[426][427][428][429]
The Baháʼí Faith is not officially recognized and has been subject to official persecution.[430] 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.[431] Since the 1979 Revolution, the persecution of Baháʼís has increased with executions and denial of civil rights, especially the denial of access to higher education and employment.[430][432][433]
Iranian officials have continued to support the rebuilding and renovation of Armenian churches in the Islamic Republic. The
The earliest attested cultures in Iran date back to the Lower Paleolithic. Owing to its geopolitical position, Iran has influenced cultures as far as Greece and Italy to the west, Russia to the north, the Arabian Peninsula to the south, and south and east Asia to the east.
The Safavid era is known as the Golden Age of Iranian art,[447] and Safavid works of art show a far more unitary development than in any other period,[448] as part of a political evolution that reunified Iran as a cultural entity.[448]Safavid art exerted noticeable influences upon the neighboring Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Deccans, and was also influential through its fashion and garden architecture on 11th–17th-century Europe.[448]
Iran's contemporary art traces its origins back to the time of Kamal-ol-Molk,[450] 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,[450] 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.[450] 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.[451] The new movements received official encouragement by the mid-1950s,[450] which led to the emergence of artists such as Marcos Grigorian, signaling a commitment to the creation of a form of modern art grounded in Iran.[452]
The history of architecture in Iran goes back to the seventh millennium BC.[453] Iranians were among the first to use mathematics, geometry and astronomy in architecture. Iranian architecture displays great variety, both structural and aesthetic, developing gradually and coherently out of earlier traditions and experience.[454] The guiding motif of Iranian architecture is its cosmic symbolism, "by which man is brought into communication and participation with the powers of heaven".[455]
Iran ranks seventh among UNESCO's list of countries with the most archaeological ruins and attractions from antiquity.[456]
Traditionally, the guiding formative motif of Iranian architecture has been its cosmic symbolism "by which man is brought into communication and participation with the powers of heaven".[457] This theme has not only given unity and continuity to the architecture of Persia but has been a primary source of its emotional character as well.
According to Persian historian and archaeologist Arthur Pope, the supreme Iranian art, in the proper meaning of the word, has always been its architecture. The supremacy of architecture applies to both pre- and post-Islamic periods.[458]
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 total output and having a share of 30% of world's export markets.[459][460]
Of the various modern languages used in Iran, Persian, various dialects of which are spoken throughout the Iranian Plateau,[462][463] has the most influential literature. Persian has been dubbed as a worthy language to serve as a conduit for poetry, and is considered one of the four main bodies of world literature.[464] Despite originating from the region of Persis (better known as Persia) in southwestern Iran, the Persian language was used and developed further through Persianate societies in Asia Minor, Central Asia, and South Asia, leaving massive influences on Ottoman and Mughal literatures, among others.
According to The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, the chronology of the subject and science of philosophy starts with the Indo-Iranians, dating this event to 1500 BC. The Oxford dictionary also states, "Zarathushtra's philosophy entered to influence Western tradition through Judaism, and therefore on Middle Platonism."
While there are
ancient relations between the Indian Vedas and the Iranian Avesta
, the two main families of the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences, especially in their implications for the human being's position in society and their view of man's role in the universe.
The current trends in Iranian philosophy have grown limited in scope because of Islamic frames of thought [469] although the liberal ways of thought remain open to be generated in Iranian publications by Iranian intellectuals, especially outside Iran, where the Iranian regime has less power to restrict Iranian thought and philosophy.
Iranian mythology consists of ancient Iranian folklore and stories, all involving extraordinary beings, reflecting attitudes towards the confrontation of good and evil, actions of the gods, and the exploits of heroes and fabulous creatures.
Myths play a crucial part in Iranian culture, and understanding of them is increased when they are considered within the context of actual events in Iranian history. The geography of Greater Iran, a vast area covering present-day Iran, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Central Asia, with its high mountain ranges, plays the main role in much of Iranian mythology.
Tenth-century Persian poet Ferdowsi's long epic poemŠāhnāme ("Book of Kings"), which is for the most part based on Xwadāynāmag, a Middle Persian compilation of the history of Iranian kings and heroes from mythical times down to the reign of Chosroes II,[470] is considered the national epic of Iran. It draws heavily on the stories and characters of the Zoroastrian tradition, from the texts of the Avesta, the Denkard, and the Bundahishn.
