Iran

Flag of Iran

Language: Persian

Currency: Rial (IRR)

Calling Code: 98

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران) is a state in the Middle East and West Asia. From the first millennium B.C. Until 1935, it was known as Persia in the West, but the designation Iran is still valid and accepted today. It is bordered by Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east, Turkmenistan to the northeast, the Caspian Sea to the north, Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, Turkey and Iraq to the west, and the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman to the south.

With a land area of 1,648 195 km², Iran is the 18th largest country in the world. It is a geopolitically important country located between the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. Tehran is the capital and the political, industrial, commercial, and cultural center of the country. Iran is a regional power with large hydrocarbon reserves (4th largest in the world in oil reserves and 1st in gas reserves), and is a potential superpower, with significant oil revenues reported over the decades.

The ethnic diversity of Iran's people, including Persians, Kurds, Turks, Lors, Arabs, Turkmen, and Baloch, is part of Iranian culture and gives this vast territory a special appeal. After Iraq, Iran is the second oldest home of civilization. The first known dynasty in western Iran is that of Elam, which dates from 2800 BC. In 625 B.C. the Medes formed the first empire encompassing "Greater Iran. It was succeeded by the Achaemenids, then hellenized by the Seleucids after the conquest by Alexander the Great, and reintegrated by successive empires, the Arsacids and the Sassanids, in reference to their own country. The Muslim conquest in 651 A.D. spread the Persian language throughout the Iranian plateau and various aspects of Iranian culture throughout the Muslim world.

In 1501, the Safavid dynasty emerged and the previously majority Sunni sect was replaced by Shia as the official religion of the kingdom. Under the regime of Nader Shah, which began in 1736, Iran achieved its greatest territorial expansion since the Sassanid dynasty. in the 19th century, the Russo-Persian War (1804~In the early 20th century, the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 established the first legislative assembly in Iran (and on the Asian continent) and vested monarchical power in a constitution. 1953, Prime Minister Mossadegh, who had nationalized oil two years earlier, was defeated by British and Shah Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the United States, and Shah Reza Pahlavi assumed greater authority over the country's politics. The monarchy came to an end in 1979 with a popular revolution that led to the Islamic Revolution, ended by the Shiites led by Khomeini, and the Islamic Republic was established on April 1, 1979; in 2015, a joint full action plan with the P5+1 on Iran's nuclear program was signed.

Iran is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and OPEC. Iran's political system is based on the 1979 Constitution of the Islamic Republic, which governs the relationship between the various branches of government. The supreme authority is the Supreme Leader of Iran, but day-to-day administrative management is the responsibility of the President. The official religion of Iran is Islam, and the official language is Persian.

 

Regions

Iranian Azerbaijan is a mountainous part of the country, predominantly populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis. This historical and geographical region was formed as a result of geopolitical agreements in the 1820s and 1830s. The most interesting cities are the administrative centers of the provinces: Tabriz, Ardabil, and to a lesser extent Urmia and Zanjan. In Tabriz, the architecture of the mosque, towers, bridges, and the Tabriz Bazaar, which is included in the UNESCO list, are interesting. Another interesting historical city bazaar, built during the Safavid era, can be visited in Zanjan. In the vicinity of Tabriz is the village of Kandovan with houses carved into the rocks. In addition, several Armenian monasteries in the vicinity of the cities of Maku and Julfa, as well as the architectural complex of the mausoleum of Sheikh Safi ad-Din in Ardabil are included in the UNESCO heritage list. The last UNESCO site in Iranian Azerbaijan is the ruins of the Zoroastrian fire temple Takht-e Soleyman (Solomon's throne). Among the natural sites, one can highlight the extinct volcano Sebalan (4811 meters high), as well as the mountain biosphere reserve Arasbaran, which is better known to Russians as Karadag. Western Iran is a large part of the country that is interesting for tourists, stretching along the Zagros mountain range. Ethnically, Western Iran is quite diverse: Kurds, Lurs, Bakhtiaris, Arabs. Of greatest interest are the oldest cities in the world, for example, the ancient capitals of the Median Kingdom and the Persian Empire - Hamadan and Qazvin, respectively. The region is rich in world-famous cultural and historical sites and well-preserved landscapes. Another must-see destination is the ancient city of Shush (biblical Susa), with the tomb of the prophet Daniel and the French archaeological fortress. Of the natural sites, the Ali Sadr Cave and the high-mountain Lake Gakhar are of interest.

The Caspian coast is a strip stretching along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan in the west to Turkmenistan in the east. It includes three provinces: Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan. People come here for the natural sites - mountains, waterfalls, caves and, of course, the sea. Tropical and subtropical Caspian forests, the so-called Shomal, located near the coast are cut off from the rest of Iran by the Elborz mountain range. The Damavand stratovolcano is located here - the highest point in Iran, and the Golestan National Park is located in the province of the same name. You cannot miss the village of Masuleh, which is located on the slope of the mountain and is interesting for its unique vertical layout, or the popular tourist city of Ramsar, famous for its cable cars and the Pahlavi Palace. In Golestan, you can be surprised by the 55-meter brick tower of the Ziyarid period - Gonbad-e-Gabus and the ruins of the Gorgan wall, which are more than a thousand years old.

The Persian Gulf is a narrow part of the country's coastline along the Persian Gulf. It includes two provinces: Bushehr and Hormozgan. The continental part of the region is an industrially developed territory, the center of oil production, chemical industry, energy, and large ports are located here. There is frankly nothing for tourists to do here, with the exception of the cities - the administrative centers of the provinces of Bushehr and Bandar Abbas. However, the set of objects in them is quite standard, an idea of ​​​​palaces, ancient fortresses and other buildings can be obtained in more interesting cities of Iran. And nevertheless, it is still worth visiting the coast. Of interest are the islands located in the Persian Gulf: on Hormuz Island, which gave the strait its name, there are ruins of a Portuguese colonial fortress, and the islands of Kish and Qeshm are duty-free zones and developed resorts. In addition, Kish Island is a visa-free territory.

Sistan and Baluchestan is the southeastern region of the country, located near the border with Pakistan. It coincides with the administrative province of Sistan and Baluchestan, which is the Iranian part of the larger historical regions of the same name. The region is considered extremely unsafe for tourists due to the increased terrorist threat, a known protracted armed conflict, and also as an area for the production and transit of drugs. The main city of the region is Zahedan with traditional mosques, but the city of Zabol in the north of the province near the border with Afghanistan is of greatest interest. In the vicinity of Zabol are the ruins of the ancient settlement of Shahr-i-Sukhte, which was abandoned around 1800 BC, and is now protected by UNESCO, nearby are the lakes of Sistan and Hamun and the sacred mountain of Khwaja with the tomb of Khwaja Ali Mahdi, the ruins of the fortress of Gaga-Shahr, as well as the Zoroastrian sanctuary of the Arshakid and Sassanid era. Also of interest to travelers will be the historical fortresses, for example, in the cities of Seravan and Iranshahr.

Khorasan is a historical region in the east of the country on the border with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It includes three ostans: Northern Khorasan, Southern Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi. Despite the large area, several settlements are of interest. The main one is the second largest city in the country, Mashhad, a holy city and a place of pilgrimage for Shiite Muslims, where the monumental mausoleum of Imam Reza is located. From a historical point of view, Khorasan has always been closer to Central Asia, many historical geniuses of art created here. In Nishapur there is the mausoleum of Omar Khayyam, in the town of Tus there is the mausoleum of the poet Ferdowsi. The region is famous for its carpets, saffron and barberry are grown here, which can be taken from here as souvenirs.

Central Iran is the most interesting and most visited part of the country by tourists. From the capital Tehran, which is the main gateway to the country, historical cities stretch from north to south, preserving unique objects and evidence of centuries-old history. In Tehran and its environs, you can find quite a few interesting places, including ski resorts, such as Dizin. However, travelers who are mainly interested in historical, cultural and educational tourism come here. Must-see places are the holy city of Qom, the majestic Isfahan, the city where Avicenna worked for a long time, the beautiful clay city built in the desert - Yazd and the garden city of Shiraz. In the vicinity of the latter there are ruins of several ancient Persian cities, including Pasargadae and Persepolis.

 

Cities

1 Tehran (‏تهران‎) . The capital of Iran is a vibrant metropolis that combines tradition and modernity. Major attractions include the Golestan Palace (UNESCO World Heritage Site), a magnificent example of Persian architecture, and the Milad and Azadi Towers, the city's modern landmarks. Art and history lovers will appreciate the museums, including the National Museum of Iran and the Carpet Museum. Tehran's bazaars offer a lively atmosphere and insight into everyday life.
2 Mashhad (‏مشهد‎‎) . Mashhad is the spiritual center of Iran and is home to the impressive Shrine of Imam Reza, one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Shiite Muslims. The magnificent complex includes mosques, museums and holy courtyards. Mashhad is also known for the Ferdowsi Shrine, the tomb of the famous Persian poet. The city is surrounded by beautiful landscapes and thermal springs.
3 Isfahan (‏استان اصفهان‎) . Isfahan is considered the cultural heart of Iran and impresses with the Naqsh-e Jahan Square (UNESCO World Heritage Site), surrounded by the Imam Mosque, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and the Ali Qapu Palace. Famous bridges such as the Si-o-se Pol (33-arch bridge) and the Khaju Bridge invite you to take scenic walks. The Chehel Sotun Palace and the Armenian Vank Cathedral reflect the cultural diversity of the city.
4 Tabriz (‏تبریز‎) . Tabriz is one of the oldest cities in Iran and a cultural center. The historic Tabriz Bazaar (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a labyrinth of passageways selling carpets, spices and handicrafts. El-Gölü Park, with its large pond and pavilion, is a popular recreational area. Historic mosques such as the Blue Mosque and the Azerbaijan Museum bear witness to the city's long history.
5 Shiraz (‏شیراز‎) . Shiraz is known as the city of poets, gardens and love. The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque (Pink Mosque) captivates with its colorful glass windows that bathe the interior in a magical light. The Gardens of Eram and the Tombs of Hafis and Saadi are tranquil places that embody the poetic soul of the city. Close by is the ancient city of Persepolis (UNESCO World Heritage Site), a testament to the glorious Achaemenid era.
6 Ahvaz (‏اهواز‎) . Ahvaz is located on the Karun River and is known for its characteristic bridges, especially the White Bridge. The city is the starting point for excursions to ancient sites such as Susa and the Ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites). Ahvaz is also known for its vibrant culture and its proximity to the marshlands of Khuzestan.
7 Yazd (‏یزد‎) . Yazd is known for its unique clay architecture and the historic old town (UNESCO World Heritage Site). The traditional wind towers (badgirs) provide natural cooling and shape the cityscape. Visitors appreciate the Zoroastrian fire temple and the towers of silence, which provide insights into the ancient Zoroastrian culture. The Jame Mosque in Yazd with its imposing entrance portal and the narrow streets of the old town convey an authentic atmosphere.
8 Kerman (‏کرمان‎) . Kerman is the gateway to the desert and is known for the Ganjali Khan complex, a historic ensemble of caravanserais, bazaar and mosque. The city is the starting point for desert safaris to the Kaluts Desert in Dasht-e Lut (UNESCO World Heritage Site) with its impressive sand and rock formations. The nearby Persian garden Shazdeh Mahan is a green oasis in the desert.
9 Zahedan (‏زاهدان‎) . Zahedan, the capital of the province of Sistan and Baluchestan, is a cultural melting pot with influences from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The city is known for its Friday bazaar, where handicrafts, carpets and traditional garments are sold. Nearby are the ruins of Shahr-e Sukhteh (Burnt City), a UNESCO World Heritage Site from the Bronze Age.
10 Ghom (‏قم الفارسية‎) . Qom is one of Iran's most important religious centers. The Shrine of Fatima Masumeh, a magnificent golden-domed mosque, attracts millions of pilgrims every year. The city is home to numerous theological schools and libraries, making Qom a center of Shia Islam. Visitors can experience the city's spiritual atmosphere and religious art.
11 Bandar Abbas (‏بندرعَباس‎) . A major port city on the Persian Gulf, Bandar Abbas is a hub for trade and culture. The city is home to the Hindu temple, reflecting the historical trade relations between India and Persia. The beaches and proximity to the islands of Qeshm and Hormuz, known for their rainbow mountains and mangrove forests, make Bandar Abbas a starting point for nature exploration.
12 Kashan (‏کاشان‎) . Kashan fascinates with its historic merchant houses such as the Borujerdi House and the Tabatabaei House, which feature richly decorated architecture. The Fin Garden (UNESCO World Heritage Site) is an outstanding example of Persian garden art. The Sultan Amir Ahmad Bath impresses with its artistic tile work. The traditional bazaar and the proximity to the Dasht-e Kavir salt desert make Kashan a diverse travel destination.
13 Nain (‏نائین‎) . Nain is famous for its Jame Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in Iran, which features impressive early Islamic architecture. The city is also known for its traditional carpets and the Pirnia House, a well-preserved museum of regional history. The underground water systems (qanats) are technical masterpieces that fascinate visitors.
14 Birjand (بيرجند‎) . The capital of South Khorasan Province, Birjand is known for the Qaleh-e Dokhtar (Maiden Fortress) and the magnificent Akbariyeh Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and example of Persian horticulture. The city is also famous for its saffron cultivation, and in the surrounding area visitors can see desert settlements and mud architecture.

 

Other destinations

Archaeological sites

1 Persepolis (‏تخت جمشید‎) . The monumental ruins of the ancient capital of the Achaemenid Empire, built by Darius I and Xerxes, with impressive reliefs and columns.
2 Pasargadae (‏پاسارگاد‎; ‏مرودشت، پاسارگاد، مشهد مرغاب‎) . Pasargadae was the first capital of the Achaemenid Empire and is known as the burial place of Cyrus the Great. The ruins include the Mausoleum of Cyrus, one of the most important archaeological monuments of ancient Iran. The surrounding palaces and gardens reflect the grandeur of the Achaemenid Empire. Pasargadae was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004.
3 Ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil (‏چغازنبیل‎; ‏۴۵ کیلومتری جنوب شرقی شوش‎) . One of the best-preserved ziggurats (temple towers) in the world, built by the Elamite civilization in the 13th century BC.
4 Persian Qanat (‏قنات ایرانی‎) . A traditional irrigation system that channels water from underground springs to dry regions and represents the sustainable use of resources.
5 Behistun Inscription (سنگنبشته بیستون; بیستون) . A huge rock inscription and relief from the time of Darius the Great containing a significant historical narrative in cuneiform.
6 Sassanid Archaeological Landscape (ساسانی منطقه فارس) . A group of Sassanid-era fortresses, palaces and relics that document the strength and influence of this empire.
7 Historic Shushtar Hydraulic System میدان آبشارها‎) . An ancient hydraulic system that includes canals, bridges and watermills and is a masterpiece of ancient engineering.
8 Tang-e-Bostan (طاق بستان; ۴ کیلومتری مشرق کرمانشاه) . It is known for its impressive rocks and archaeological remains, including Sassanid rock inscriptions. The park offers not only historical sites but also beautiful nature with mountains, forests and valleys.

Arg-é Bam is a medieval adobe fortress in the Kerman province of Iran.

 

Nature

1 Kish (جزیره کیش) . Kish is an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf with natural beauties, luxurious resorts and shopping centers. The island is a popular diving area with a rich underwater world. Other attractions include the man-made and natural caves of Kish and the underground city of Kariz City. Kish is not a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but attracts tourists seeking relaxation and history.
2 Qeshm (‏جزیره قشم‎) . Qeshm is the largest island in the Persian Gulf and is known for its unique nature and geology. The Qeshm Geopark, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006, includes geological phenomena such as Hengam Island with its wildlife and swimming with dolphins, as well as Gavater Bay with its fascinating salt landscape and the Star Valley with its rock formations.
3 Lut Desert (‏بیابان لوت‎) . A spectacular desert landscape with some of the hottest recorded temperatures on Earth, known for its kaluts (geological formations).
4 Hyrcanian Forests. An ancient forest area along the southern Caspian Sea that offers impressive biodiversity and dates back to the Ice Age.

 

National Parks

5 Golestan National Park (‏پارک ملی گلستان‎) . The oldest and one of the largest national parks in Iran, located in the northeast of the country in Golestan Province. The park includes forests, mountain ranges and vast valleys and is famous for its biodiversity, including rare species such as the Persian leopard and the Kashmir deer. It is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
6 Arasbaran Protected Area (‏ارسباران‎) . UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and known for its unique flora and fauna. Arasbaran is a paradise for birdwatchers and is home to many rare animal species, including the Persian leopard. The park also offers stunning views of the mountain range and valleys.
7 Hara Biosphere Reserve. The Hara Forest in Iran covers the islands of Qeshm and Hengam in the Persian Gulf. The region is known for its mangrove forests and coastal ecosystems, which provide a home to numerous species of birds and marine animals such as dolphins and sea turtles. The area is a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
8 Kavir National Park (‏پارک ملی کویر‎) . Known for its desert landscapes and salt flats, the park is home to unique geological formations and rare desert animals such as the Persian leopard and the desert hawk.

 

Getting here

Entry requirements

To enter the Islamic Republic of Iran you need a visa (€60). This is issued by the embassy in Berlin, Bern, Geneva and Vienna and the general consulates in Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg and Munich. The procedure only takes 1 to 2 weeks. At the beginning of 2019, tourists will be charged €50 and business travelers €60. Express visas for tourists within one day cost a 50% surcharge. It is also possible to apply for an eVisa. The processing time is stated to be ten working days.

You must also present a booking reference number, which you can obtain from an Iranian travel agency for a fee (duration 1-3 weeks) or when you initiate an eVisa application and then present the corresponding confirmation when you personally appear at the local consular department.

 

Visa on arrival

Available at the following international airports: Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Isfahan, Kerman, Kish, Larestan, Mashhad, Qeshm, Shiraz, Tabriz, both airports in Tehran, Urmia and at the cargo port (not the ferry port) in Bandar Abbas, Shahid Rajaee. You must bring proof of hotel booking and insurance in any case.

This relief does not apply at land borders and not to nationals of "rogue states," such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Great Britain, Colombia, Canada, Somalia and the USA. Entry is refused to Israeli citizens and people with Israeli entry stamps! This also applies to people carrying products from Israel or with Hebrew labels. Since November 2018, no more stamps or stickers have been placed in passports.

