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15 Interesting Facts You Should Know About Iran

Iran is a country located in West Asia. It is also known as Persia and officially as the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran covers an area of 1.64 million square kilometres, making it the 17th-largest country in the world. Iran is a regional and middle power and occupies a strategic location in the Asian continent. 

Since the Iranian Revolution, the country is widely considered to be the most determined adversary of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Iran is also considered to be one of the biggest players in Middle Eastern affairs, with its government being involved both directly and indirectly in the majority of modern Middle Eastern conflicts. Let鈥檚 delve into 15 Interesting Facts You Should Know About Iran.

1. Iran is the 17th-most populous country in the world

Iran covers an area of 1.64 million square kilometers, making it the 17th-largest country. With an estimated population of 86.8 million, Iran is the 17th-most populous country in the world and the second largest in the Middle East. 

Its largest city is the capital Tehran, followed by Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz.

2. Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations

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Beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes in the seventh century BC and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire. 

Alexander the Great conquered the realm in the fourth century BC and it 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. 

3. Iran is a major center of Islamic culture

Iran 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. 

Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century AD, leading to its Islamization; Over the next two centuries, a series of native Iranian Muslim dynasties emerged before the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols conquered the region.

4. The name Iran which means Land of the Aryans

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The term Iran derives directly from Middle Persian 膾r膩n, with the accompanying Parthian inscription using the term Ary膩n, in reference to the Iranians.

Derived from the Proto-Iranian language Aryan meaning of the Iranians. Read more about 10 Wealthiest People from Iran. 

5. Iran presided over the most powerful military in the world in the 18th century

In the 16th 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. 

6. Ruhollah Khomeini was Iran’s first supreme leader

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After the Iranian Revolution, the current Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country’s first supreme leader.

Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country’s first supreme leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. 

7. The Iranian government is authoritarian

Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting.

This has attracted widespread criticism for Iran鈥檚 significant constraints and abuses against human rights and civil liberties, including several violent suppressions of mass protests, unfair elections, limited rights for women and children as well as the second-highest number of mass executions in the world. 

8. Iran is widely considered to be the biggest adversary of Israel 

Iran鈥揑srael Cold War is an ongoing proxy war between Iran and Israel. Supporters of Israel cite threats and hostility by Iran’s leaders against Israel, and their declared objective to dissolve the Jewish state on the basis of anti-semitic rhetoric and reasoning.

On the other hand, supporters of Iran cite Israel’s status as a settler colony in the Arab region as a basis for Iran’s aggression towards Israel. Iranian leaders have described Israel as an illegitimate Zionist regime and have accused Israel of being an American client state hostile to Muslims.

9. Iran is a middle power 

In international relations, a middle power is a sovereign state that is not a great power nor a superpower but still has large or moderate influence and international recognition.

Iran is a regional and middle power and occupies a strategic location in the Asian continent. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the ECO, the OIC, and the OPEC. 

10. Iran is one of the world’s most mountainous countries

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Iran consists of the Iranian Plateau, with the exception of the coasts of the Caspian Sea and 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, which is also the highest mountain in Asia west of the Hindu Kush. Read top 10 remarquable facts about Persepolis, Iran. 

11. Iran has the second-largest natural gas supply

Iran has large reserves of fossil fuels including the second-largest natural gas supply and the third-largest proven oil reserves. 

According to the Iran Petroleum Ministry, the proven natural gas reserves of Iran are about 17.8% of the world’s total reserves, of which 33% are as associated gas and 67% are in non-associated gas fields. Iran has the world’s second-largest reserves after Russia.

12. Iran is the fourth-largest country entirely in Asia

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Iran has an area of 1,648,195 km2. It is the fourth-largest country entirely in Asia and the second-largest country in West Asia behind Saudi Arabia. 

Russia is the largest country in Asia and the world, even after excluding its European portion. The Maldives is the smallest country in Asia.

13. Iran has been the subject of international attention due to its nuclear program

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.

14. Iran is home to the largest mosque in the world

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The Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran, is a complex which contains the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shias. It is the largest mosque in the world by area.

The complex is a tourism center in Iran and has been described as the heart of the Shia Iran with 25 million Iranian and non-Iranian Shias visiting the shrine each year. Every year the ceremony of Dust Clearing is celebrated in the Imam Reza shrine. Read more Fascinating Facts about Iranian Mosques. 

 15. The official language of Iran is Farsi, also known as Persian

Persian is one of the oldest languages in the world. Farsi is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. 

Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian, Dari Persian and Tajiki Persian.

From the facts stated above, Iran is strategically placed in the continent of Asia and is richly endowed with many natural resources, especially natural gas reserves which it is utilizing for its benefit. Also contrary to popular belief, Iran is a haven for tourists. From its beautiful mountainous landscapes to its largest mosque in the world, Iran nets over 25 million visitors annually.