Iran is the apparent birthplace of the earliest complex instruments, dating back to the third millennium BC.[471] The use of both vertical and horizontal 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. Multiple depictions of horizontal harps were also sculpted in Assyrian palaces, dating back between 865 and 650 BC.
, an ancient Iranian musical instrument from the sixth century BC, kept at the Persepolis Museum
Xenophon's Cyropaedia mentions a great number of singing women at the court of the Achaemenid Empire. Athenaeus of Naucratis, in his Deipnosophistae, points out to the capture of Achaemenid singing girls at the court of the last Achaemenid king Darius III (336–330 BC) by Macedonian general Parmenion. Under the Parthian Empire, the gōsān (Parthian for "minstrel") had a prominent role in the society.[472] According to Plutarch's Life of Crassus (32.3), they praised their national heroes and ridiculed their Roman rivals. Likewise, Strabo's Geographica reports that the Parthian youth were taught songs about "the deeds both of the gods and of the noblest men".[473]
The history of
Sarkash
.
Iranian traditional musical instruments include string instruments such as
Iran's first symphony orchestra, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, was founded by Qolam-Hoseyn Minbashian in 1933. It was reformed by Parviz Mahmoud in 1946, and is currently Iran's oldest and largest symphony orchestra. Later, by the late 1940s, Ruhollah Khaleqi founded the country's first national music society, and established the School of National Music in 1949.[475]
Iranian pop music has its origins in the Qajar era.[476] It was significantly developed since the 1950s, using indigenous instruments and forms accompanied by electric guitar and other imported characteristics. The emergence of genres such as rock in the 1960s and hip hop in the 2000s also resulted in major movements and influences in Iranian music.[477][478][479][480]
Theater
Main articles:
Persian dance
Roudaki Hall, constructed between 1957 and 1967 in Tehran
The earliest recorded representations of dancing figures within Iran were found in prehistoric sites such as Tepe Sialk and Tepe Mūsīān.[481] The oldest Iranian initiation of theater and the phenomena of acting can be traced in the ancient epic ceremonial theaters such as Sug-e Siāvuš ("mourning of Siāvaš"), as well as dances and theater 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).[482]
Before the 1979 Revolution, the Iranian national stage had become a famous performing scene for known international artists and troupes,
Reproduction of the third-millennium BC goblet from southeastern Iran, possibly the world's oldest example of animation[484]
A third-millennium BC earthen goblet discovered at the Burnt City, a Bronze Age urban settlement in southeastern Iran, depicts what could possibly be the world's oldest example of animation. The artifact, associated with Jiroft, bears five sequential images depicting a wild goat jumping up to eat the leaves of a tree.[485] The earliest attested Iranian examples of visual representations, however, are traced back to the bas-reliefs of Persepolis, the ritual center of the Achaemenid Empire. The figures at Persepolis remain bound by the rules of grammar and syntax of visual language.[486] The Iranian visual arts reached a pinnacle by the Sasanian era, and several works from this period have been found to articulate movements and actions in a highly sophisticated manner. It is even possible to see a progenitor of the cinematic close-up shot in one of these works of art, which shows a wounded wild pig escaping from the hunting ground.[487]
By the early 20th century, the five-year-old industry of cinema came to Iran. 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), a businessman, opened the first public movie theater in Tehran.[488] After him, several others like Russi Khan, Ardeshir Khan, and Ali Vakili tried to establish new movie theaters in Tehran. Until the early 1930s, there were around 15 cinema theaters in Tehran and 11 in other provinces.[487] 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.[489][490] The 1960s was a significant decade for Iranian cinema, with 25 commercial films produced annually on average throughout the early 60s, increasing to 65 by the end of the decade. The majority of the production focused on melodrama and thrillers. 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 organize a film festival, which had begun in 1954 within the framework of the Golrizan Festival, resulted in the festival of Sepas in 1969. The endeavors also resulted in the formation of Tehran's World Film Festival in 1973.[491]
, a well-known Iranian actor who has appeared in more than 90 films
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.[492] 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.[493] In 2006, six Iranian films, of six different styles, represented Iranian cinema at the Berlin International Film Festival. Critics considered this a remarkable event in the history of Iranian cinema.[494][495]
Academy Awards, representing Iran for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012 and 2017. In 2012, he was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by the American news magazine Time
Iran's official New Year begins with Nowruz, an ancient Iranian tradition celebrated annually on the vernal equinox. It is enjoyed by people adhering to different religions, but is considered a holiday for the Zoroastrians. It was registered on the UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2009,[496] described as the Persian New Year,[497][498][499][500] shared with a number of other countries in which it has historically been celebrated.