For most European citizens, there is the option of obtaining a 30-day visa upon arrival at one of the international airports (cost € 60, can be time-consuming). The Iranian general consulates in Germany have been explicitly recommending applying for a visa upon entry for some time. However, it cannot be ruled out that the visa will be refused without giving reasons and travelers will be sent back. It is helpful to have an invitation or booking confirmation, ideally with a telephone number that can be reached at any time (e.g. cell phone). Officially, you must also be able to prove that you have international travel health insurance; however, this does not seem to be consistently required of European travelers. It happens that if the word "Iran" is not explicitly mentioned in the policy ("worldwide" is not enough), you have to buy additional insurance at the airport. At the end of 2018, this cost €14 in Tehran.
If you applied for an eVisa at least two days in advance but have not yet received it and present the printout of the confirmation, this will speed up processing. You can also check the processing status online, but this process is also unreliable.

 

Special regulations

Visa-free tourist entries are possible for 14-day stays in the free trade zones of Arvand, Aras, Chabahar (چابهار) in Balochistan and Maku near the Azerbaijani border.

A similar regulation applies to the islands of Kish and Qeshm. Here, even rogue state citizens (British, Canadian, American) are allowed to enter if their arrival is announced 48 hours in advance and they are picked up by an approved tour operator who presents proof of accommodation and other documents.

"Iranian authorities do not recognize dual nationality, but treat Iranian dual nationals as if they were exclusively Iranian citizens [as international practice stipulates]."

 

Extensions of stay

Residence extensions can be obtained from the foreign police (gendarmarie) in the provincial capitals. Waiting times and procedures seem to depend heavily on local conditions and the officials' mood on the day (Isfahan is considered particularly chaotic in 2018). The requirements are the same: 2 passport photos (women with hijab), 2 copies of the photo and visa page of the passport. A maximum of two 30-day extensions are granted. The fee (March 2017: 37,500 Toman) must be paid at the nearest branch of Bank Melli Iran and the receipt must then be brought to the official (note: banks close nationwide at 1:30 p.m.). If you arrive at the office early, the process can almost always be completed on the same day. Applications are often only accepted three days before the visa expires. Self-drivers need additional stamps for their vehicle documents.

 

Customs

Import allowances: "reasonable amounts" of tobacco products (200 cigarettes or 50 cigars) and perfume. Alcohol is and remains prohibited. Gifts up to US$ 100 and cash in foreign currencies over US$ 10,000 must be declared and are rarely checked. You can bring in up to ½ million rials of the local currency (that's about € 3 at the black market rate in January 2019).

Importing books and magazines that are critical of the government is usually no problem, provided that not too much bare skin is visible. Dogs and cats can only be imported after obtaining prior permission, which is difficult to obtain. Certain exemptions apply to guide dogs or similar and when flying with certain Central European airlines with an animal passport, rabies vaccination, etc. Individual case clarification is essential in advance.

Export: You need a permit for antiques and old books. This also applies to carpets worth more than €150. In any case, you should keep the receipt (which may have been adjusted downwards by the dealer). The maximum amount for gold is 150 grams, three kilos for silver. Also note the EU customs exemption limit of €430 and the caviar import restriction to a maximum of 125 grams in a container.

"There is a particular risk for people who travel to or through Iran individually, for example on a motorcycle, bicycle or motorhome/camper. [...] In particular, electronic communication devices such as mobile phones, notebooks, tablets, etc. can be subjected to detailed examinations [as is also practiced in the USA and Australia]. Routes entered into electronic maps and navigation systems, especially for planning off-road trips, can be interpreted by the Iranian security authorities as an indication of spying and espionage attempts. Not all restricted areas are clearly marked."

 

Airplane

The cheapest flights with a transfer in Istanbul or Dubai are offered by Turkish companies.

There are two airports in Tehran: Mehrabad Airport (directly in Tehran) and Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA, 45 minutes outside the city). Almost all international flights depart from IKA, while most domestic Iranian connections depart from Mehrabad Airport.

In Shiraz there is Shahid Dastghaib International Airport on the southeastern outskirts of the city.

Isfahan International Airport is northeast outside the city.

 

Train

You can travel by train from Istanbul via Turkey with the Trans Asy train, which runs once a week. There is also a train once a week from Van from eastern Turkey to Tabriz. Trains travel via the border station at Razi. More information and times can be found at the Turkish state railway company TCDD.

From Nakhchivan to Mashad twice a week since 2016.
The direct connection Baku ↔ Astara ↔ Mashad ↔ Tehran has been planned since mid-2018. Until now, you have to get off at the Azerbaijani border and cross it conventionally.

 

Bus

The inter-city bus network is very well developed, as most Iranians still travel by bus. Entry by bus is possible across any national border.

 

Car/motorcycle/bicycle

Entry by land is possible. Entry with your own vehicle requires a Carnet de Passage and patience. If you don't have this, temporary import through an agency upon entry is possible, which costs a fee of US$ 700 (all inclusive) at the end of 2018. Iranian license plates no longer need to be purchased.

Important border crossings are:
Türkiye at the border crossing at Gürbulak / Bazargan بازرگان (39° 24′ 44″ N 44° 22′ 40″ E)
Turkmenistan
Badj Giran
Sarakhs
Loft bath
pole
Armenia near Agarak րակ / Norduz نوردوز (38° 51′ 4″ N 46° 12′ 5″ E)
Pakistan near Mirjaveh میرجاوه / Kuh-i-Taftan کوہِ تفتان (28° 58′ 54″ N 61° 32′ 3″ E)
Several land border crossings to the Kurdistan Autonomous Region.

In Iran, motorcycles over 250 cubic centimeters are not normally permitted. Exceptions exist for tourists and Iranians who owned motorcycles before 1979. Curiosity is therefore high when traveling with a larger machine. Since July 2018, entry with vehicles from American manufacturers has been prohibited, even with a Carnet de Passage.

 

Fuel supply

The fuel cards that were previously required have been abolished, and the supply of diesel is also problem-free in 2018.

 

Ship

There are regular international ferry connections

Dubai (Port Rashid) ↔ Bandar-e-Lange. One fast (4¼ hours) and one slow ship (5-6 hours). At the end of 2018, no cargo can be carried, so self-drivers with cars have to use:
Sharjah (Port Khalid) ↔ Bandar Abbas. This runs 2-3 times a week with a travel time of twelve hours.

 

Transport around the country

Road traffic

The traffic can be euphemistically described as exotic, unconventional and individual. Overtaking is possible as long as the road is wide enough. This can sometimes mean three or four vehicles side by side. The old principle also applies: "Where there's a will, there's a way." With a little calmness and adaptation, you can get through easily. Traffic is particularly busy on Fridays, as many citizens go on their "Sunday outing". The road network itself is well developed and in good condition.

 

Buses, trains and taxis

The bus network in Iran is very well developed and there are regular connections between the larger cities and at least one daily connection between the smaller cities in the country. There are two bus classes, the older Mercedes buses and the more expensive but more comfortable Volvo buses with air conditioning. Nevertheless, the prices for Volvo buses are very cheap by Western European standards, so you pay less than 10 euros for the journey in a Volvo bus from Mashhad to Tehran (approx. 14 hours). It is advisable to reserve your bus ticket, as overcrowding is generally not accepted. Tickets can be reserved at the bus stations, or some bus companies have offices in the larger cities where reservations are also accepted. On longer routes, the bus stops every few hours so that a meal or snack can be had.

Between cities that are close to each other and from Tehran towards the Caspian Sea, minibuses often run, which are a bit more expensive than buses that travel the same route. The minibuses usually leave when the bus is full.

Shared taxis (savari) also often run between cities that are close to each other. The principle here is that everyone pays for a seat. If you take the taxi alone, you pay as much as the taxi would have cost if it were full. As a tourist, you are often offered the passenger seat, but this is usually twice as expensive as a seat in the back row. Savaris have the advantage of being much faster than buses, but they cost a lot more. Savaris usually wait near bus stations, where the drivers announce their destination. The Savari starts as soon as it is full.

Iran's rail network is quite extensive and connects all parts of the country with each other; there are even some new rail lines being planned. More information can be found at RAJA, where you can find an overview of the route network and travel times in Farsi.

There is a good bus system within the cities, but it is difficult for tourists to use because the buses are only described in Farsi. Bus tickets are bought in advance at small ticket kiosks and given to the bus driver when you get off.

Taxis are easier to use. They are usually shared taxis and travel on fixed routes, but it is possible to hire the taxi alone (you tell the driver "Därbäst" (in English "with the door closed")), but then you pay as much as the taxi would have brought in if it were full. To take a shared taxi, you stand at the side of the road. The taxi drivers will identify you as a potential customer and slow down just enough so that you can shout your destination into the window. If the destination is on their route, the taxi will slow down to let you in; if not, you have to try the next taxi. A ride in a shared taxi rarely costs more than 500 tomans (50 euro cents), except in Tehran, where the price level is higher. There are official taxi companies in the cities, but in principle any car can be turned into a taxi, and it is not uncommon for motorcyclists to try to earn extra money this way.

An important tip for using shared taxis in the cities. You should avoid trying to tell the driver the exact address if possible; by the time you have told them, they will have long since moved on. It is better to indicate an intersection, a monument, a place of interest or simply say "mostaghim" (straight ahead), this can be very useful, as many main roads in Iran are long, straight roads that cut through the city.

It is common for private cars to stop at the side of the road to give you a lift. Partly out of interest, partly out of willingness to help and sometimes to earn money. However, caution is advised. Officially, it is forbidden for strangers to be alone in a car. This means that women should not get into a car with one or more men unless they have a companion with them. Compliance with this law is strictly monitored by a special police force. Drivers who have a transport license (i.e. taxi drivers or ajanc drivers) are exempt.

In the larger cities there are also private taxi companies called Agance for short. This is not a taxi in the classic sense, but a rental car with its own chauffeur that you order by phone. It is possible to pre-order an Aganci for a specific period of time. The Agance service is more expensive than a normal taxi, but is often preferred because the cars are better maintained and therefore safer and pick up the guest right from the front door. In addition, the person ordering the car is the only guest in the car, no other passengers are picked up on the way. The car can only be rented with a driver. These are not necessarily limousines, but rather normal private cars. Unlike taxis, the Agance service drivers can also be used as tour guides or shopping assistants. They are not paid by the mileage but by the time spent and are not tied to the car.

When using public transport, care should be taken to ensure that no man sits next to a woman who is not related to him. In city buses, men sit at the front of the bus while women sit at the back. In order to give the bus ticket to the driver, women have to get out and hand the ticket to the driver through the front door, but they are not allowed to stand on the running board. The principle is reversed if the bus driver is a woman. Then the women sit at the front and the men at the back. In principle, no woman should sit next to a man in a taxi who is not related to her, but in practice this is not so strictly enforced.

There is also a subway network in Tehran, a ticket costs 2,500 rials (20 euro cents). There are also day tickets for 4,500 rials, 3-day tickets for 9,000 and weekly tickets for 17,000 rials. The "metro" is very clean, modern and well organized. The first and last carriages are reserved exclusively for women, but it is quite common for women to go into the other carriages as well. However, no man ever goes into a women's carriage.
The first subway line/monorail is scheduled to open in Qom in 2019.

 

Language

Official languages: Farsi (Persian), Azeri (Turkish), Kurdish, Masandarani, Gilaki. Many dialects are also spoken, such as Yazdi, Isfahani, Balochi, Lori. There is only limited hope of English skills. Some Iranians speak English very well and a few German, but the majority do not have even a rudimentary knowledge.

 

Shopping

Official exchange rate: € 1 = 47433 Rial (﷼) = 4743 Toman. (As of April 2019)
Street rate (“black market”): € 1 = 248000 Rial (﷼) (As of July 2020; current, in Toman), whereby cash US dollars (series after 1996) are more popular here.

In May 2020, it was decided to officially rename the currency to Toman. The exchange of Rial to new Toman at a ratio of 10000:1 is to take place by 2022.

The currency can also be exchanged in Germany, but the exchange rate in Iran is much better. Hotels often accept euros and dollars as a means of payment. Credit cards (this includes the German Postbank savings card) did not work due to the US sanctions. This also applies to ATMs! Therefore, sufficient cash must be carried with you.

If you absolutely want to pay with plastic, you can buy a tourist card with credit from Bank Pasargad or Bank Melli Iran that is limited to the duration of the visa, but this doesn't seem to make much sense because of the difference to the street rate.

You should know that Iranians almost always quote prices in tomans, with one toman being equal to ten rials. If in doubt, you should ask again whether they mean tomans or rials.

"Weekends" at authorities and banks are Thursday and Friday. When buying souvenirs, please note that antiques can only be exported with permission.

 

Coins and banknotes

Coins only have numbers in Farsi on them.

Normal banknotes, those with the Khomeini portrait (invalid notes), are denominated in rials, i.e. their printed value is usually a tenth of the stated price in tomans. There are also banknotes called Iran Cheques. To add to the confusion, these exist in two series. The 2014 one only has the rial value printed on it. The new one from 2018/9, however, only has the value reduced by 1:10000 on the front, and then the Rial amount on the back top right. This means that the cheque from January 2019 with the value 50 corresponds to 500,000 Rial! Images are available on the central bank's website.

 

Eat

In every city you will find kababis that offer one thing in particular: various kebabs. Kebabs are served on skewers with a portion of rice. In many cities you will also find restaurants that offer an Iranian version of pizza, as well as many stalls that sell sandwiches or hamburgers. In the teahouses you can order not only tea and a hookah but also a dizi, a type of soup with vegetables that is eaten with flatbread. Many better restaurants offer not only a wide variety of Iranian dishes but also the specialty of the respective city/region - especially on a round trip you can get to know the diversity of Iranian cuisine in this way. Breakfast often consists of flatbread with cheese, honey or jam. Flatbread can be divided into different types. For example, one of the best is the sangak, which is eaten crispy, fresh and very warm.

Alcoholic drinks such as alcoholic beer and wine are not permitted in Iran. Instead you will find non-alcoholic beer here. A special feature is slightly salted drinking yoghurt diluted with water, which is sometimes served with ice cubes.

 

Drink

Opportunities for going out are very limited in Iran. There are cinemas in every city that show almost exclusively Iranian productions (without subtitles). Many cities also have theater performances. There are no discos in Iran.

Iranians go out mainly to visit relatives. Picnics are very popular in Iran, especially on Friday evenings (the Iranian weekend is Thursday and Friday) when the parks are full of families picnicking, very nice in Imam Square in Isfahan. Another popular meeting place are the tea rooms (Tchaikhane), where tea and hookahs are offered. Certain upscale restaurants offer live music.

 

Hotels

Converted prices are not possible due to the exchange rate situation. Prices are significantly higher in Tehran than in the rest of the country. In the holiday resorts on the Caspian Sea, advance bookings for the numerous holiday apartments are essential in summer. Prices can quadruple during this time! In larger cities there are so-called middle-class tourist accommodations (mehmansara jahangardi), where at least one employee speaks a foreign Western language. For men in particular there are sometimes very rudimentary shared accommodations with dormitories (and pit toilets), the so-called Mosaferkhaneh.

Especially during the 14-day school holidays after the Iranian New Year festival Nouruz (spring equinox, between March 19th and 22nd), many hotels and practically the entire coast on the Persian Gulf are fully booked. As tourism is booming, hotel capacities are reached more and more often, which is the reason for often very high prices, but the hotel standard cannot keep up with the increased prices. In any case, the hotels are all clean and very friendly.

 

Camping

There are no proper camping sites. Especially in areas that are also used by Iranians as tourists, such as lakeside promenades, it is not unusual to simply set up your tent in a parking lot where this is permitted. There are usually rudimentary washing facilities and (not necessarily functioning) electricity. In some places a guard collects a small fee. There are no security problems.

 

Security

Traveling to Iran is basically as safe as to any other tourist country! Other reports on this subject are long out of date and in need of renovation. There is no security risk (neither for women nor for Jewish people - all Abrahamic religions enjoy extensive religious freedom. This also applies to homosexuals and political or religious minorities, provided that, in addition to general precautions, a few special precautions are observed:

Do not leave luggage unattended, do not show off jewelry (what's that doing when traveling?) or money - even if pickpocketing is not more common than elsewhere.

Never let go of your passport or identity card (however, in many hotels, especially in Isfahan and Tehran, passports are required to be deposited at reception to protect against theft).
Do not come into conflict with Iranian law (especially alcohol and drugs of any kind, the penalties are very high). Sexual relations are only permitted within marriage. Homosexual acts are punishable. According to Iranian understanding, lewd behavior is severely punished; in some cases it is punishable with the death penalty.

Do not practice a "non-Muslim religion" in public.
Dress appropriately, women with covered shoulders, arms and legs and a headscarf, men with a shirt or T-shirt, and definitely not shorts (the clothing regulations are no longer so strict: T-shirts and skin-tight jeans can be seen everywhere among local young people, and the headscarf "slides further and further back." (Depending on the current political situation, the situation can get worse again.)
As a woman (without a male companion) you should be careful when talking to men, certain men could see you as "fair game." European women often make the mistake of smilingly rejecting the "offer" or arguing with the man. Iranian women are more strict (and the men understand this too): keep walking and ignoring the man - and under no circumstances smile.

As long as you stick to these rules, you will definitely not have any problems and the Iranians will welcome you in a friendly and warm manner. These rules also help to avoid problems for tourists in Iran, as they are very attentive to them and do not have any negative reports.

In the border region with Afghanistan and in the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Balochistan there is an increased risk from smugglers and terrorist/criminal elements.

 

Health

Tap water is drinkable in the cities. However, especially if you have a sensitive stomach, you should rather use the inexpensive bottled mineral water that is available everywhere.

Malaria occurs seasonally in the extreme south (on the Gulf coast). It may be necessary to take appropriate prophylactic measures here - tropical medicine institutes can provide more information here.

 

Climate and travel time

The best time to travel is spring and autumn. Temperatures vary depending on the area. It is cooler in the north than in the south. The Persian Gulf has a tropical climate, while Damavand in the north has snow all year round. To visit Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, April is recommended for Europeans with temperatures of around 25 to 30 °C.

