Iran Flag

Iran is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. Iran has a land area of approximately 1.64 million square kilometers and a population of 86 million people, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world. The capital of Iran is Tehran, and other major cities include Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz.

Iran has a long and rich history, with the Elamite kingdoms being one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The country was first unified by the ancient Iranian people known as the Medes in the seventh century BC, and it 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. The Achaemenid Empire was conquered by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, and the region was subsequently divided into several Hellenistic states. The Parthian Empire was established in the third century BC, and it was succeeded by the Sassanid Empire in the third century AD. Arab Muslims conquered the region in the seventh century AD, leading to the Islamization of Iran and the emergence of the country as a major center of Islamic culture and learning.

Iran has been ruled by a series of native Iranian Muslim dynasties, as well as by foreign powers such as the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols. In the 15th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state and national identity and converted the country to Shia Islam. The country was ruled by an autocratic leader, the Shah, during the 20th century, and efforts to nationalize the country's fossil fuel supply led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953 and increased autocratic rule. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 led to the establishment of the current Islamic Republic of Iran, which is an Islamic theocracy with some elements of a presidential system. The government of Iran is authoritarian and has been criticized for its human rights abuses and constraints on civil liberties.