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 off firecrackers and fireworks.[501][502] The Nowruz celebrations last by the end of the 13th day of the Iranian year (Farvardin 13, usually coincided with 1or 2April), celebrating the festival of Sizdebedar, during which the people traditionally go outdoors to picnic.[citation needed]
Alongside the ancient Iranian celebrations, 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,[515]Čelle ye Ruze, and Eid e Pāk[516] are observed by the Christian communities, Jewish traditions such as Purim,[517]Hanukā,[518] and Eid e Fatir (Pesah)[519][520] are observed by the Jewish communities, and Zoroastrian traditions such as Sade[521] and Mehrgān are observed by the Zoroastrians.
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).[523]
Due to its variety of ethnic groups and the influences from the neighboring cultures, the cuisine of Iran is diverse. Herbs, along with fruits such as plums, pomegranate, quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins, are frequently used. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic flavorings such as saffron, dried lime, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes. Onion and garlic are commonly used in the preparation of the accompanying course, but are also served separately during meals, either in raw or pickled form.
Iranian cuisine includes a wide range of main dishes, including various types of
Being a mountainous country, Iran is a venue for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, rock climbing,[539] and mountain climbing.[540][541] It is home to several ski resorts, the most famous being Tochal, Dizin, and Shemshak, all within one to three hours traveling from the capital city Tehran.[542] 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).
In 2016, Iran made global headlines for international female champions boycotting tournaments in Iran in chess (U.S. Woman Grandmaster Nazí Paikidze)[547][548] and in shooting (Indian world champion Heena Sidhu),[549] as they refused to enter a country where they would be forced to wear a hijab.
Media
Main article:
Media of Iran
According to the
Press Freedom Index, Iran holds one of the lowest positions, ranking 174th out of 180 countries as of 2021.[550][551] The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is Iran's main government department responsible for the cultural policy, including activities regarding communications and information.[552]
Television was introduced in Iran in 1958.[554] Although the 1974 Asian Games were broadcast in color, full color programming began in 1978.[554] Since the 1979 Revolution, Iran's largest media corporation is the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).[342] Despite the restrictions on non-domestic television, about 65% of the residents of the capital city and about 30 to 40% of the residents outside the capital city access worldwide television channels through satellite dishes, although observers state that the figures are likely to be higher.[555][556]
Iran received access to the Internet in 1993. According to Internet World Stats, as of 2017[update], around 69.1% of the population of Iran are Internet users.[557] Iran ranks 17th among countries by number of Internet users. According to the statistics provided by the web information company of Alexa, Google Search is Iran's most widely used search engine and Instagram is the most popular online social networking service.[558] 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.[559] 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.[557] Some of the officials themselves have verified accounts on the social networking websites that are blocked by the authorities, including Facebook and Twitter.[560] About 90% of Iran's e-commerce takes place on the Iranian online store of Digikala, which has around 750,000 visitors per day and more than 2.3 million subscribers and is the most visited online store in the Middle East.[561][558]
Iranian Plateau since those years. The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced form, and the fabric and color of clothing became very important at that time. Depending on the social status, eminence, climate of the region and the season, Persian clothing during the Achaemenian period took various forms. The philosophy used in this clothing, in addition to being functional, also had an aesthetic role.[562]
Girls of Enghelab Street was a series of protests in 2017–2019 against a compulsory hijab in Iran.[565]
^In the Avesta, the airiia- are members of the ethnic group of the Avesta-reciters themselves, in contradistinction to the anairiia- (the "non-Arya"). The word also appears four times in Old Persian: One is in the Behistun Inscription, where ariya- is the name of a language (DB 4.89). The other three instances occur in Darius the Great's inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam (DNa 14–15), in Darius I's inscription at Susa (DSe 13–14), and in the inscription of Xerxes I at Persepolis (XPh 12–13). In these, the two Achaemenid dynasties describe themselves as pārsa pārsahyā puça ariya ariyaciça "a Persian, son of a Persian, an Ariya, of Ariya origin."—The phrase with ciça ("origin, descendance") assures that ariya is an ethnic name wider in meaning than pārsa and not a simple adjectival epithet.[16]
References
ISBN 978-90-04-18148-9. 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.'