 

Rules and respect

Iran is an Islamic republic in which everything - including daily life - is regulated according to Islamic law, the Sharia. Women must wear a headscarf and a wide coat that covers the arms and knees in public (i.e. outside of their own hotel room). A full-body veil (chador) is not necessary and is by no means common among Iranian women in the cities.
Men should wear long trousers and avoid sleeveless shirts. Normal short-sleeved shirts are no problem, however.
In general, clothing plays a greater role in Iran than it does here. If you are decently dressed, you will be treated with more respect than someone who looks as if they haven't washed for three weeks.
Political discussions in public should be avoided if possible, if only to avoid embarrassing your Iranian conversation partner. Anyone who has been to Israel before should also refrain from reporting on it.
Alcohol is officially forbidden, but is readily available on the black market. As a tourist, however, you should avoid it for the few weeks of your trip, because the police do not take drunk foreigners lightly.
Under Iranian law, sexual relations between unmarried people are illegal. Therefore, sexual advances should be avoided, especially towards Iranian women - the male relatives could become very angry.
When unmarried couples travel, there will usually be no problems as long as they are discreet. At most, you may be refused a place to stay in a shared hotel room once - but this usually only happens in the countryside.
Homosexuality is also illegal and can even be punished with the death penalty. The same applies to foreigners as to heterosexual couples: sexual relations with Iranians should be avoided, and couples traveling together should be discreet.

 

Post and telecommunications

Post

Packages sent abroad must be brought openly to the post office. The contents and passport of the sender are checked.

 

Mobile phone

Providers with prepaid SIM cards, which expire 90 days after the last use if the balance is less than 50,000 Toman, are Hamrah-e Aval (English information ☎ 9990) and Irancell (= MTN. ☎ 09377070000), which also offer special tourist cards with a one-month validity. Prices are around twenty percent higher and the coverage is worse than with Hamrah-e Aval. Since a change in the law in October 2017, it has become difficult for foreigners to register the card and the telephone (i.e. its IMEI), so you would need an Iranian who would do it in your name.

 

Internet

If you manage to get hold of an Internet SIM card, the prices (at the black market rate) are unbeatably cheap. At the beginning of December 2018, 24 GB of data cost €2.20 at MTN. LTE expansion in cities is well advanced (MTN coverage map).

"Dirt and trash" on the Internet, often social networks or messengers, are blocked by the CyberPolice. You can check in advance whether a site works in Iran. It is recommended that you install the Tor browser (orbot on your smartphone) and a VPN before entering the country. The use of VPN networks is monitored, and using an unverified VPN network is a criminal offense.

 

Country name

From the earliest times, the country was referred to by its population as Irān (derived from the Middle Persian word Ērān-šahr [“Empire of the arya”, also translated as “Empire of the Aryans” ] or from Ērān, the genitive plural of Ēr) (see also Eran (term)). The Old Persian form of this name, Aryānām (xšaθram), means “rule of the Arya” or “land of the Aryans”.

The country name Persia, used internationally until 1935, goes back to Pars (or Parsa, “Persians”, related to Parsis), the heartland of the Achaemenids, who created the first Persian empire in the 6th century BC. Called Persis by the Greeks, it essentially referred to today’s province of Fars around Shiraz. The Persian word Fārsī / فارسی / 'Persian' for the Persian language is also derived from it.

In 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi made "Iran" the official international name for the country, which was also adopted by Western chancelleries from the same year. The official full form was henceforth Empire of Iran.

For Iran, the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the Philipps University of Marburg recommended in 2015, following the statements published in 1981 by the Iranian Germanist Touradj Rahnema, the spelling without an article, which is also common in German academic language. The German Foreign Office does not use the article either.

The geographical term Iran refers to the entire Iranian highlands. In German, a distinction is made between the official name form “Islamic Republic of Iran” and the short form “Iran” (Germany and Austria) or “Iran” (Switzerland).

 

History

Permanent settlements and food production can be proven for the younger Neolithic period (6500–5550 BC) through painted ceramics and small clay figures. After the Elam Empire was formed between 3200 and 2800 BC, the Iranian Medes united the area for the first time around 625 BC into a state that assumed cultural and political leadership in the region. The Achaemenid dynasty founded by Cyrus ruled from southern Iran (particularly Fars) in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, the largest empire in history to date. It was destroyed by the troops of Alexander the Great in 330 BC. After Alexander, his successors (Diadochi) divided the empire among themselves until they were replaced by the Parthians in the Iranian region around the middle of the 3rd century BC. This was followed from around 224 AD by the Sassanid Empire, which, alongside the Byzantine Empire, was one of the most powerful states in the world until the 7th century. After the Islamic expansion spread to Persia and the Greater Persian Empire, during which Zoroastrianism was largely replaced by Islam, Persian scholars became the bearers of the Golden Age, until the so-called Mongol invasion in the 13th century set the country far back in its development.

The Safavids united the country and made the Twelver Shiite faith the state religion in 1501. Under the Qajar dynasty founded in 1794, Persia's influence shrank; Russia and Great Britain forced the Persians to make territorial and economic concessions. In 1906 there was a constitutional revolution, as a result of which Persia received its first parliament and a constitution that provided for the separation of powers. Its form of government was a constitutional monarchy. The two monarchs of the Pahlavi dynasty pursued a policy of modernization and secularization, while the country was occupied by Russian, British and Turkish troops in World War I and by British and Soviet troops in World War II. After that, there were repeated foreign influences, such as the founding of an Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan with Soviet help or a coup organized by the CIA in 1953. The suppression of the liberal, communist and Islamic opposition led to multifaceted tensions that culminated in the 1979 revolution and the overthrow of the Shah.

Since then, Iran has been a theocratic republic led by Shiite clergy, with the religious leader at the top concentrating power on himself. He is only controlled by the Council of Experts. In the hybrid form of government of autocracy and democracy, he can undermine democratic elements at any time through the ultra-conservative bodies subordinate to him.

 

Antiquity

The current territory of Iran includes the historic heartland of ancient Persia, which historically extended over a much larger area at times. Until the 20th century, Iran was referred to as Persia in international official language. Its geographical location between the Caucasus in the north, the Arabian Peninsula in the south, India and China in the east, and Mesopotamia and Syria in the west made the country the scene of an eventful history.

In the greater Persian region, the history of Iran leads from the empire of the Elamites and the Medes to the Persian Empire of the Achaemenids (Cyrus II the Great to Darius III) and via Alexander the Great and the Diadochi of the Seleucids to the Parthian and Sassanid empires.

 

Spread of Islam

The wars with Byzantium had weakened the Sassanid Empire militarily and financially to such an extent that internal unrest and vulnerability to external enemies were the result. The empire fell victim to an invasion by the nomadic inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula (Islamic expansion): in 638 the Persians lost the Battle of Kadesia, and shortly afterwards the capital Ctesiphon was lost. The Arabs, united and motivated by the new religion of Islam, conquered the entire Sassanid Empire by 651 and the slow process of Islamization of Iran began. Although non-Muslims were allowed to practice their religion, they had to pay a tax and observe numerous prohibitions; there were still large Zoroastrian communities in the 13th century. Since the Arabs were not prepared to rule such a large empire, they adopted the government structures of the Sassanids. In contrast to other areas conquered by the Arabs, the Persians were able to largely preserve their culture, make Persian a language of Islam alongside Arabic, and make a significant contribution to the development of Islam in cultural, political, and intellectual areas.

Despite the key role played by Iranians in Islamic culture, they were initially disadvantaged as Mawālī or even Dhimmi. The fourth Caliph Ali, who advocated the abolition of this disadvantage, therefore had a particularly large number of supporters among Iranians. This was an important factor in the dispute over the legitimacy of the Islamic community's claim to leadership and its subsequent breakup into Sunnis and Shiites. Iranian rebels under General Abū Muslim also played a decisive role in the fighting during the fall of the Umayyad dynasty in 750 and the subsequent establishment of the Abbasid caliph dynasty in Baghdad, which was strongly based on the Sassanid model. After the power of the caliphs had eroded in favor of the Turkish military, several regional dynasties effectively ruled the country in the 9th and 10th centuries, including the Tahirids, the Saffarids and the Buyids, who acted as the protective power of the Abbasid caliph from 945 onwards. Under the Samanids, whose capital was in Bukhara, numerous Sassanid works were translated into Arabic, which accelerated the absorption of Iranian ideas into Islam. Under the Samanids, Islam also broke away from its Arabic origins and began to become a cosmopolitan religion.

 

Turkish and Mongol invasions

As early as the 9th and 10th centuries, armed slaves called Mamluks from the Turkic peoples of Central Asia were integrated into the armies. Starting in the 11th century, nomads from the Turkic peoples immigrated and settled in the territory of present-day Iran. They built short-lived empires on their military base based on the Iranian-Samanid model and had themselves confirmed as Sunnis by the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. These ruling houses include the Ghaznavids and the Seljuks. They promoted art, culture, medicine and science: the works of the important poets Omar Khayyam, Rumi and Ferdosi date from this era. After the Seljuk dynasty had passed its zenith, the country again disintegrated into several local empires; there were serious internal Shiite battles between the Ismailis and the Twelver Shiites.

In 1219, the Mongols under Genghis Khan, in whose army numerous Turks also fought, invaded Iran. The Mongols destroyed and plundered the Iranian cities, the population shrank dramatically, arable land and irrigation systems deteriorated and the central authorities dissolved. From 1256 to 1335, Iran was part of the Ilkhan Empire. After the murder of the last Ilkhan, local empires were able to form again. But a short time later, the Iranian highlands were again overrun from Central Asia, this time by the troops of Timur, who founded the Timurid dynasty in 1381, which ruled until 1507. Some areas never recovered from the devastation of the Mongol invasion. The turmoil of Mongol and Timurid rule contributed to the emergence of popular Islam and dervish culture.

 

Safavids

After an interlude between the Turkmen tribes Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu, who were able to control the entire Iranian territory for a time, the Safavids managed to establish a stable state again. They had their origins in a Turkmen dervish order that had become very wealthy and organized its followers militarily (Kizilbash). In 1501 they introduced Twelver Shia as the state religion; at least since the end of the Safavid period, it has represented a unifying bond in the Iranian multi-ethnic state. The external relations of the Safavid Empire were characterized by repeated conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, but also by the intensifying trade relations with the European seafaring powers. The heyday of Safavid rule was the reign of Abbas I, who expanded Isfahan into a magnificent residence.

During the Safavid rule, the number of nomads continued to grow, putting pressure on the settled farmers and causing the nomads to take up arms. This military power remained an important factor until the 20th century. The Safavid dynasty was eventually overthrown by an invasion of the Afghans. However, the Afghans were expelled by a nomad leader who initially acted as the military leader of the Safavid family, but eventually had himself crowned ruler as Nader Shah in 1736. During his reign he made extensive conquests, but was assassinated in 1747. While southern Iran experienced peace and prosperity under the Zand, chaos reigned in the north.

 

The Qajars and the Constitutional Revolution

In the late 18th century, the Qajar tribe first conquered northern Iran and then overthrew the Zand. Their leader Agha Mohamed was crowned Shah in 1796; his dynasty ruled in Persia until 1925. In terms of foreign policy, this period was marked by numerous setbacks. The Russo-Persian Wars led to the loss of the Caucasus region; the conflict with Great Britain ended with Persia having to recognize Afghanistan as a new state and cede territory to it. There were also conflicts in domestic politics, for example in the form of religious uprisings by followers of Babism in 1849/1850. Initial attempts to reform the state in view of this critical situation failed either due to resistance from the Shah or other influential circles or due to a lack of funding.

Under the impression of the difficult financial situation, the Qajar made ever greater concessions to foreign powers. This led to discontent among the population, which led to boycotts such as the tobacco movement in 1891. Eventually, the unrest escalated into the so-called Constitutional Revolution, which lasted from 1905 to 1911. It led to the establishment of the first Iranian parliament (Majles) and the enactment of the first constitution (the Iranian Constitution of 1906). The absolute monarchy of the Qajars was thus replaced by a constitutional monarchy. However, the political unrest continued and led to repeated confrontations between the young parliament and the ruling Shah. Great Britain and the Tsarist Empire divided Persia into spheres of influence in the Treaty of Saint Petersburg in August 1907. During the First World War (1914–1918), there were protracted battles on Iranian soil between Russia, Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire (see First World War in Persia). The Persian state power itself could not assert itself in this situation and its influence was eventually pushed back to such an extent that it only encompassed the capital. The Tsarist and Ottoman Empires collapsed shortly afterwards; however, the British plans to take over Persia as a protectorate were not implemented. The hostilities of the First World War led to famine and epidemics, enemy food confiscations and crop failures, so that 40 percent of the country's population died. There were also separatist movements in Iran and the establishment of the short-lived Iranian Soviet Republic. Reza Khan, later Reza Shah Pahlavi, became first war minister and finally prime minister in 1923 after a coup in 1921. He implemented military reforms and took effective action against the separatists in various parts of the country. In view of these successes, parliament deposed the last Qajar ruler in 1925 and appointed Reza Khan as the new Shah.

 

Rule of the Pahlavis

Reza Shah was an energetic leader and the first in a long time to undertake real reforms. A modern education system was introduced and the judicial system was reformed. The jurisdiction of foreign powers over their citizens in Iran was abolished. A state monopoly on tea and sugar was created; the revenues from this were used to build the Trans-Iranian Railway; roads and other railway lines were also built. Foreign banks were nationalized and new banks founded. The situation of women was improved; all men except the clergy were required to wear western clothing, and women were forbidden to wear the veil. In 1925, general conscription was introduced and partly enforced by force, thus, against the resistance of the clergy and landowners, all young men in the country were torn from their traditional careers and given a nationalist-secular education. The law on identity and personal status required all Iranians to have a surname, to register with the newly created registration authorities and to carry an identity card; the Qajar titles were abolished without replacement. These two measures created the conditions for the implementation of a central state at the expense of local rulers. Reza Shah also began the policy of turning to pre-Islamic Iran, used crown, cloak and banner based on the ancient Iranian model, introduced the Iranian calendar and from 1935 - not entirely uninfluenced by National Socialist Germany, with which the Shah maintained good relations - demanded that foreign countries refer to the country as Iran ("Land of the Aryans") and no longer as Persia. However, Reza Shah ruled dictatorially and only kept parliament to give his rule the appearance of legitimacy and constitutionality. He personally appropriated huge land holdings, arranged for the bloody settlement of the nomads, eliminated critics and, later in his rule, also allies.

Although Reza Shah owed his rise to power largely to British influence, he did everything in his power to limit Britain's influence on events in Iran. His attempt to position the USA as a counterweight to Great Britain and the Soviet Union failed. Germany, which was then ruled by the Nazis, gladly took on this role and subsequently became Iran's most important partner. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Great Britain demanded that it enter the war on the side of the Allies and that the numerous German advisors be expelled, something which Reza Shah only agreed to after much hesitation. The Iranian government declared Iran's neutrality and demanded that Great Britain and the Soviet Union respect this decision. In order to secure access to the oil reserves and to secure supplies of military material to the Soviet Union via the Trans-Iranian Railway, British and Soviet troops marched into Iran on August 25, 1941 without declaring war. The resistance of the Iranian army collapsed after 48 hours. Reza Shah was forced to abdicate. There was no public outcry, and his then 22-year-old son succeeded him on the throne.

The decade that immediately followed these events is known in Iran as the rebirth of constitutionality. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press and pluralism prevailed like never before in this country. Two important developments occurred in this period. The Soviet Union, contrary to its promises, had left its troops in northwest Iran and supported the pro-communist governments in Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan during the Iran crisis. Only under American pressure did the Soviet Union agree to withdraw and the Iranian army was able to crush the two secessionist states. The second development was the nationalization of the oil industry, which had been demanded since 1941 and was passed by parliament in 1951. The British government, which needed the revenues of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, subsequently organized a boycott of Iranian oil, which led to the Abadan crisis and brought the Iranian state to the brink of bankruptcy. The still popular Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who is most identified with the nationalization, tried at the same time to curtail the powers of the Shah and parliament and to seize power himself with the help of an enabling act. In 1953, tensions reached their peak and the Shah fled the country. Mohammad Mossadegh was overthrown by supporters of the Shah shortly afterwards as a result of the CIA's failed Operation Ajax, and Shah Mohammed Reza subsequently established an autocracy with the support of the USA.

Monarchist forces led by General Fazlollah Zahedi arrested Mossadegh. The Shah returned to Iran. The government at the time, with Zahedi as prime minister, began new negotiations with an international consortium of oil companies. The negotiations lasted several years. The end result was an agreement that was to last until the first oil price crisis.

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1941–1979) initiated extensive economic, political and social reforms in 1963 with the "White Revolution". With the increasing oil revenues, an industrialization program was launched that transformed Iran from a developing country into an emerging industrial state in just a few years. Active and passive women's suffrage was introduced in September 1963. Industrialization and social modernization led to tensions with the conservative parts of the Shiite clergy from the start. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in particular spoke out against the reform program as early as 1963. In addition to the Islamic opposition, the Fedāʾiyān-e Eslām, a left-wing guerrilla movement was formed in Iran that wanted to change the country through "armed struggle". The political liberalization that began in 1977 enabled the opposition to organize itself. There were violent demonstrations, murders and arson attacks that shook the country to its foundations. After the Guadeloupe Conference in January 1979, at which French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President Jimmy Carter of the United States, Prime Minister James Callaghan of the United Kingdom and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt decided to stop supporting the Shah and to seek talks with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi left Iran. The Islamic Revolution had begun.

 

Islamic Revolution and Republic

On February 1, 1979, Ruhollah Khomeini returned from French exile; this day has since been celebrated as a national memorial day, called Fajr (Dawn). He quickly established himself as the supreme political authority and began to form an "Islamic Republic" from the former constitutional monarchy, among other things by gradually and violently eliminating all other revolutionary groups. His policy was characterized by an anti-Western line and did not shy away from terror and mass executions. This led to a break with numerous former supporters - such as his designated successor, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri.

From 1980 to 1988, Iran was involved in the First Gulf War after Iraq attacked. In 1988, the theocratic regime executed political prisoners en masse on the orders of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran's ongoing international isolation eased temporarily in the late 1990s. With Mohammad Khatami's surprise victory in the 1997 presidential elections, the political movement of Islamic reformers established itself in the Iranian parliament. At the beginning of his term in office, Khatami succeeded in pushing through a liberalization of the national press. This gave the system-critical voices (such as Mashallah Shamsolvaezin in the newspapers Neshat and Asr-e Azadegan) a public organ to emphasize their desire for reform.

The revival of press freedom did not last very long. The Guardian Council repealed the laws, citing their incompatibility with Islam, and from then on blocked almost all attempts at reform by parliament. Since then, the so-called reformers have been faced with a major loss of trust among the population groups willing to reform. The disappointment over the impotence of parliament led to a very low voter turnout in the local elections in 2003 (national average 36%, in Tehran 25%) and a clear victory for the conservative forces.

 

Ahmadinejad's presidency

The presidential election on June 17, 2005 marked a turning point, especially since Khatami was not allowed to run again after two terms in office. The election of the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president and his confrontational foreign and repressive domestic policy increased international isolation again. In particular, his re-election in 2009, which was accompanied by numerous allegations of manipulation, led to massive protests in the country, which continued to grow, especially towards the end of 2009, despite the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations. Ahmadinejad, who appeared close to the people and distributed subsidies, was also in conflict with even more radical, radical orthodox religious groups around the influential, eschatological clergymen Jannati, Yazdi and Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, who succeeded on several occasions - also with the help of parliament - in forcing ministers and Ahmadinejad's confidants to resign. Other ministers remained in office against the will of the president with the support of radical orthodox circles, but were unable to dismiss their state secretaries, who were supported by Ahmadinejad. The clergy accused Ahmadinejad of pursuing a national-Islamic course instead of an Islamic course. Students of these orthodox clergy (Haghani School in Qom) hold many key positions in the Iranian military and secret service.

The result of the conflicts were threats against Ahmadinejad and the radicalization of the judiciary, executive and legislative branches. In 2011, for example, members of parliament called for the death of the opposition candidates Mousavi and Karrubi, who were also loyal to the system and lost the 2009 presidential elections. Both were placed under illegal house arrest, which was not officially acknowledged, together with their wives, and which was sharply criticized worldwide. The system-loyal former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost the influential post as chairman of the Council of Experts to an elderly Haghani representative. The confidants and children of the billionaire, once known as the "Richelieu of the Iranian Revolution", became the object of bullying, violent Basij riots on the streets.

Another result of this radicalization was increasing international economic and political isolation, as a result of which private assets were frozen and travel bans and other sanctions were imposed on numerous high-ranking Iranian military officers, police officers, judges and prosecutors, including by the European Community in April 2011.

 

Rohani's presidency

On April 11, 2013, Hassan Rohani, who is considered moderate by Iranian standards and politically close to former President Rafsanjani, announced his candidacy for the presidential election in June 2013. Among other things, he announced his intention to introduce a civil rights charter, rebuild the economy and improve cooperation with the international community, in particular to overcome Iran's isolation and the sanctions that led to a devastating economic crisis due to the dispute over the Iranian nuclear program. During the election campaign, Rohani vehemently defended his actions as chief negotiator and insisted in a TV interview that even under his leadership the nuclear program had never been stopped, and that the expansion of the Iranian nuclear program had instead been successfully pushed forward. "Prudence and hope" is the motto of the government he wants to form. According to preliminary information from the Interior Ministry, Rohani won the election in the first round with 18,613,329 votes (50.71%).

Shortly before Rohani's visit to the UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2013, he and the supreme religious and political leader Ali Khamenei announced that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is closely linked to Ahmadinejad, should stay away from politics in the future. In addition, around September 18, 2013, around a dozen political prisoners were released early from prison, including human rights activist Nasrin Sotudeh. Some observers viewed this as Rohani's first attempt to implement his election promise to allow more political freedoms in Iran in the future, but at the same time as a signal of the easing of relations with Western countries that Iran hoped for. Rohani did indeed achieve the start of direct talks between the United States and Iran regarding the nuclear dispute. Others, such as Human Rights Watch, welcomed the releases but saw them as little more than a symbolic gesture, as hundreds of political prisoners remain in Iranian prisons. The regime must also ensure that those released do not become targets of the security forces and the judiciary again. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Amnesty International also sharply criticized Rouhani's human rights record and the sharp increase in the number of executions.

Rouhani did not display the excessive anti-Israel rhetoric of his predecessor, but did not change the substance of the matter. On the occasion of al-Quds Day 2014, he declared that there was no diplomatic way out for the Palestinians, only resistance: "What the Zionists are doing in Gaza (Operation Protective Edge) is an inhuman genocide, so the Islamic world must today unanimously declare its hatred and resistance against Israel." In addition, during a panel discussion at the 44th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, he denied questions from WEF founder Klaus Schwab as to whether he was also seeking friendly relations with Israel, which has not yet been recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran. His emphasis on the peaceful use of nuclear power and his offer to mediate in the Syrian civil war, in which Iran is involved on the side of Bashar al-Assad, also attracted international attention in mid-September 2013. Critical voices noted that Rohani was acting "as if he were a neutral observer," although Iran has long been a party to the war.

With the conclusion of the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program on July 14, 2015 with the UN veto powers and Germany, the Iranian leadership achieved Iran's exit from its international isolation and the lifting of international sanctions with the Vienna Agreement on January 16, 2016. Iran and Western business representatives both hoped that this would give their countries a significant boost in growth.

Rohani was re-elected in the presidential election on May 19, 2017. In May 2018, US President Donald Trump terminated the nuclear agreement with Iran and announced new sanctions. The move was criticized by the EU, Russia and China. In response, Iran gradually withdrew from the agreement and resumed uranium enrichment in 2019.

Following the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani by US forces in Iraq at the beginning of 2020, there was a state mourning lasting several days and several funeral marches with up to more than a million participants. This led to a mass panic at a funeral procession in Kerman, with around 40 dead and several hundred injured.

 

Protests in Iran 2019/2020

During a two-week riot in November 2019 (the most violent riots since 1979) over a drastic increase in gasoline prices, around 1,500 demonstrators were killed as the state violently suppressed the protests, according to two anonymous insiders from the Iranian Interior Ministry and the Reuters news agency. Security force snipers shot hundreds of demonstrators in the back of the neck. According to research, Amnesty International estimates that 324 people are known to have died as a result of the protests. The Iranian government dismissed Amnesty's figures as baseless claims. The country's internet was at least partially blocked for a few days during the riots by government order to prevent the spread of information about the protests. The internet blackout lasted about five days.

The first anti-regime protests since 2009 in which the middle class took part took place in January 2020 on the grounds of Amirkabir University in Tehran. The students shouted "Reformers, conservatives, the game is over!" On January 11, thousands took to the streets in Tehran and shouted "Workers, students, we are one!" and the next day even more demonstrators, including in other Iranian cities, had gathered in all Azadi squares (from azadi "freedom"), where "Death to the dictator" and "We do not want the rule of the Revolutionary Guard" could also be heard.

 

Raisi's presidency 2021-2024: renewed protests and international conflicts

Ebrahim Raisi, considered ultra-conservative, was President of Iran from August 3, 2021 until his death on May 19, 2024 in a helicopter crash near the city of Varzaqan. From September 2022 into 2023, after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, presumably caused by police violence, there were nationwide protests in which, as of November 2022, more than 400 demonstrators were killed by state violence. The many politically motivated arrests and death sentences, including against dual citizens, led to a deterioration in relations with many countries around the world.

In mid-January 2024, Iran attacked locations in Syria, Kurdistan in northern Iraq and Pakistan with drones and missiles within less than 24 hours. The government stated that the shelling in the Syrian province of Idlib was aimed at the terrorist organization Islamic State, the shelling in Erbil in Kurdistan was aimed at a headquarters of the Israeli secret service Mossad and the shelling in Pakistan was aimed at the separatist group Jaish ul-Adl. According to Iraq and Pakistan, civilians were killed; both states withdrew their ambassadors from Iran. Pakistan also responded to the missile attacks and said it had killed terrorists in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May 2024.

 

Peseschkian's presidency from 2024

Massud Peseschkian has been President of Iran since July 2024. The politician, who is considered to be relatively moderate, prevailed in a runoff election against a hardliner after Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May 2024.

 

Geography

Iran consists largely of high mountains and dry desert basins. Its location between the Caspian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf makes the country an area of ​​great geostrategic importance. It borders seven countries: to the west and northwest with Iraq (border length 1,609 kilometers), Turkey (511 kilometers), Azerbaijan (800 kilometers) and Armenia (48 kilometers), to the northeast and east with Turkmenistan (1,205 kilometers) and to the east and southeast with Afghanistan (945 kilometers) and Pakistan (978 kilometers).

The northernmost point of Iran is at 39° 47′ north latitude and is approximately at the same latitude as Mallorca. The southernmost point is at 25° north latitude and is approximately at the same latitude as Doha in Qatar. The westernmost point is at 44° 02′ east longitude and thus approximately the same longitude as the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The easternmost point is at 63° 20′ east longitude and thus approximately the same longitude as Herat in Afghanistan.

 

Relief (surface structure)

The Iranian plateau takes up about two thirds of Iran's territory, which in turn is divided into a series of different basins. The extent of these basins ranges from bolsons of a few square kilometers to the huge basins of the Lut Desert (130,000 km²) and the Great Kawir Desert (200,000 km²). Depending on their tectonic history, the basins lie between 200 m and 1500 m above sea level. The basins are separated from one another by thresholds of different heights; some continue into Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The plateau is bordered to the west, southwest and south by the Zagros Mountains and the Kuhrud. These enormous folded mountains consist of several mountain ranges running side by side in a northwest-southeast direction, with steep valleys between them. Its highest peaks are the Zard Kuh (4221 m) and the Kuh-e-Dinar (4432 m). The Zagros has a maximum width of 250 km and a length of 1800 km (including the Makran ranges) and is one of the largest closed folded mountain ranges in the world. The north of Iran (Northern Iran) is characterized by several mountain ranges. In the northwest, the Armenian-Azerbaijani mountain knot dominates with the large basin of Lake Urmia. This is followed by the 1200 km long Elburz-Kopet-Dag system, which stretches from the Talysh Mountains to the Turkmen border. Here you will find the highest mountain in the Middle East, the glacier-covered dormant volcano Damawand at 5670 m, as well as the 4840 m high Alam-Kuh. The Kopet-Dag is a mighty folded mountain range on the border with the present-day state of Turkmenistan. The almost 6000 m difference in altitude from the Caspian Sea to Damawand, just 60 km away, is one of the steepest climbs in the world.

There are only a few lowlands in Iran. On the southern shore of the Caspian Sea there is a 600 km long, just a few kilometers wide coastal lowland. To the east lies the Turkmen steppe, to the west the Mugan steppe. In the southwest (southwest Iran, especially the province of Khuzestan or the region of Khuzestan, which borders Iraq to the west and the Persian Gulf to the south), a small part of the Mesopotamian lowlands belongs to Iran, from where a narrow and flat barren coastal strip runs along the Persian Gulf.

 

Geological structure

Iran lies on the Alpine mountain belt, which includes the Zagros Mountains. The Iranian highlands, on the other hand, consist of a Precambrian shield, which is considered an extension of the Arabian Shield. From the point of view of plate tectonics, the area of ​​present-day Iran was once part of Gondwanaland, which moved to its present position in the late Cretaceous period. The collision with the Arabian Plate led to strong volcanic and seismic activity, which led to the formation of mountains. This explains why some of Iran's mountains have strong characteristics of the Precambrian mountains, and why there are no mountains that would have formed between the Precambrian and Triassic periods. The sediments in central Iran (the central plateau stretching from Zanjan to Isfahan, a desert and steppe area on the edges of which there are important settlements) are on average 3,000 to 4,000 meters thick, of terrestrial origin and homogeneous. These sediments are deposited partly directly on the Precambrian rock, partly on land areas eroded in the Triassic.

The ongoing mountain formation means that earthquakes occur frequently in Iran. The 1600 km long and 250 km wide Zagros fault line in particular is extremely active seismically. On average, strong earthquakes occur here once a year, but these are usually not catastrophic. The areas frequently affected by strong earthquakes lie along the "Iranian Crescent", a region along the northern and eastern borders of the country, from western Azerbaijan to Makran. There are numerous smaller faults and faults here, some of which are geologically young and are characterized by irregularly occurring earthquakes. Periods with a high number of earthquakes alternate with long periods of rest. This makes it impossible to predict earthquakes, which is already difficult.

The most at-risk area in the country is the region around Tabriz, where there have been several particularly severe earthquakes, most recently in 2012. There are signs that earthquake activity alternates between the northwest and the east, and that the northwest is currently experiencing a phase of relative calm, while earthquake activity in the east is at its peak. The last devastating earthquakes with thousands of fatalities occurred in Tabas (1978), Rasht (1990) and Bam (2003).

 

Soils

The Iranian highlands are dominated by gravel and stone deserts with sterile desert soils, sand dunes and saline soils. Salt or gypsum crusts are usually found in the end basins, and Serir or Hammada surfaces can be found over large areas, where the fine material is blown out due to the lack of vegetation. The humus content of these soils is usually less than 0.5%.

Between the mountain ranges, several soil types combine to form catenes, the valley floors are mostly filled with alluvial soils and brown steppe soils, which allows them to be used for agriculture. In the Caspian lowlands, alluvial soils, brown forest and steppe soils, regosols and lithosols dominate; in the Turkmen steppe, loess soils occur.

 

Water bodies

In the north, Iran borders the Caspian Sea, the largest lake in the world, which is also a terminal lake, for a length of 756 kilometers. In the south and southwest, the country has a 2,045-kilometer-long coastline on the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, which are separated from each other by the Strait of Hormuz. In this strait near Bandar Abbas, which is important for the transport of oil, the island of Qeshm and the small island of Hormuz, which gives the region its name, lie close to the Iranian coast. The distance from the Iranian mainland to the Arabian Peninsula (Oman and the United Arab Emirates) is barely 50 kilometers.

There are around 1,300 short, mostly straight rivers that drain the northern flanks of the Talysh and Alborz mountains and flow into the Caspian Sea. The largest are Sefid Rud, Chalus, Gorgan and Atrak. The most important rivers flowing from the Zagros towards the Persian Gulf are the Karun, Karche, Dez and Shatt al-Arab. They carry the most water in spring and can cause devastating floods in their lower reaches. In summer, the water flow is at its lowest, at only a tenth of that in spring.

Two thirds of the territory is not drained towards the sea. In the arid basins of the Iranian highlands, hardly any river carries water all year round, like the Zayandeh Rud. After rainfall, the water flows through rivers or streams from the mountains and usually seeps into gravel fields, less frequently it flows into lakes, which are then often saline. Such lakes include Lake Urmia, Lake Hamun, Lake Bakhtegan and Lake Maharlu.

The gravel, limestone and sandstone layers in the subsoil often contain groundwater. This is why there are numerous springs, some of them artesian, in the mountainous parts of the country. People have been using qanats to access groundwater since 800 BC. In the past, all human settlements in the arid region were supplied with water using qanats. Since the 1950s, more wells and dams have been built, with the sinking of the lake and groundwater levels, the depletion of water reserves and the sedimentation of reservoirs representing the main problems for the water supply in the future. Environmentalists are particularly focused on Lake Urmia, which is highly saline and temporarily serves as a habitat for pelicans and flamingos, but is threatened by progressive drying out. In 2015, the Iranian government therefore released $900 million to save the lake.

 

Climate

The climate in Iran is influenced in winter by the interaction of cold air currents from Central Asia and Siberia on the one hand and warm, humid Mediterranean air masses on the other. In summer, a constant northeast trade wind blows from dry, hot Central Asia. Due to these weather conditions and the country's geographical conditions, the climate varies greatly from region to region.

The mountainous regions of northern Iran (with the provinces of Mazandaran and Gilan on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea) and western Iran (consisting of the provinces of Kurdistan and Luristan, among others) receive relatively high levels of precipitation in late autumn and winter due to moist westerly currents, especially on the western slopes of the Zagros Mountains. Humidity increases here with increasing altitude. The altitude and the relative distance from the sea result in very cold winters and great summer heat. The Iranian highlands lie in the rain shadow of the mountains. Therefore, the climate there is dry to arid with low air humidity and large fluctuations in the annual amount of precipitation.

The annual average temperatures are significantly higher than in the mountain regions, but they also have a large amplitude: extreme heat in summer, where temperatures above 45 °C are not uncommon, is contrasted by severe frosts in winter. There is never any frost along the Gulf coast and in Khuzestan. The winters are mild, the summers very hot and often humid, the humidity is very high all year round, but precipitation is extremely rare. The climate of the Caspian coastal lowlands is fundamentally different from the rest of the country. The winds blowing from the northeast charge up with moisture over the Caspian Sea, accumulate on the mountain massifs and rain down there. This region is therefore humid all year round with sometimes very high humidity. The climate is mild in winter and warm in summer, and extreme temperatures are significantly lower than in the highlands.

Meteorological peculiarities include the northwest wind of 120 days, which blows very consistently between May and September and is extremely unfavorable for people and vegetation in the east and southeast of Iran due to its high dust content. In the highlands, where local air pressure differences can be significant due to the lack of vegetation, dust vortices can be observed regularly.

 

Flora and vegetation

Iran's natural vegetation has been largely destroyed by centuries of human use. It can be divided into four zones depending on geographical factors. The deserts and semi-deserts, where the soil is not completely sterile, have a plant cover that usually covers less than a third of the soil. It consists of wormwood bushes, Rheum ribes, various species of tragacanth, Dorema ammoniacum, the sought-after fodder plant Prosopis farcta and the woody plant Zygophyllum atriplicoides. Grasses are rare due to overgrazing, and the natural flora includes feather grasses and Stipagrostis species.

The country's dry forests, which cover the Zagros and other mountains, contain various oaks, maples, hornbeams, cold-resistant junipers, ash trees, Paliurus, oleanders and myrtles; Pomegranate bushes, hawthorns, cotoneasters, Prunus species and rose plants dominate among the shrubs. As the dryness increases, especially on the mountain slopes in the Iranian highlands, the dry forests turn into very sparse mountain almond and pistachio tree fields, in which Ziziphus, acacia and succulent species that are particularly adapted to dry conditions also occur. The dwarf fan palm is typical for Balochistan; the ground in the dry forests is in turn covered with tragacanth and wormwood plants.

Between the Alborz Mountains and the Caspian Sea are the only moist forests in Iran, which are biogeographically known as the Hyrcanian Forest or Caspian Forest. They are extremely species-rich and tend to be impenetrable due to their climbing plants. The flora of these forests includes trees such as the chestnut-leaved oak, the iron tree, elms, beeches, maples, box trees and blackberries; many of the species are endemic to the region; the primeval forests of the Oriental beech have only survived in this extent in the extreme east of the beech area. In special locations, cypress forests can also be found. The Hyrcanian forests are a hotspot in the context of the CBD process (Convention on Biological Diversity). The Parrotia project of Iran, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the Michael Succow Foundation is intended to lead to the recognition of the Hyrcanian forests as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and to a sustainable protection and use concept.

Special forms of vegetation can be found, for example, in the end basins, where halophytic marsh and swamp plants thrive. Along the rivers, you can find some gallery forests of willows and poplars. In the sand dunes there are populations of saxaul, Calligonum species and tamarisk plants.