. " "Iran" and "Persia" are synonymous" The former has always been used by the Iranian speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages
^ abMacKenzie, David Niel (1998). "Ērān, Ērānšahr". Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. 8. Costa Mesa: Mazda. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017.
^ abSchmitt, Rüdiger (1987), "Aryans", Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 2, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 684–687
^Laroche. 1957. Proto-Iranian *arya- descends from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *ar-yo-, a yo-adjective to a root *ar "to assemble skillfully", present in Greek harma "chariot", Greek aristos, (as in "aristocracy"), Latin ars "art", etc.
^Persia, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The term Persia was used for centuries... [because] use of the name was gradually extended by the ancient Greeks and other peoples to apply to the whole Iranian plateau."
^Richard N. Frye (20 October 2007). interview by Asieh Namdar. CNN. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. I spent all my life working in Iran, and as you know I don't mean Iran of today, I mean Greater Iran, the Iran which in the past, extended all the way from China to borders of Hungary and from other Mongolia to Mesopotamia
. I use the term Iran in an historical context [...] Persia would be used for the modern state, more or less equivalent to "western Iran". I use the term "Greater Iran" to mean what I suspect most Classicists and ancient historians really mean by their use of Persia – that which was within the political boundaries of States ruled by Iranians.
. Retrieved 21 June 2013. This 'greater Iran' included and still includes part of the Caucasus Mountains, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iraq; for Kurds, Baluchis, Afghans, Tajiks, Ossetes, and other smaller groups are Iranians
^"Emergence of Agriculture in the Foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iran", by Simone Riehl, Mohsen Zeidi, Nicholas J. Conard – University of Tübingen, publication 10 May 2013
^Hole, Frank (20 July 2004). "NEOLITHIC AGE IN IRAN". Encyclopedia Iranica. Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
^While estimates for the Achaemenid Empire range from 10 to 80+ million, most prefer 50 million. Prevas (2009, p. 14) estimates 10 million. Strauss (2004, p. 37) estimates about 20 million. Ward (2009, p. 16) estimates at 20 million. Scheidel (2009, p. 99) estimates 35 million. Daniel (2001, p. 41) estimates at 50 million. Meyer and Andreades (2004, p. 58) estimates to 50 million. Jones (2004, p. 8) estimates over 50 million. Richard (2008, p. 34) estimates nearly 70 million. Hanson (2001, p. 32) estimates almost 75 million. Cowley (1999 and 2001, p. 17) estimates possibly 80 million.
^"Cyrus the Great". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 November 2018. In the Bible (e.g., Ezra 1:1–4), Cyrus is famous for freeing the Jewish captives in Babylonia and allowing them to return to their homeland.
^Schmitt, Rüdiger. "Achaemenid dynasty". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. 3. Routledge & Kegan Paul. Archived from the original on 3 December 2015.
^Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty)
, Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name 'Iran' disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or 'Iranian lands', which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations.
^Bury, J.B. (1958). History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian, Part 1. Courier Corporation. pp. 90–92.
. Repaying its debt, Sasanian art exported its forms and motives eastward into India, Turkestan, and China, westward into Syria, Asia Minor, Constantinople, the Balkans, Egypt, and Spain.
. The Golden age of Islam [...] attributable, in no small measure, to the vital participation of Persian men of letters, philosophers, theologians, grammarians, mathematicians, musicians, astronomers, geographers, and physicians
^Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties? RM Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), p. 3.
, Similarly the collapse of Sassanian Eranshahr in AD 650 did not end Iranians' national idea. The name 'Iran' disappeared from official records of the Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids, Saljuqs and their successor. But one unofficially used the name Iran, Eranshahr, and similar national designations, particularly Mamalek-e Iran or 'Iranian lands', which exactly translated the old Avestan term Ariyanam Daihunam. On the other hand, when the Safavids (not Reza Shah, as is popularly assumed) revived a national state officially known as Iran, bureaucratic usage in the Ottoman empire and even Iran itself could still refer to it by other descriptive and traditional appellations.