 

Animal world

The animal world in Iran is very diverse and reflects the different vegetation zones and the geographical location of the country. The large animal fauna includes steppe and semi-desert dwellers such as gazelles and half-donkeys as well as wild sheep and wild goats as typical mountain animals, but also porcupines. Red deer are found in the country's forests. Some brown bears, cheetahs, lynxes and leopards still live in remote areas, but the Caspian tiger and Persian lion have been eradicated in Iran. Hyenas, jackals and foxes perform an important natural hygiene function. On the south coast of the Caspian Sea there are lagoons with a very high diversity of bird species; in the interior of the country there are pheasants, chukars and steppe chickens, which are also hunted. Iranian bird of prey species include golden eagles, falcons, bearded vultures and griffon vultures. The only bird species endemic to Iran is the Pleske's jay. Fishing on the Caspian Sea coast is of great economic importance, with sturgeon being the main fish for caviar. Mullet and whitefish are also caught. Trout are also caught in the cold mountain streams of Albors and Zagros. An astonishing phenomenon is the natural occurrence of small fish in the qanats of the desert regions.

Iran has several protected areas, such as the Arasbaran Protected Area, the Touran Protected Area, the Golestan National Park and the Kawir National Park. A population of the Mesopotamian fallow deer, which had become extinct in the wild, has been resettled on an island in Lake Urmia.

 

Environmental problems

Iran's accelerated industrialization has led to widespread air pollution in Tehran and other large cities. Another consequence is the enormous increase in energy consumption. Iran is one of the most energy-intensive countries in the world. This is due on the one hand to the lack of advanced infrastructure and government subsidies for energy sources and on the other hand to inefficient consumption behavior of the population.

As the Iranian Ministry of Health announced in 2010, air pollution has now become so serious that the proportion of people who go to hospital emergency rooms with severe respiratory problems has increased by 19%. In the first nine months of 2010, at least 3,600 people in Tehran alone died as a result of air pollution.

The then Minister of Health, Marsieh Wahid Dastdscherdi, also reported that the Iranian government had no other solutions available to address the environmental problems of the large cities apart from closing organizations and schools. In contrast to the Ministry of Health, the Iranian government seems to have fewer concerns. The latter is constantly boosting car sales, partly because of its own ownership of the domestic automobile industry; in Tehran alone, there are now over 3.5 million vehicles on the streets.

The Iranian nuclear program is also causing serious problems in the areas surrounding nuclear facilities, including water sources, flora and fauna. In addition, the regional location of several nuclear facilities is considered worrying. The Bushehr nuclear power plant, for example, which began operations in November 2010, is located in a seismically prone area. It was built exactly at the intersection of three continental plates (the Arabian, African and Eurasian). Experts argue that an earthquake could cause damage to and within the building that would be equivalent to the scale of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Kuwaiti geologist Jasem al-Awadi warned that the radioactive leaks pose a serious threat to the Gulf region, especially Kuwait, which is 276 km from Bushehr.

The Islamic Republic of Iran did send a delegation led by then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. However, Iranian participation was criticized for Iran's reluctance to seriously address its environmental problems.

Due to Western economic sanctions against Iran, the ideological goal of self-sufficiency is maintained. Most of the available water in the dry country is used in a comparatively inefficient agricultural economy. Although awareness of the catastrophic effects of river diversions has increased, and activists were allowed to criticize the government publicly on television in 2017, there is an influential lobby in the construction industry that is interested in such projects. Kaveh Madani, deputy head of the Iranian Ministry of Environment from September 2017 to January 2018, coined the term "Iranian water bankruptcy".

 

Cities

There were already urban settlements in what is now Iran in ancient times. Ruins of many of the early cities, such as Susa, Bishapur or the residential cities of Pasargadae and Persepolis, have been preserved, while others have disappeared without a trace. It is typical for Iran that the cities were built outside of regions with sufficient rainfall along trade routes, for example along the line Zanjan - Qazvin - Tehran - Semnan - Damghan - Mashhad - Herat, or Yazd - Kerman. In the south of the country and in southeast Iran (especially the provinces of Kerman, Baluchistan and Sistan, which lie north of the Persian Gulf and border Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east), urban development was least pronounced. The choice of location was always based on proximity to water sources that could be used with the help of qanats. In contrast, Iranians almost never built in places that would have been easy to defend. The typical Persian city in Islamic times had the bazaar and the Friday mosque as its centre, surrounded by caravanserais and residential quarters; all of this was enclosed by city walls and fortified gates.

Urbanisation began to accelerate in Tehran as early as the 19th century, and in the rest of the country in the 1920s; the greatest growth was recorded in Tehran and the cities around Tehran. The city walls were moved or demolished, wide streets and new residential quarters were built. Central government regulations for these transformations gave Iranian cities a relatively uniform cityscape. The new quarters and the newly built infrastructure generally followed Western concepts of city planning and architecture. The contrast between rich and poor was now also reflected in the cityscape, which had not previously been a feature of Persian cities. The historic city centres deteriorated until the 1970s, and it was only the high income from oil production and the increased awareness of the importance of architectural cultural heritage that led to redevelopment programmes from 1973 onwards. After the Islamic Revolution, cities continued to grow, but recently this trend has slowed down.

In 2006, Iran had 30 Ostans, 336 Shahrestans, 889 Bakhshs, 1016 cities (شهر Shahr) and 2400 municipalities (دهستان Dehestan). On June 23, 2010, the new Alborz province was created from the northwestern part of Tehran Province, meaning that Iran now consists of 31 provinces.

In 2023, 77 percent of Iran's population lived in cities. In 1960, the urbanization rate was 33.9%. In recent decades, the country's urbanization has progressed rapidly due to widespread rural exodus.

The 2011 census showed that there are eight cities in Iran with a population of over one million:
Tehran (8,154,051 inhabitants)
Mashhad (2,766,258)
Isfahan (1,756,126)
Karaj (1,614,626)
Tabriz (1,494,998)
Shiraz (1,460,665)
Ahvaz (1,112,021)
Ghom (1,074,036).

 

Culture

Literature

Persia, particularly southern Fars, has numerous famous poets, of which Firdausi, Hafiz and Saadi are some of the best known. In modern times, prose has become increasingly important in Persian literature, for example with the works of Sadegh Hedayat, who made significant and sometimes groundbreaking innovations in both style and choice of subject matter. Outside the framework of classical Persian poetry, new directions developed in poetry in the 20th century, including the New Persian Poem (Sche’r-e Nou) and the White Poem (Sche’r-e Sepid). A new art form was recently chosen by the comic author Marjane Satrapi, who lives in exile in France. In her autobiographical comic Persepolis, she tells of her childhood and youth during the Islamic Revolution and in exile in European countries and records conversations between women in her family in taunts.

The pre-Islamic literature available today goes back to the hymns attributed to the founder of the religion Zarathustra, the Gathas, and the Yaschts. There are works in various ancient Iranian languages. These include in particular Avestan and Middle Persian works, which largely deal with Zoroastrian themes, but also historical and Manichaean content.

 

Architecture

Traditional Iranian architecture reflects the climatic and social conditions of the country. In order to survive the very hot and dry summer weather, qanats, underground water reservoirs and ice houses have been built for three thousand years. Wind towers bring fresh air into the living spaces, some of which are underground, where it is blown over bodies of water to cool the rooms. The main building materials used are clay and bricks made from it, whether fired or unfired; this building material protects against heat and keeps the heat in the room when it is cold. Walls, whether city walls or walls around one's own house, reflect the numerous attacks that the Iranian population has suffered, but also the religious need to separate private life from public life. The traditional house, for example, has no windows facing outwards, only into an inner courtyard. The preference for light as a source of beauty, which originated in Zoroastrianism, but also the preference for rich decoration, has been passed down to the present day as a defining element of Iranian architecture. The traditional Iranian city separates residential districts from business districts, where the bazaar and main square are also located. Ethnic and religious minorities are usually assigned their own districts; rich and poor residents were not separated from each other, however.

The earliest pre-Islamic architecture in Iran has been preserved in the form of remains of houses made of mud bricks (Tappe Zaghe near Qazvin). The Elamites built huge ziggurats covered with mosaics made of glazed bricks, as in Chogha Zanbil. The first major city was the planned residence of the Mede kings, Ecbatana. Numerous architectural remains of the typically elegant palaces, mausoleums and fire temples decorated with reliefs have been preserved from the time of the Achaemenid Empire, especially in the capitals of Pasargadae and Persepolis. Under the Parthians, vaults, keel arches and the extensive use of stonemasonry and stucco work were introduced. The Sassanids were inspired by the buildings of the Achaemenids, and their buildings were characterized by artistic painting.

After the introduction of Islam in Iran, architectural work also changed. Mosques, which were initially simple buildings, soon became domed buildings in accordance with Iranian taste, decorated with calligraphy, stucco, muqarnas, tiles, mosaics and mirror work. The most architecturally significant religious buildings include the Imam Reza Shrine, the Shrine of Fatima Masuma, the Shah Abdol Azim Shrine and Shah Cheragh. The decoration of mosques with tiles not only on the outside but also on the inside came about in the 13th century; the tiles can have floral, calligraphic or geometric motifs. The Safavids were particular patrons of architecture, they had their capital Isfahan furnished with the ensemble around the Meidan-e Emam, gardens and palaces such as the Chehel Sotun; the Zand embellished Shiraz with numerous buildings such as the citadel or gardens such as the Bāgh-e Eram.

During the Qajar period, European concepts found their way into Iranian architecture. Beaux-Arts architecture in particular is visible in numerous new state buildings. In the interwar period, many buildings were planned for Iran by European architects, which are only superficially decorated with Persian forms. The cityscape of many cities was enriched with large squares and monuments, of which the Shahyad Tower from 1971 is the most famous. After the Islamic Revolution, everything Western and pre-Islamic was initially rejected, but since then, architectural styles have appeared that combine Iranian, Islamic and Western traditions, as the Abbasi Hotel in Isfahan represents. Given the rapidly growing urban population, the rapid acquisition of housing without architectural considerations is now dominant in many places.

With regard to monuments and cultural assets, there has been an initiative since 2018 by Karl von Habsburg, President of Blue Shield International, and the Austrian Ambassador Stephan Scholz to establish a national Blue Shield Committee.

 

Festivals and holidays

There are so many holidays and festivals in Iran that critics fear that the economy will be damaged by so many celebrations.

The Islamic holidays, which are predominantly days of mourning for the Shiites, are among the most important in the lives of Iranians; there are festivals that are generally part of the Islamic religion and others that are only celebrated in Shiite Islam. The general Islamic holidays include Fridays, Ramadan, the Feast of Breaking the Fast and the Feast of Sacrifice. The tradition of decorating a camel for the Feast of Sacrifice, driving it through the city in a procession and then sacrificing it was abolished during the Pahlavi era. Of the holidays related to the life of the Prophet Mohammed, the birthday, the Night Journey and his death are celebrated; this is not viewed favorably by conservative Muslims, but is nevertheless observed as a sign of unity with Sunni Muslims. The most important Shiite holidays are celebrated in the month of Muharram. On Tasua and Ashura, religious brotherhoods organize processions in all cities, during which participants flagellate themselves or carry oversized objects commemorating the death of Imam Al-Husain ibn ʿAlī in the Battle of Karbala. Typical for Iran are the dramatic performances called Taʿziye, which reenact the martyrdom of Husain. It is very welcome when the participants show genuine, uninhibited grief. However, it is not only the death of Husain that is mourned, but also that of the Prophet's daughter Fatemeh, his son-in-law Ali, Imam Jafar and Imam Ali Reza.

Four times a year, important festivals are celebrated that originate from the Zoroastrian tradition, but are now largely secularized and are celebrated by almost all peoples in the Iranian cultural area. These are Nowruz (celebrated for two weeks with Chahar Shanbeh Suri and Sizdah Bedar), the only non-Islamic public holiday, and Yalda. Nowruz is the Iranian New Year, which takes place on the spring equinox. It symbolises a new beginning, for which people clean their houses thoroughly, wear new clothes, and congratulate one another. The central element of the celebrations is the arranging of a sofreh, a particularly beautiful cloth on which seven objects with symbolic positive meaning are arranged, all of which must begin with the Persian S (Haft Sin). On the Wednesday before Nowruz, bonfires are lit on Chahar Shanbeh Suri, and whoever can jumps over one of the fires to have good luck and health in the coming year. Sizdah Bedar is celebrated on the 13th day of the new year; Since the number 13 is considered unlucky, people should not get angry or argue on this day. On Sizdah Bedar, Iranians flock to parks and gardens and enjoy picnics. On Yalda, the longest night of the year, people light a fire and try to keep it burning all night. On this night, people do not sleep, but entertain themselves with food, storytelling, or even dance and music.

As in all other countries, there are holidays to commemorate significant events in national history. In the case of Iran, celebrations to commemorate events related to the Islamic Revolution and the life of Ayatollah Khomeini are usually organized by the government. The holiday that attracts the most interest from citizens is the anniversary of Khomeini's death, which is celebrated every year on June 4th. Families who support the ruling system (or want to be perceived as such) visit a place associated with Khomeini's life to mourn: Khomeini's birthplace, his mausoleum, the Khomeini shrine, or the city of Qom. On this day, black flags fly and particularly modest dress is expected of everyone. Other national holidays commemorate the arrest of Khomeini after the 1963 unrest (June 5), the victory of the Islamic Revolution (February 12), the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (March 20), and the referendum on the establishment of the Islamic Republic (April 1).

 

Cuisine

Iranian cuisine is very diverse. It has many similarities with Indian, Central Asian, Turkish and other oriental cuisines. The urban cuisine of the Persian highlands is considered standard and is enriched by numerous dishes of local or ethnic origin. The main foods in Iran are rice and wheat. Wheat is consumed mainly in the form of bread, which Iranians like to buy fresh for each meal. The two most popular types of bread are tâftun and lavash, which are formed into very thin loaves and baked pressed against the inside wall of the oven. In the traditional meal, which is eaten sitting on a cloth from shared bowls and plates, this flat bread not only serves as food, but also replaces plates and cutlery. Rice was long a luxury product for the rich, but today it is a regular feature on the table throughout the country. It is simply boiled and buttered (kateh), prepared with vegetables or meat as a meal in its own right (polo, for example the sour cherry rice Ālbālu polo), or artfully boiled then steamed (chelo, with the coveted crust at the bottom of the pot, tahdig) and garnished with saffron rice. This type of rice with grilled meat, tomatoes, onions and herbs is the national dish of Iran and is called chelo kabāb and can be found in many variations on restaurant menus across the country. Chelo can also be served with khoresh, a type of stew that can also be found in many different versions. Variants of chelo-khoresh include khoresh-e fesenjan (chicken in a walnut and pomegranate sauce) or ghormeh sabzi (green stew). Abgush is also a type of stew in which meat, beans, vegetables, herbs and fruit are cooked. After cooking, the solids are strained out of the broth and pureed; the broth and puree are served with bread. Abgut in one of its many forms is eaten almost daily by poorer Iranians. Stews (Āsh) with vegetables, noodles, beans, barley or yogurt as the main ingredient are also an inseparable part of Iranian cuisine.

Spices are used only sparingly in Iranian cuisine, in contrast to that of some neighboring countries. An important feature of traditional Iranian cooking is the classification of foods into hot and cold. This term does not refer to the temperature of the products, but to their presumed effect on human well-being. Iranian cooks strive to combine hot and cold foods in such a way that they are in balance with each other.

The Iranian national drink is tea, which is often sipped through a piece of sugar held between the teeth. Alcoholic drinks have been strictly forbidden to Muslims in Iran since the Islamic Revolution, although quite a few consume them despite the risk of being flogged. Many Iranians like to drink dugh with their meals, a slightly salted yoghurt drink that is often flavored with spices or herbs.

 

Film

The first films ever shown in Iran were made by Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, who brought a cinematograph back from a state visit to France in 1900. The films taken by his photographer Mirza Ebrahim Khan Akkas Baschi became part of the royal court's entertainment. However, the new medium had great difficulty gaining acceptance in Iranian society: the first cinemas were accused of witchcraft, it was claimed that they were invoking Satan and that cinema-goers were engaging in immoral activities; the religious leader of the time, Fazlollah Nuri, demanded that the cinemas be closed. The first Iranian actresses in particular were subjected to numerous hostilities and social isolation. In the early 1930s, there were 26 cinemas in the country. The pioneers of Iranian film either came back from abroad, like Khan Baba Motazedi, or were Armenian immigrants like Hovhannes Ohanian. They also created the first Iranian films, mostly documentaries or mixtures of comedy and melodrama, which would remain popular in the decades to come. The first Persian-language sound film was produced by Abdolhossein Sepanta in India in 1933; in 1935 the government commissioned Sepanta to create the first film intended for educational purposes: a film about the poet Firdausi.

Under Reza Shah Pahlavi, cinema was promoted. The Shah had films produced to present his ceremonies, government activities and achievements. He created favorable conditions for the import of foreign films, so that productions from the USA, Russia and Europe dominated. The domestic film industry limited itself to dubbing. It was not until after the Second World War that the first film productions began in the Mitrā Film studio of Esmail Koushan, who, after a few financial failures, achieved his first success with Scharmsār (Desecrated); this film was based on the Indian films popular at the time. This was followed by a division of Iranian film into two currents: the Sinemā Farsi with mostly cheap, commercially oriented productions and the films of the New Wave (mowdsch-e now), which were produced by actors and directors trained in Europe and were artistically sophisticated, but mostly only successful outside Iran. As part of the White Revolution of the Pahlavi government, film academies, the production company Telefilm and art festivals were finally founded. A large budget was allocated to film production under state control.

The Islamic Revolution initially brought film production in the country to a standstill: numerous cinemas, which the Islamic activists viewed as hotbeds of corruption, were destroyed; this included the attack on the Rex cinema in Abadan, which left 430 people dead. The artists were deprived of funding, subjected to arbitrary regulations, accused of illegal activities, arrested, and some even executed. The new rulers also recognized the medium's propagandistic potential and used it, for example, to spread "Islamic values" and in the context of the Iraq-Iran war. It was only in the 1990s that films on other subjects began to be made in the country again; the rules for this can be extremely restrictive depending on the political situation. This is especially true for female characters, who must always be portrayed correctly according to moral and Islamic standards.

Despite these adverse production conditions, which are also reflected in films (for example in Taxi Teheran), there is now a lively, internationally recognized Iranian film scene with internationally highly respected Iranian directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Majid Majidi and Jafar Panahi. However, many films are not allowed to be shown in Iran itself. Due to censorship, official pressure on actors and producers, and the imposition of travel restrictions and professional bans, some filmmakers, such as the actress Golshifteh Farahani and the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, now live in exile. In 2012, Nader and Simin - A Separation by Asghar Farhadi was the first Iranian film to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

In addition to the multi-layered, subtle and suggestive works of the New Wave, which meet high aesthetic standards and are repeatedly awarded at international festivals, the second trend of Farsi film, which often contains violent scenes, is particularly successful domestically. Foreign films are rarely shown officially, but are usually accessible to the population via the black market.

 

Media

According to Reporters Without Borders, at least seven journalists and twelve bloggers are currently in prison in Iran (as of January 2018), including Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, a journalist, women's rights activist and spokesperson for the Center for the Defense of Human Rights.

Tehran is the media center of the country. The most important daily newspapers are published here, such as Abrar, Ettelā’āt, Hamschahri, Jumhori-yi Islami, Keyhan, Resalat, Shargh (also known internationally as Shargh), the English-language newspapers Tehran Times, Kayhan International, Iran Daily, Iran News and the literary and art magazine Nafeh. The best-known news agencies are Islamic Republic News Agency, Iranian Students News Agency and Mehr News Agency. All newspapers, news agencies and the state radio and television stations (IRIB) are subject to state censorship. According to Article 110 of the Iranian constitution, they are directly subordinate to the supreme jurist. During protests against the government in January 2018, the messengers Telegram and WhatsApp were blocked on the mobile network. The work of the press and the organization of the protests were thus massively restricted, as coordination and exchange of information were no longer possible.

In addition, there are over 30 Persian-language television stations from the San Fernando Valley, California, near Los Angeles, which can be received in Iran via satellite or the Internet.

In 2022, 81.7 percent of Iran's residents used the Internet. According to Alexa Internet statistics, Google is the most used search engine in Iran and Instagram is the most popular social network. Direct access to many globally popular websites has been blocked in Iran, including Instagram and Facebook. However, in 2017, Facebook had around 40 million subscribers in Iran (48.8% of the population) who used VPN and proxy servers to access the website. High-ranking politicians such as Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also use US social networks that are banned in Iran.

 

Sport

Immediately after the Islamic Revolution, sports in Iran were shaped by the puritanical worldview of the new rulers: a number of sports such as boxing, equestrian sports, fencing and chess were banned for various reasons. Playing cards is still officially banned today. Women were generally no longer allowed to play sports. In the new Iranian society, almost every form of entertainment was abolished, so football games were one of the few remaining distractions for young men. Although there were repeated riots in connection with football games, the government did not dare to ban football games. In the 1980s, sport became established as a form of entertainment acceptable to the government, and since then, sporting events from home and abroad have been broadcast on Iranian television, provided that the clothing of the athletes does not offend the ideas of the religious leadership too much.

Football is the most popular team sport in Iran. The Iranian national team has won the Asian Games and the Asian Football Championship several times. It took part in the football World Cup several times without making it past the preliminary round. However, the victory against the USA in 1998 sparked great euphoria in Iran, and the government could not help but allow people to celebrate in the streets.

The Iranian government still sees football as Western-corrupt and is therefore trying to counter it with traditional Iranian strength sports, even though it is strongly associated with the Pahlavi regime. These efforts have not been very successful because young Iranians see it as old-fashioned. However, this tradition has given rise to Iran's strength in individual sports such as wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo and judo. The Iranian weightlifter Hossein Rezazadeh won several Olympic gold medals and Iranian athletes such as Hadi Saei Bonehkohal have achieved international success in the Korean-dominated sport of taekwondo.

Iranian women are now allowed to play sports again. In particular, the politician and sports official Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, had campaigned for women to have their own sports facilities. Since the beginning of October 2019, women in Iran have also been allowed to enter football stadiums to watch men's games for the first time since 1979. The lifting of the ban was preceded by the public self-immolation of Sahar Chodayari, which resulted in protests from the Iranian population, international criticism and pressure from FIFA. Chodayari, who eventually succumbed to her injuries, had disguised herself as a man to attend a football match, but was exposed and subsequently arrested. Her suicide was a protest against the imminent prison sentence.

The Special Olympics Iran Association was founded in 2000 and has taken part in the Special Olympics World Games several times.

 

Population

Demography

At the beginning of the 20th century, Iran had fewer than 12 million inhabitants, of which 25 to 30% were nomadic and only 15% lived in cities. In 1976, the country had 33.7 million inhabitants and in 2016, according to the census, almost 80 million inhabitants. In 1956, about a third of the entire population lived in cities, in 1976 almost half and in 2020 three quarters.

The main reason for the strong population growth was the significantly increased life expectancy: at the beginning of the 20th century, people lived to an average age of just under 30 years and child mortality was 50%. The life expectancy of Iran's inhabitants from birth in 2020 was 74.8 years (women: 77.8, men: 72.1). In addition, the birth rate remained at a very high level for a long time: in 1956 it was an average of 7.9 children and in 1986 it was 6.39 children per woman. But it has fallen sharply since then. The statistical number of births per woman in 2022 was 1.7. Only in Japan after the Second World War was there a faster decline in the fertility rate. Population growth in Iran, for example, has slowed; in 2023 it was still 0.7%. This population development resulted in a population that is still very young on average, but steadily aging. While the median age of the population was 18.6 years in 1975, it was 31.9 years in 2021. Since 1976, the number of households has increased disproportionately: the average size of an Iranian household fell from five people in 1976 to 3.5 people in 2011.

Iran today has a population roughly equivalent to that of Germany, but spread over a territory four and a half times larger. The average population density is thus 46 inhabitants/km². However, the distribution of inhabitants is very uneven. The areas that are favored in terms of their climatic and environmental conditions have a very high population density, such as the provinces on the Caspian Sea (Gilan and Mazandaran with 177 and 129 inhabitants/km² respectively) and along the Alborz (Tehran and Alborz provinces with 890 and 471 inhabitants/km² respectively). In contrast, the desert regions are extremely sparsely populated or not populated at all: in Semnan, South Khorasan and Yazd, only 6, 7 and 8 people live per square kilometer respectively.

 

Migration

In 2014, it was estimated that four million people of Iranian descent lived outside the Islamic Republic of Iran; in 2010, about 1.3 million Iranian nationals, about 1.7% of the population, lived outside the country. The most important destinations for Iranian emigrants include the USA, Canada, the northern EU states, Israel and the rich countries bordering the Persian Gulf such as Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Since many of the emigrants are well-educated young people, the losses to the Iranian economy through emigration appear massive: around 50 billion US dollars are said to be lost annually due to the brain drain. The money flowing back to the Islamic Republic from exile each year amounts to around 1.1 billion US dollars. The Iranian diaspora, which is closely connected to its homeland, is also an important part of the opinion-forming process of the Iranian population through Persian-language radio and television stations and blogs.

Iran is also a destination for immigration. The 2011 census showed that almost 1.7 million foreigners lived in Iran, almost half of whom were refugees. The majority of foreigners (1.45 million) came from Afghanistan. Afghans have been migrating to Iran for several decades, partly as labor migrants, but since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) and the subsequent wars, increasingly as refugees. Since many Afghans speak a variant of Persian and also have a similar cultural and religious background, it is comparatively easy for them to integrate into Iran and to identify themselves as Persian in censuses. The number of Afghans could therefore be higher than the above figures indicate. Nevertheless, Afghans face discrimination in Iran. In addition to Afghans, around 50,000 Iraqis and 17,000 Pakistanis live in Iran. Other countries of origin of immigrants are Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia and Turkmenistan.

 

Population structure

In addition to ethnic Persians, Iran is home to numerous other peoples who have their own linguistic and cultural identity. The official language is Persian. The largest ethnic groups after the Persians are Azerbaijanis, Kurds and Lurs. The peoples of Iran have long traditions in arts and crafts, architecture, music, calligraphy and poetry; the country is home to numerous UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Iran's intermediate position between Central Asia, Asia Minor, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent has led to a high level of ethnic diversity. Indo-European groups probably migrated into the Iranian highlands from the north and reached the Zagros at the beginning of the first millennium BC. The Medes were the first Iranian people to establish a stable empire on Iranian territory. After the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century, Arabs settled throughout the country and mixed with the local population; many Iranian families can prove their Arab origins by their names. In the 11th century, Turkish tribes began to immigrate to Iran in ever new waves. Their nomadic way of life left its mark on large swathes of Iran until the beginning of the 20th century. They settled mainly in the northwest of the country, where the climate is most suitable for nomadic livestock farming.

The peoples of Indo-European origin dominate the country numerically today. Between 60 and 65% of the population are Persians; the Iranian highlands are almost exclusively populated by them. To the west of the Persian settlement area live Kurds, who make up 7 to 10% of the Iranian population, speak a language related to Persian and mostly adhere to Sunni Islam, and the predominantly Shiite Lurs (6% of the Iranian population). In the east of Iran live the Baluchis, who are also Sunni and make up 2% of the population. Smaller Indo-European peoples include the Bakhtiars.

The Turkic-speaking peoples include the mostly Shiite Azerbaijanis (Persian Azeri), who make up 17 to 21% of Iran's population and live in the northwest of the country. The mostly Sunni Turkmen inhabit the northern steppe areas, and there are also numerous islands of Turkish-born populations scattered throughout the country, including the Qashqai.

The Arabs in Iran live in the southwest on the border with Iraq; they make up about 2 to 3% of the total population. Iran is also home to a large number of very small ethnic groups who settled in Iran before the arrival of the Persians (such as the Assyrians) or who came to the country in several waves, some centuries ago (Armenians).

The available figures on the ethnic composition of the Iranian population vary greatly because the Iranian state does not collect and publish data. Last but not least, the mixed marriages that are now the norm have led to a certain blurring of ethnic boundaries. It can be assumed that it is not always possible to assign people to their original ethnic groups linguistically either, as large parts of the minorities have now assimilated into the Persian majority culture, especially linguistically.

 

Languages

In the multi-ethnic state of Iran, various languages ​​are spoken. The official language is Persian. It belongs to the family of Indo-European languages ​​and thus has no common roots with Arabic, although Persian has taken on numerous loanwords from Arabic and is written using an alphabet derived from Arabic. Persian is spoken as a first language by more than half of Iranians (approx. 53%); on the Iranian plateau, almost all inhabitants speak Persian. In 2000, 85% of Iranians spoke Persian as their mother tongue or second language, a further 5% could understand it, and 10% did not speak it at all. As recently as the 1930s, each ethnic group could only speak its own language; recruits drafted into the military therefore had to first learn Persian for six months.

The part of the population whose mother tongue is not Persian belongs to various language groups that live mainly in the periphery, along the borders of the country. Minority languages ​​include those related to Persian, such as Kurdish, Mazandaran, Gilaki, Pashtun, Lurish, Bakhtiari, Baluchi and Talish; in total, around 70% of Iranians speak an Indo-Iranian language. Depending on the source, Turkic languages ​​are spoken by around 18 to 27% of Iranians, mainly in the northwest of the country and in northeast Iran (with the largest province of Khorasan); these include Azerbaijani, but also Turkmen, Kashgai, Khorasan Turkish and Afshar. Arabic is spoken by around 2% of the population in Iran. As the language of the Koran, however, it is learned by all children at school. Since multilingualism is a matter of course among Iranians these days, there are very different figures for the exact distribution of speakers across the many different languages. Persian dialects spoken in Iran include Bandari and Sistani, as well as Chuzi (in the southern Iranian province of Fars). Dardic dialects such as Kohestani are also spoken.

The Persian language is specified in the Iranian constitution as the sole official and educational language. However, minority languages ​​can be taught in schools alongside Persian. English is the second foreign language in schools after Arabic.

 

Religion

Despite modernization and 50 years of secularization under the Pahlavi, the Islamic Republic of Iran is today a state in which religion permeates almost every aspect of social life. Apostasy from Islam (even conversion to Sunni Islam is considered as such) can be punished by death. Officially (2011 census), 99.4% of Iranian citizens are Muslims. In 2006, it was estimated that 89% to 95% of Iranians belong to the state religion of Twelver Shia and 4% to 10% to Sunni Islam. The Baha'is are considered the largest non-Muslim religious community. When considering these figures, it must be noted that apostasy, i.e. abandonment of the faith, is punishable by death under Islamic criminal law. Non-religious Iranians are not officially recognized by the government. In order to exercise many civil rights, one must profess one's allegiance to one of the four recognized religions. In 2024, Iran received a score of zero out of four for religious freedom from Freedom House.

Pooyan Tamimi Arab, a religious scholar who teaches in Utrecht, points out that people in authoritarian states like Iran often do not reveal their true opinions for fear of reprisals. Studies show an increasing shift in the religious beliefs of the Iranian population in recent years.

A 2020 study by the GAMAAN Institute, which surveyed 50,000 Iranians online, found that only a third of the population identified as Shia. 22% of respondents said they had no religion or belief (“nones”), 9% identified as atheists, 8% as Zoroastrians, and smaller groups identified as spiritual, agnostic, Sunni, or Sufi. Furthermore, 47% of respondents said they had lost their religion and 60% said they no longer pray.

The survey also showed that 68% of Iranians believe that religious regulations should not be incorporated into state legislation, even if believers have a parliamentary majority. However, critics have pointed out that the survey recruited self-selected participants through social media, which may have skewed the results, particularly the number of Zoroastrians.

A sharp decline in mosque attendance was also noted. In February 2023, Mohammad Abolghassem Doulabi, a senior Iranian cleric, reported that 50,000 of the country's 75,000 mosques had been closed due to a significant drop in attendance. Doulabi blamed this on, among other things, mistreatment of the population in the name of religion, distortion of religious teachings, and the use of religious concepts to punish government critics. These factors have led to a growing distrust of Shia and the government.

Although there are no peer-reviewed statistics on the exact level of secularization, there are many indications that more and more Iranians are distancing themselves from their country's official religious identity.

Shiism is what distinguishes Iran most from its neighboring countries. The basic tenets, such as belief in a single, almighty and eternal God and in Muhammad as the last of the prophets that God sent to mankind to deliver his message, are identical for Shiites and Sunnis. The fundamental difference between these two branches of Islam lies in the question of who is legitimate to lead the Islamic community. The Shiites only recognize direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad as legitimate leaders and refer to them as imams. In their view, a total of twelve imams have lived. The central belief of the Twelver Shia is the twelfth Imam, who lives in hiding and who would one day return to earth, spread Islam throughout the world and usher in an era that would precede the end of the world. The Imams and their descendants are greatly revered by the Shiites. Shrines have been built around the graves of these people and their relatives, of which there are more than a thousand in Iran. The more important of these shrines, such as the Imam Reza Shrine or the Shrine of Fatima Masuma, are the destination of pilgrimages; a practice that is rejected by the Sunnis.

Another special feature of the Shiite faith is the permission, known as Taghiyeh, to conceal one's faith and neglect religious duties if the believer would otherwise be in danger. The Sunni faith is particularly widespread among ethnic groups that live in the border areas with neighboring countries, such as the Kurds, Turkmen or Baluchis. The Shiite leadership does not consider the Iranian Sunnis to be a minority, but rather as Muslims who have recognized the Shiite claim to leadership, and as a result, only Shiite-run mosques are available in areas where the Shiite majority is inhabited. Old religions such as the Elamite religion are no longer of any importance today.

Religious minorities in today's Iran comprise only very small groups, but they are of great importance from a historical and cultural point of view. The oldest known Iranian religion is Zoroastrianism. It was founded by Zarathustra between 1200 and 700 BC; Varieties of Zoroastrianism were the state religion under the Sassanids and Parthians.

Monotheism, which was innovative for the time, and religious dualism (heaven and hell, God and devil) in particular influenced later religions. Some Iranian festivals that are still celebrated today contain Zoroastrian elements, some in a syncretic form. The constitution recognizes Zoroastrians as a religious minority; in the 2011 census, more than 25,000 people identified themselves as Zoroastrians. Their centers are in Yazd and Kerman, where sacred flames still burn in the fire temples.

Jews have lived in what is now Iran since ancient times; conversely, Iran has an important place in Jewish history because King Cyrus II enabled parts of the Jewish population to return from Babylonian exile. Over time, Jews have assimilated to such an extent that they only differ from other Iranians in their religion. The Jewish community, which is recognized as a religious minority in Iran, had about 80,000 members before 1979, but has shrunk sharply to about 10,000 members since the Islamic Revolution. This is mainly due to the Iranian government's anti-Zionist policies, which make Iranian Jews easily suspected of acting as Israeli spies.

Christianity also has a long history in Iran; before the Islamization of Iran, many Nestorians immigrated to what is now Iran. Today, about 60,000 Assyrian Christians and the descendants of the approximately 300,000 Armenian Christians who were brought into the country under the Safavids live in the Islamic Republic of Iran; their center is still in Isfahan. There are also Roman Catholic, Anglican, Protestant and other Christian communities and churches.

Articles 13 and 14 of the Iranian constitution recognize Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians as religious minorities. They stipulate that the Iranian state must treat them fairly and protect their religious practices, rites and ceremonies. In parliamentary elections, religious minorities elect their own representatives, for whom a minimum number of parliamentary seats are reserved. However, these religious communities are not allowed to undertake any activities against Islam or the Islamic Republic. For example, they must observe dress codes in public and are not allowed to recruit members among Muslims. Muslims in Iran face the death penalty for apostasy. In practice, all members of religious minorities are exposed to a subtle form of discrimination, such as in the choice of job in the state-dominated economy, in inheritance law or when giving witness testimony. Higher offices such as ministers, state secretaries, judges or teachers in regular schools are also closed to them.

Iran is also the birthplace of the Baha'i world religion. The Baha'i religion emerged in the middle of the 19th century through the work of Baha'i and his herald, the Bab, who claimed to usher in an era of peace and unity for all of humanity. The rapid growth of the community within Iran and the Baha'i teachings, not least of the equality of men and women and the independent search for truth, prompted the Qajar rulers and Shiite clerics to resort to intense reprisals. The Bab was captured, exiled and finally shot by a regiment of soldiers in Tabriz in 1850. Baha'i was imprisoned in Tehran in 1852 and then exiled several times, most recently to the Ottoman prison city of Acre in what is now Israel. After the Islamic Revolution, the persecution of the Baha'i was again significantly intensified in the form of a state-organized and systematic campaign. The Baha'i religion is considered the largest non-Muslim religious community in Iran today, with around 300,000 followers. There are almost 8 million Baha'is worldwide, living in around 100,000 towns and cities in almost every country in the world.