^ abА. Г. Булатова. Лакцы (XIX — нач. XX вв.). Историко-этнографические очерки. — Махачкала, 2000.
^"Griboedov not only extended protection to those Caucasian captives who sought to go home but actively promoted the return of even those who did not volunteer. Large numbers of Georgian and Armenian captives had lived in Iran since 1804 or as far back as 1795." Fisher, William Bayne; Avery, Peter; Gershevitch, Ilya; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles. The Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge University Press – 1991. p. 339
. Retrieved 18 June 2016. By January, Ottoman regulars and cavalry detachments associated with the old Hamidiye had seized the towns of Urmia, Khoy, and Salmas. Demonstrations of resistance by local Christians, comprising Armenians, Nestorians, Syriacs, and Assyrians, led Ottoman forces to massacre civilians and torch villages throughout the border region of Iran.
. Retrieved 18 June 2016. 'In retaliation, we killed the Armenians of Khoy, and I gave the order to massacre the Armenians of Maku.'... Without distorting the facts, one can affirm that the centuries-old Armenian presence in the regions of Urmia, Salmast, Qaradagh, and Maku had been dealt a blow from which it would never recover.
^Yeghiayan, Vartkes, ed. (1991). British Foreign Office Dossiers on Turkish War Criminals. American Armenian International College. ...Assyrians who were killed in Khoy, some 700 Armenian residents of Khoy were also massacred at the same time, June 1918.
^Leonhardt, David (26 September 2022). "Iran's Ferocious Dissent". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^Parsi, Trita and Cullis, Tyler. (10 July 2015) "The Myth of the Iranian Military Giant" Foreign Policy. Retrieved 11 July 2015.Foreign Policy website
^Karam, Joyce & Gutman, Roy, presenters. (5 August 2015) Middle East Institute: "Iran Nuclear Agreement and Middle East Relations". Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Retrieved 5 August 2015. C-Span websiteArchived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
^Freedom House (2017). "Iran". Freedom in the World 2017. Freedom House. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017. The Islamic Republic of Iran holds elections regularly, but they fall short of democratic standards due to the role of the hard-line Guardian Council, which disqualifies all candidates deemed insufficiently loyal to the clerical establishment. Ultimate power rests in the hands of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the unelected institutions under his control. Human rights abuses continued unabated in 2016, with the authorities carrying out Iran's largest mass execution in years and launching a renewed crackdown on women's rights activists. The regime maintained restrictions on freedom of expression, both offline and online, and made further arrests of journalists, bloggers, labor union activists, and dual nationals visiting the country, with some facing heavy prison sentences. Hard-liners controlling powerful institutions, including the judiciary and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were behind many of the year's abuses. There were no indications that President Hassan Rouhani, a self-proclaimed moderate seeking reelection in 2017, was willing or able to push back against repressive forces and deliver the greater social freedoms he had promised. Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, his wife Zahra Rahnavard, and reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi remained under house arrest for a sixth year without being formally charged or put on trial. As in 2015, the media were barred from quoting or reporting on former president Mohammad Khatami, another important reformist figure.
^U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2005. Unpublished work tables for estimating Iran's mortality. Washington, D.C.:
Population Division, International Programs Center
^J. Harmatta in "History of Civilizations of Central Asia", Chapter 14, The Emergence of Indo-Iranians: The Indo-Iranian Languages, ed. by A. H. Dani & V.N. Masson, 1999, p. 357
. Retrieved 21 June 2013. Nizami Ganja'i, whose personal name was Ilyas, is the most celebrated native poet of the Persians after Firdausi.
^Carr, Brian; Mahalingam, Indira (2009). "Morals and Society in Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". In Kreyenbroek, Philip G. (ed.). Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy. Routledge.
^Carr, Brian; Mahalingam, Indira (2009). "The Origins of Zoroastrian Philosophy" in "Persian Philosophy". In Boyce, Mary (ed.). Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy. Routledge.
^"Call for Safe Yearend Celebration". Financial Tribune. 12 March 2017. The ancient tradition has transformed over time from a simple bonfire to the use of firecrackers...
$367.968 billion[6] (43rd)
40.9[7]
of Iran, in military uniform
and the Imperial Family during the coronation ceremony of the Shah of Iran in 1967
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