 

Social system

In his book The Islamic State, Ruhollah Khomeini formulated the improvement of the living conditions of the poor population and the elimination of social inequality as the goals of an Islamic social order:

"Nobody cares about the poor and barefoot [...]. Islam solves the problem of poverty. This problem is at the top of its program [...]. According to the principles of Islam, the lives of the poor and the helpless must be improved first."

93% of the Iranian population receive direct payments of US$40 per month since the direct subsidies for basic foodstuffs and fuel were eliminated as part of the subsidy reforms. Apart from the support programs of the religious foundations, the state maintains 28 organizations for social assistance, social insurance and aid programs. The basis is the Social Security Law. The Social Security Organization, which is subordinate to the Ministry, offers social insurance in the form of unemployment benefits, pensions, maternity benefits, sick pay and health services (2nd health provider in the country, for pensioners, the unemployed and those with social insurance). In 2011, the World Bank certified that the IRI had relatively high social indicators compared to regional standards, due to the government's efforts to increase access to education and health care.

Despite these efforts, there are still major problems with poverty. According to an official statistical survey, between 44.5 and 55% of the urban population lived below the poverty line in 2011. The scientists also criticized manipulation in the publication of poverty statistics. According to official statistics, there are 2.5 million street children in Iran, who have only recently come to the attention of state welfare organizations.

Iran is home to the second largest refugee population in the world (mostly from Afghanistan). The UNHCR works with state welfare organizations and the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee to help refugees who do not benefit from other state social benefits.

 

Education

Since 1990, the educational level of the Iranian population has improved significantly, despite the turmoil that the education system was exposed to in the years following the Islamic Revolution. In the country, the average length of schooling for people over 25 years of age rose from 4.2 years in 1990 to 8.5 years in 2015. The current educational expectation is already 14.8 years. Women have been able to participate more in the improvements than men. Specifically, in the 2006 census, the illiteracy rate of all citizens over the age of 6 was 14%, while in 1976 only just under half of men and only a third of women could read and write. The proportion of illiterate people in the rural population has fallen from 75% (1976) to 22% (2006). In 2020, the illiteracy rate in Iran was just under 11%.

The proportion of boys in primary and secondary schools is only slightly higher than that of girls, and in 2006 young women made up around 60% of students in higher education. There is therefore no longer any gender gap among young income groups with regard to education. The proportion of women students in Iran is particularly high by international comparison in science and mathematics subjects. Although the grades of women students are usually better than those of male students, only around a fifth of academically educated women work after completing their studies. In 2012 the Ahmadinejad government introduced quotas of a maximum of 50% women or less for some subjects. The United Nations criticized this practice, which led to a fall in the proportion of women from 62% in 2007–2008 to 48.2% in 2012–2013. These regulations were repealed by the Rohani government. In 2015, the proportion of women studying science or mathematics in Iran was 65%, while in Europe it is much lower.

The Iranian education system today consists of several levels:
a non-compulsory one-year preschool for all children aged five
a five-year primary school for all children aged six and over
followed by a three-year middle school, which determines the student's further educational path; after this, compulsory schooling ends.
secondary school, which lasts three years, is usually not free and is divided into several specializations
higher education at universities, teacher training institutes and technical colleges, of which there are state and private institutions. The prerequisite for access to higher education is completion of secondary school, participation in a one-year preparatory course and passing the nationwide university entrance exam.

In addition to state schools, numerous mosques have religious schools attached to them. The lavish budgets that the government allocates to religious schools are blamed for the lack of money in state schools and the associated low quality of teaching as well as the low salaries of teachers. According to Salehi-Isfahani, Iran's education system is also focused on the acquisition of diplomas rather than on the teaching of productive skills. This and the rigid labor market cause high levels of overall economic inefficiency, and the high unemployment rate among young people is attributed to this.

Between 1991 and 1999, "less than 60 percent of those who entered the labor market were provided with jobs," according to a joint United Nations country assessment of Iran's development from 2003. The emigration of qualified personnel has long been a burden on the Iranian economy. On December 31, 2024, the state news agency IRNA reported that the number of Iranian students studying abroad had increased by 82 percent between 2020 and 2024. Recently, a total of 110,000 Iranians studied abroad. A large proportion of these students do not return. A similar development can be seen among university lecturers and qualified specialists - especially doctors and nurses. The reasons for the wave of emigration are a lack of economic opportunities and "social problems".

 

Health

The country's health expenditure amounted to 5.8% of the gross domestic product in 2021. In 2018, there were 15.8 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants practicing in Iran. The mortality rate among children under 5 was 12.0 per 1,000 live births in 2022.

Iran is a country where extramarital sex (zinā) can be punished with the death penalty and conservative moral standards are very important. Knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases, HIV or contraception is often only imparted after marriage. As a result, knowledge about the ways in which sexually transmitted diseases are spread is extremely poor. As recently as 1997, the Iranian government denied the existence of an HIV problem in the country. In 2004, the number of HIV-positive Iranians was estimated at between 10,000 and 61,000, and in 2014, between 51,000 and 110,000. The lack of knowledge about contraceptives, their high price and their lack of acceptance by the population lead to a high number of unauthorized or unwanted pregnancies that are terminated in illegal clinics. More frequently, the women affected use dangerous substances from animal husbandry to terminate their pregnancies and suffer serious health damage as a result.

The consumption of mind-altering substances has a long history in Iran. 400 years ago, attempts were made to restrict drug consumption; at the beginning of the 20th century, opium was deeply interwoven with the Iranian economy and society. It was the most profitable agricultural product and was consumed extensively in the face of wars, famines and the lack of medical care. According to one estimate, in 1914 around 10 percent of Tehran's population was addicted to opium. The modernizers of the Pahlavi dynasty saw drug consumption as one of the obstacles to Iran's development into a strong state; in 1955, opium production and use were banned. However, this measure did not solve the problem; an infrastructure for treating drug addicts slowly developed. After the Islamic Revolution, these facilities were abolished. Attempts were now made to tackle the drug problem by enforcing religious and moral behavior. Drug offenses were and are severely punished under criminal law; the Iranian Narcotics Act prescribes the death penalty for many offenses. The majority of those executed in recent years were convicted of drug offenses. These measures have not been successful, so secular measures have been introduced. Since then, facilities for treating drug addicts have been permitted again and are being promoted. Efforts are also being made to educate the population about the dangers of drug consumption. In 2011, Iran had the fourth highest rate of drug-related deaths in the world. According to drug control and health authorities, over 2.2 million Iranians are addicted to illegal drugs, 1.3 million of whom are in treatment programs. Crystal meth in particular is in high demand (as of 2015). Students use it during exam periods; workers who can only keep themselves afloat by working multiple jobs use it as a stimulant.

 

Women

Traditional Iranian society is strictly patriarchal; at the beginning of the 20th century, Iranian cities were almost exclusively populated by men, while women generally stayed at home. The degree to which women were tied to the house differed from ethnic group to ethnic group, however: among the Lurs, men had absolute power over women, while Qashqai women had relatively great freedom. In the 1920s, only a few girls were able to attend school; it was not until the Pahlavi government in the 1930s, as part of the country's efforts to modernize, that parents encouraged their daughters to go to school. In 1936, the veil was banned. Although the ban was never fully enforced, it led to women from conservative sections of the population being pushed even further out of public life and sometimes not leaving the house at all. As modernization progressed, women found more and more employment outside the home, especially as state employees. In the 1960s, the situation of women was further improved as part of the white revolution: in 1963 they were given the right to vote, abortion was permitted and secular courts were given jurisdiction over divorce matters.

After the Islamic revolution, these reforms were reversed. Since then, Articles 20 and 21 of the Iranian constitution have stipulated that men and women have equal rights, taking Islamic principles into account. While the man is responsible for feeding the family, the woman must do the housework and is obliged to obey her husband. Husbands have "the right" to the sexual availability of their wives and can enforce this with violence. General domestic violence by the husband against the woman is also largely permitted. Women are also only allowed to work, travel, visit their own parents, have a passport or get divorced with the consent of the husband. Beatings or sexual violence by the man are expressly not grounds for divorce, but conversely the man can divorce his wife at any time. In court, a woman's statements are only worth half as much as those of a man, and in the so-called "right of retribution" only half the blood money is due for the injury or death of a woman. Iranian law provides for the death penalty for extramarital sex, which puts victims of rape in a particularly precarious situation. Men are allowed to have polygamous and temporary marriages, and the legal minimum marriage age for girls is 13. These rules partly contradict the socially accepted values ​​in today's Iran, for example clergymen also live in monogamous marriages.

Despite all this, it was no longer possible to banish women from public life after the Islamic Revolution, because they had supported the Islamic Revolution and were needed as workers in the Iran-Iraq war. A side effect of the Islamic Republic's strict public morals is that conservative parents no longer have any reason to prevent their daughters from attending school and studying. The level of education of Iranian women is therefore higher than ever before, so that women in Iran can now be found in almost all professions, including motor racing (Laleh Seddigh) and higher education departments at universities. Secular-minded women make their future husbands sign marriage contracts that grant them all the rights that the law denies them. With the help of lawyers, they can enforce divorces by demanding the dowry. A religious debate about the equality of women has been gaining momentum since graduates of Islamic universities began to practice Koran exegesis. Although Iranian criminal law threatens imprisonment for violating the obligation to wear a hijab, women defy Islamic clothing regulations by repeatedly testing the boundaries of what is permissible. Women who test the boundaries and defy the headscarf requirement are sometimes whipped in Iran.

 

Politics

The Iranian state in its current form is unique in the world and cannot be classified into any of the usual categories by comparative political science. It contains elements of theocratic, totalitarian, post-totalitarian and authoritarian, but also democratic systems.

The current form of government in Iran goes back largely to that of the Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini and Morteza Motahhari and is based on the Islamic belief that the human will is dependent on the will of God and that true freedom lies in obedience to God and his divine law. The universal validity attributed to this principle is accordingly transferred to the developed state philosophy: the happiness of peoples and societies can only be achieved by obeying these divine laws, which are equally valid for all countries.

Since in Khomeini's eyes only God has the authority to legislate, he strictly rejected a legislative parliament based on the Western model. Man should not falsify God's laws, and resistance to or criticism of these laws was blasphemy. As a result, he advocated a programming parliament. In Khomeini's state, the executive power of divinely given laws was the responsibility of the legitimate leader of the Muslim community, according to the Shiite faith, the Prophet Mohammed and the rightly guided imams. In the absence of the twelfth imam, who has been removed from the world and in whose return the Shiites believe, a profound expert in divine law, i.e. a Shiite legal scholar, should act as the imam's representative. This system, which Khomeini called the governorship of the legal scholars, gives the highest legal scholar at the head of the state divine legitimacy and thus obliges the subjects of the state to obey.

 

Government system

The highest and most powerful office in today's Iranian state is the religious leader, who in German is synonymously referred to as the supreme or ruling jurist, spiritual leader or religious leader; in Persian the term Rahbar is common. According to Article 5 of the constitution, he rules as the deputy of the expected Imam Muhammad al-Mahdī; with this religious legitimation he has almost unlimited power: he defines the policy of the state (as a theocracy) and monitors its implementation, he is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and as such declares war and peace, he appoints the president elected by the people and can depose him under certain circumstances. Last but not least, he appoints the chief judge, the chief public prosecutor and the commanders-in-chief of the security and law enforcement forces. The religious leader is not appointed by the people, but by the council of experts for an indefinite period of time and can theoretically be deposed by them. There have only been two incumbents to date: Ali Khamenei succeeded Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini in 1989.

The second highest office is the President. He is the head of the executive branch and appoints the members of the government, who must, however, be confirmed by parliament. The President leads the government's work, coordinates the decisions of the ministers and is responsible for these to parliament and the religious leader. However, all issues that directly affect the Islamic leadership are the affairs of the religious leader; this regulation can be used to limit the powers of the President at will in favor of the religious leader. The President is elected in general elections for a four-year term and can only be re-elected once. The current incumbent has been Massoud Peseschkian since 2024. The office of Prime Minister was abolished as part of the constitutional amendment of 1989.

The Guardian Council is a very powerful institution made up of twelve members, six of whom are appointed by the religious leader and another six are proposed by the head of the judiciary and elected by parliament. Its task is to examine every law for conformity with Islam and, if necessary, to reject it. In addition, the Guardian Council has sovereignty over the interpretation of the constitution and examines every candidate for parliamentary, presidential or expert council elections for his suitability. Candidates who are not approved by the Guardian Council are automatically excluded from the elections. The Guardian Council thus has a direct influence on legislation and the outcome of the elections; its role is a constant point of contention between the conservative and reform-oriented forces in the country. The expert council is a body of 86 clergymen, some of whom are permanent members and some of whom are directly elected by the people for 8 years. Its task is to elect the religious leader; otherwise it meets to discuss legislative proposals from parliament that violate the constitution.

The Arbitration Council, also known as the Determination Council, is a body that includes representatives of the Guardian Council, the executive, judicial and legislative branches, as well as other members appointed directly by the religious leader. Its task is to advise the religious leader on the one hand, and to mediate between parliament and the Guardian Council if the Guardian Council judges a proposed law to be contrary to Islam or the constitution and parliament cannot change the proposal.

In the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the parliament of Iran known as the Majles, issues are discussed, budgets are drawn up and approved, government reports are examined, proposed laws are drafted, referendums are passed and investigations are carried out. Parliament has 290 members who are elected every four years in general elections. Candidates for parliamentary elections must be approved by the Guardian Council.

There can therefore be no talk of a separation of powers; Article 57 of the Iranian constitution stipulates that the legislative, executive and judicial branches are subordinate to the religious leader, whose opinion is decisive in all matters. The fact that the religious leader determines the Guardian Council directly and indirectly through the chairman of the judiciary he chooses, the Guardian Council approves the candidates for the Council of Experts, and the Council of Experts in turn elects the religious leader creates a cycle of power that takes place within the clergy and is decoupled from the rest of society.

 

Political camps

Unlike in most countries, there are no parties in the Islamic Republic of Iran that exist for a long time and represent political positions. However, there are various camps or currents that are constantly engaged in intense power struggles. The boundaries between these informal camps are blurred. Not every political actor can be assigned exactly to one of these camps. Politicians also change camps frequently. Observers usually distinguish between four large camps:
The conservative camp stands for rule by the clergy, the preservation of the achievements of the revolution, economic self-sufficiency and an emphasis on Islamic values ​​and the Islamic lifestyle. This camp includes numerous high-ranking clerics such as Ayatollah Mahdavi-Kani, Makarem-Shirazi or the late Abbas Vaez-Tabasi and Ali Meschkini as well as representatives of Iran's traditional economy (Bazaris). It controls the Guardian Council, the Council of Experts and the Friday prayers. The religious leader is also close to it and usually fills positions with candidates from this camp. Its candidates are elected by the lower middle class, the lower clergy and the bazaar merchants.
The reform-oriented camp advocates more personal freedoms, the compatibility of democracy and Islam, a more liberal cultural policy and opening up to foreign countries as part of the dialogue of civilizations. It is supported by the urban middle class and achieved a majority in parliament and the presidency in the 1990s; however, its efforts are regularly blocked by the conservative camp, especially the religious leader. Since the protests after the 2009 parliamentary elections, it has lost influence. At its center is former President Mohammad Khatami. Despite its efforts to reform, it is seen as stabilizing the regime because it acts as a legal gathering point for opponents of the regime, especially young people.
The pragmatic camp stands for a liberal economic policy and opening up to the West. Representatives of the private sector, capital and the oil industry are counted in this camp. While it is close to the reformers on economic issues, it represents conservative positions on cultural and social issues. The most important representative of this camp was the now deceased Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The principled camp stands for absolute adherence to the principle of Welāyat-e Faqih. It represents populist positions such as justice, the rights of the poor and the rural population, and a new nationalism. This camp includes numerous politicians from the generation that fought in the Iraq-Iran war, such as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or actors such as Ali Larijani and Said Jalili, but also fundamentalists such as Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi. It helped the Revolutionary Guards to gain great economic and political influence. It is skeptical of Western countries. Its candidates are elected by the poor urban population and in the countryside.

These political camps represent very different views and goals within the system-loyal spectrum, which leads to high voter turnout in elections. However, players outside this loyal spectrum find themselves politically marginalized, as was particularly the case for many reform-oriented politicians after the protests of 2009. The tendency for a growing part of society, especially the youth, to feel that they are not represented by anyone within the loyal forces is a potential source of instability.

 

Legislation

The Iranian unicameral parliament (Islamic Consultative Council; Persian: Majles-e Schora-ye Eslami) consists of 290 members who are elected in general, direct and secret elections for a 4-year term. Due to the selection of the Guardian Council, the parliament is dominated by the Islamic conservative forces (except from 2000 to 2003). In parliamentary elections, people are elected, not parties. The requirements for election as a member of parliament are: age between 30 and 75, faith and active commitment to Islam (members of religious minorities are required to confess their religion), the constitution and the principle of Velayat-e Faqih (governorship of the legal scholars), suitable physical condition and an academic degree at the level of a master's degree or, alternatively, a bachelor's degree plus professional and academic experience. The following are the exclusion criteria for candidacy: active role in the pre-Islamic system, large landownership, membership in illegal groups, convictions for anti-state activities, drug addiction or drug trafficking, people who have been convicted under religious law (unless they have repented) and people known for debauchery. The religious minorities can send the following number of MPs: Zoroastrians and Jews one MP each, Assyrian and Chaldean Christians one MP together and Armenian Christians one MP each from the north and south of the country. Mentally healthy citizens over the age of 18 are eligible to vote. Like the government, parliament has the right of legislative initiative. The president must obtain a vote of confidence from parliament for his cabinet before taking any measures. The sessions of the Iranian parliament are public, except in a state of emergency.

 

Judicial system

The Islamic Revolution introduced Islamic law, Sharia, as the legal basis at the end of March 1979. Since Sharia law has never been codified in Islamic countries, the administration of justice and the development of jurisprudence are the responsibility of a kind of case law system based on the Iranian penal code and Iranian family law. In terms of the separation of powers, the work of the first Supreme Court Justice after the revolution, Sadegh Khalkhali, had a very negative impact. To this day, there is no separation of powers in Iran, and the religious leader has extensive powers. Iran's Minister of Justice since 2013 has been the conservative cleric Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, who succeeded Sadegh Larijani.

 

Trials and procedures

Amnesty International continues to criticize the Iranian courts and special courts for not complying with international standards for fair trials. Torture and mistreatment of prisoners are common. In 2006, the Canadian government's demand that Germany arrest the Iranian Attorney General Said Mortasawi at Frankfurt airport on his return flight from Geneva, because he was accused of being directly involved in the murder of the Iranian-born Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi, caused a stir.

Kazemi died in Tehran's Evin prison during interrogations with Mortasawi, among others. Said Mortasawi was the Iranian representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council, which meets in Geneva. Together with the head of the Iranian judiciary - Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi - and the head of security at Evin prison, Mohammed Bakhshi, Mortasawi is considered responsible for obstructing free reporting in Iran and for massive human rights violations and torture in Tehran's Evin prison, which was already considered a torture prison during the time of the overthrown Shah government.

At the beginning of November 2022, the Federal Foreign Office called on all German citizens to leave the country: "There is a real risk for German citizens of being arbitrarily arrested, interrogated and sentenced to long prison terms."

 

Prisons

Evin Prison, along with Ghazar Prison and Towhid Prison, has been a torture prison since the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, but also after his fall under the leadership of Khomeini and Khamenei. According to former inmate Marina Nemat, who was imprisoned in Evin Prison for over two years, none of her cellmates in wing 246 survived the sentence. According to Nemat, the wing, which held 50 people during the Shah's time, was occupied by 650 women during her time in prison. Three people died in Kahrisak Prison south of Tehran during the 2009 election unrest. According to an article in the left-wing newspaper Jungle World, these unrest led to mass rapes of young women and men in the regime's prisons. After Mohsen Rouhalamini, the son of a prominent conservative, was also killed and was also said to have been held there, conservative politicians protested. As a result, head of state Khamenei closed the prison. Two prison guards at Kahrisak prison were later sentenced to death, and a total of 12 officers were brought to court after the brutal mistreatment during the protests against the presidential elections, nine of whom were sentenced to prison and beatings. In its report in early 2010, a parliamentary committee blamed the then Attorney General of Tehran, Said Mortasawi, for the incidents.

In general, opposition groups repeatedly point to the inhumane conditions in Iranian prisons. This was also the case with the Vakilabad prison in the north-eastern city of Mashhad. Mass executions were reportedly carried out in the prison; the prison conditions - including severe torture - were described in a report by the UN Secretary-General on March 14, 2011. Group executions have also taken place in the prisons of Birjand and Taibad. Human rights activists in Mashhad accuse investigators of physical abuse and severe torture in detention centers in order to obtain confessions from prisoners, which are then often the only proof of guilt when they are convicted.

Rape continues to occur systematically in prisons (as of November 2022).

 

Death penalty

After a brief period of declining execution numbers, Iran has been the country with the most executions in the world for several years (as of 2017) in relation to its population. In absolute numbers, it ranks second after China. In the years following the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in particular, the number of executions far exceeded today's figures. Several thousand political prisoners were executed in mass executions, mostly without a fair trial and some of them despite being sentenced to prison. In its 1985 annual report, Amnesty International spoke of a total of 6,108 executions between February 1979 and the end of 1984. In a 1990 report, Amnesty International stated that thousands of executions had taken place between 1987 and 1990, often after arbitrary detention. Between July 1988 and January 1989 alone, over 2,000 political prisoners were executed, many of them imprisoned for non-violent activities. Amnesty International regularly points out that the figures given in its annual reports are to be understood as a lower limit. The executions of political prisoners in particular are often kept secret and are therefore difficult to fully record. Group and mass executions have occurred time and again, so a legal process is not guaranteed; "confessions" leading to conviction are sometimes obtained through torture.

The families of murdered people decide whether the death penalty is carried out against the perpetrator. They have a right to retribution, but can also pardon the person sentenced to death and negotiate retribution payments with him. If the families decide on the death penalty, they have a duty to attend the execution. In some regions they also have to bring about the death themselves. In most cases the family opted for "forgiveness", i.e. a pardon.

The death penalty can be imposed in Iran for murder, various drug offenses, "political offenses," prostitution, adultery, "violations of morality" or "corruption on earth," and blasphemy. The death penalty has also been and continues to be carried out for apostasy (apostasy from Islam). In 2011, the death penalty was most frequently carried out (81%) for drug trafficking, blasphemy (4.3%), and rape (4.1%). Hanging is the most common form of execution, and 53 of the 753 convicted were publicly executed in 2014. Shooting, beheading, stoning, and (theoretically) crucifixion are possible under the Iranian penal code; aside from the death penalty, punishments such as amputation of limbs, flogging, and eye gouging are still imposed.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) points out that most death sentences have been imposed and carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Court since 1979, 64% of executions in 2016 and more than 3,200 executions since 2010. The proceedings there are less transparent than in public courts and abuse of office by judges of the Revolutionary Court is widespread. Proceedings in these courts often last less than 15 minutes, there is no right to self-selected lawyers and convictions are regularly based on confessions obtained through torture.

Even young people under the age of 18 are sentenced to death and executed in Iran, although the state has signed the UN Civil Covenant, which prohibits this (see below). In some cases, the execution of the sentence is postponed until the person reaches the age of majority. Since the Islamic Revolution, more than 4,000 gay men have also been publicly executed.

Only rarely are executions stopped or postponed due to international pressure. Foreigners are also executed, particularly because Iran does not recognize dual citizenship and thus prevents consular assistance. For example, the Dutch woman Sahra Bahrami, who came from Iran, was executed by hanging in January 2011. The execution of the German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd on October 28, 2024 caused considerable outrage in Germany. As early as 2010, the then Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Ghaschghavi had declared that the Islamic system would stick to the practice of execution:

"We live in an Islamic country and we act according to the rules of the Koran. Even if we have to execute a hundred thousand people, we will continue to enforce these rules."

 

Execution of minors

According to Sharia, boys are adults and have full criminal responsibility from the age of 15 and girls from the age of nine. In May 2002, the "Council for Determining the Interests of the State" (an arbitration council) set the minimum age for marriage and therefore criminal responsibility in Iran at 13 for girls and 15 for boys. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International repeatedly accuse Iran of being one of the last countries to sentence and execute minors at the time of the crime. In a 2006 report, Amnesty International found that at least three execution victims were minors at the time of the alleged crime and another was still a minor on the day of the execution. In 2007, a massive increase in the number of executions resulted in at least seven people being executed who were minors at the time of the crime. In addition, at least 75 juvenile offenders were still on death row. Juvenile offenders were also regularly executed in the following years: eight in 2008, five in 2009, one in 2010, and three to seven in 2011. The 2013 and 2015 reports also mention around 100 juvenile offenders awaiting execution on death row. According to the UN report on the human rights situation in Iran from March 2015, at least 13 juveniles were executed in 2014. According to Amnesty International, at least two people who were minors at the time of their arrest were executed in 2016.

The death sentences are often the result of hasty trials and even contradict the criminal procedural rules of Sharia law. In the town of Neka, a sixteen-year-old girl was convicted of alleged unchaste behavior by the judge Hadji Rajai and executed after he obtained confirmation from Tehran, although the execution was an act contrary to international law as it violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights signed by Iran. In 2007, Westdeutscher Rundfunk named six other minors who were threatened with a death sentence for the same offense. The Wiener Zeitung accused the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of using the execution of Delara Darabi, who was 17 at the time of the crime, as an election campaign tool in 2009. Her execution was also illegal under Iranian and Islamic law.

 

Execution of unmarried women

Before the execution of young unmarried women, according to the left-wing weekly newspaper Jungle World, they were repeatedly married to men loyal to the regime and raped for the sake of form in order to avoid being sent to paradise as virgins after their death, in accordance with Shiite belief.

 

Human rights

Freedom House rates Iran's political system as "not free" in 2023, with major deficiencies in the areas of political rights and civil liberties.

After the Islamic Revolution, a series of murders of dissidents and opposition politicians abroad, who were declared enemies of God, began. This series reached its peak between 1989 and 1996, and claimed more than 160 victims. The victims include the Shah's nephew, Shahriar Shafiq (murdered in Paris in 1979), Ali Akbar Tabatabai (murdered in Bethesda in 1980), General Gholam Ali Oveisi (murdered in Paris in 1984), the deserter pilot of the Iranian Air Force Ahmed Moradi-Talebi (murdered in Geneva in 1987), the chairman of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan-Iran Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (murdered in Vienna in 1989), the human rights activist Kazem Rajavi (murdered in Geneva in 1990), the former Iranian Prime Minister Shapur Bakhtiar (murdered in 1991 near Paris) and four Kurdish politicians in the Mykonos attack in Berlin in 1992. The assassination of Salman Rushdie, for which a reward of up to $2.6 million was promised in 1989 based on the book The Satanic Verses, failed. However, during a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution on August 12, 2022 in Chautauqua, New York, Rushdie was stabbed several times to the neck, face, liver and arm, and the attacker, 24-year-old Hadi M. from New Jersey, was arrested. On social networks, he had sympathized with Shia extremism and the Revolutionary Guard. Iranian media close to the government welcomed the attack and called Rushdie, among other things, "Satan on the road to hell." The news site Asr Iran published a quote from Khamenei saying that the "arrow" shot by former Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would one day hit the target. Only in the Mykonos and Salman Rushdie cases were there convictions in the western states concerned, which then also established the responsibility of the highest level of Iranian leadership. In most cases, criminal prosecution of those responsible was waived out of consideration for trade relations and fear of retaliation. However, Interpol and the Argentine judiciary sought the former Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi and the former Minister of Intelligence Ali Fallahian for murder.

After years of massive repression by the new rulers, the election of Mohammad Khatami in 1997 gave many reasons for hope that the human rights situation would improve. This led to the establishment of various non-governmental organizations. The efforts finally received international attention when the Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. However, opposition groups criticized the widespread perception of Khatami as a reformer and, in light of Iran's declining international isolation, pointed out that "the real reformers in Iran are still in prison," the opposition is being persecuted in Iran and abroad, and human rights violations continue. Amnesty International also reported ongoing, massive human rights violations on a large scale, including 73 deaths and several hundred injuries in attacks by police and security forces at three public rallies in 2005.

In the following years, however, the human rights situation in Iran deteriorated significantly again. Political and everyday repression, as well as the number of executions, increased again under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reached its temporary peak in the violent suppression of the protests after the Iranian presidential election in 2009. A report by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which had been asked by the UN Security Council to investigate the human rights situation in Iran, spoke at the end of March 2011 of the continued and numerous violations of basic human rights in Iran. In particular, a rising number of executions, amputations, arbitrary arrests, unfair trials, torture and mistreatment of human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and opposition members were mentioned. The Iranian government was then called upon by the UN Security Council to review national legislation, in particular the criminal code and the law on minors, in order to ensure congruence with international law. Furthermore, Iran should refrain from the death penalty and other forms of punishment insofar as they contradict international law.

The hopes linked to the election of Hassan Rouhani in 2013 for an easing of the domestic political situation, the release of the many political prisoners imprisoned since 2009 and greater political and everyday freedoms were quickly dashed after a number of measures that were criticized as symbolic gestures aimed at the West. Among other things, Rouhani nominated the conservative cleric Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi as Minister of Justice in August 2013. The Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi sharply criticized Rouhani's human rights record and accused the government of lying about the release of political prisoners. None of her expectations had been fulfilled. According to Ebadi, Rouhani may have "the reputation of a moderate reformer," but has so far sent the "wrong signals" with regard to human rights. Ebadi and Amnesty International also point to the sharp rise in the number of executions to a record level since Rouhani took office.

Since the end of 2020, the German Foreign Office has been warning dual nationals against entering the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

Status of minorities

According to Articles 13 and 14 of the Iranian Constitution, the religious communities of Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians are recognized as "official religious minorities" that are protected by the Constitution. In 1979, Khomeini issued a fatwa to protect the Jewish minority. Representatives of the Jewish minority have been in the Iranian parliament since 1905. However, the number of Jewish Iranians has decreased from 80,000-60,000 to an estimated 10,000 since the Islamic Revolution. Contrary to the constitutional articles, religious minorities in Iran have also been disadvantaged since the revolution. This is particularly evident in the persecution of the Baha'is, who make up the largest religious minority and are considered apostates. The government portrays the Baha'is as arch-enemies of Shiism and national pride, and they are repeatedly used as scapegoats to gain the emotional support of the masses. The persecution of Sufis (Islamic mystics) is also tolerated or supported by the government.

Uprisings in Kurdish areas are also met with massive military sanctions, in which numerous civilians die. Ahwazi, Azerbaijanis, Baluchis, Kurds and Turkmen are discriminated against in Iran. The use of their mother tongue is prohibited in government institutions. Access to education and the job market is severely restricted compared to Persians.

 

Political persecution

Members of various opposition political groups, including the left-wing People's Mujahedin, are threatened with death sentences and torture. Human rights organizations point to hundreds of political prisoners in Iranian prisons, including human rights activists, internet activists, journalists, feminists and members of religious and ethnic minorities. According to the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), at least 827 people were in prison at the beginning of 2016 for exercising basic human rights. Non-violent political demands, such as the demand for the traditional Shiite separation of state and religion and for the separation of powers put forward by the late Khomeini antipode Hossein Borujerdi, are met with imprisonment and torture, as in the case of the internationally known Hossein Kazemeyni Borujerdi. After the violent suppression of the protests following the Iranian presidential election in 2009 - the largest mass protests since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 - there was increased persecution of opposition members, particularly by the omnipresent Islamic Basij militia, which forms part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. To this day (as of February 2016), the presidential candidates at the time, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who were considered moderate, and their wives are still under house arrest. Protests by students in June 1999, which took place in Tehran after the press laws were tightened and the newspaper Salam was banned, were also met with plainclothes security forces and Basij militias storming student dormitories, beating students and throwing them out of windows. This was followed by demonstrations in the capital and other large cities in the country on June 10 with thousands of protesters. This resulted in 1,500 arrests, and Amnesty International reported five deaths.

Foreign citizens have been arrested several times in Iran and sentenced in show trials in order to then use these hostages as a means of exerting political pressure on foreign states. According to those who were later released (e.g. as part of prisoner exchanges), the confessions and interrogations of the detainees were made using torture, among other things. The prison conditions themselves amount to abuse.

 

Freedom of opinion

Freedom of information and freedom of speech do not exist in Iran. Journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and opposition members face repression, arrest, torture and even the death penalty. In the summer of 2007, the conditions for press freedom deteriorated considerably. Newspapers were banned and journalists arrested. For example, the reform-oriented magazine Sharq was banned because of an interview with the lesbian writer Saghi Qahraman, who lives in exile in Canada. Observers saw a direct connection with the poor poll results for the then-incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, under President Hassan Rohani, who has been in office since August 2013, the situation worsened dramatically again with a "real hunt for bloggers and internet activists".

 

Homosexuality

According to Iranian law, homosexuality is contrary to Islam. Homosexuality among women is punished with flogging, and "sexual acts between men, either with penetration or in the form of tafkhiz [تفخيذ] (rubbing of thighs and penis)" are punishable by death, often in conjunction with a public flogging. In July 2005, the public flogging (228 lashes) and execution of two young people for homosexual acts caused a stir worldwide, also because it was suspected that the official reason for the execution, the rape of a thirteen-year-old, was only added later by the authorities.

Other homosexual acts are also punished. For example, Iranian law provides for up to 60 lashes for "kissing out of lust". Due to a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini, gender reassignment surgery and the subsequent change of legal gender are permitted in Iran, unlike in other Islamic countries.

 

Organ harvesting

In 2022, it was reported that Afghan refugees who went to hospitals in southern Iran were declared dead and the bodies no longer had kidneys when handed over to relatives.

 

Foreign policy

In the Middle East, Shiite Iran is hostile to most other states because of their Sunni state ideologies. Iran's only regional allies are the other members of the Axis of Resistance. In recent years, relations with China and Russia have deepened.

Until 1979, Iran was the Western world's most important ally in the Persian Gulf. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has pursued a complex and sometimes contradictory foreign policy that attempts to unite Islam, anti-imperialism and Third World leadership. Since Khomeini's death, ideology has increasingly given way to the perception of national interests. Although Iran is perceived as an aggressive state with aspirations to become a regional power, the country is largely isolated. The state of Iran now sees itself surrounded by rival Sunni states and allies of the West and has few reliable partners. The relationship with the West is dominated by the dispute over the nuclear program.

In addition to the human rights situation in Iran, which is regularly condemned in UN resolutions, the Iranian nuclear program has been the main cause of international criticism for several years. In several resolutions, the UN Security Council has supported the IAEA's demands regarding the Iranian nuclear program and has also passed several legally binding sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran is the seat of the Secretariat of the Organization for Economic Cooperation, of which Turkey, Pakistan and Central Asian states are also members.

 

Isolation and sanctions

As a Shiite middle power and in the tradition of a nation with a culture that is thousands of years old, Iran intervenes in the domestic politics of its neighbouring countries, which results in numerous diplomatic tensions. In particular, its policy of ballistic and suspected nuclear armament, as well as its massive violations of basic human and minority rights, has led to the Islamic Republic of Iran becoming increasingly isolated internationally, which has also had massive economic consequences for the population. Since 2006, the United Nations Security Council has imposed various economic sanctions and travel bans on Iran in several resolutions, and money transfers to and from Iran are becoming increasingly complicated and even impossible. In mid-March 2012, for the first time in the history of SWIFT, international data traffic between SWIFT and Iranian banks was blocked in order to comply with the European Union's sanctions regulations, which has almost completely prevented money transfers between Europe and Iran. Institutions, banks, companies, universities, government agencies and individuals are listed on sanctions lists of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Canada, for which there is a partial total trade or travel ban. This also includes Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in his role as former head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization and Minister for Atomic Energy in the Ahmadinejad II cabinet.

On January 20, 2014, the sanctions were initially relaxed considerably for 6 months. The signing of an agreement on a permanent settlement was subsequently postponed again and again and finally announced in Vienna on July 14, 2015.

Given the country's isolation, the Non-Aligned Movement is an important institution in which the country finds contacts and recognition and in which it seeks to realize a claim to leadership for the Third World. Other allies such as Venezuela or North Korea, with whom Iran has concluded various agreements, do not have the influence to help Iran out of its isolation.

 

United States

Until the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran and the United States were allies in the Cold War. However, as a consequence of the occupation of the US embassy and the hostage-taking in Tehran on November 4, 1979, the United States broke off its diplomatic relations with Iran; ideological hostility towards the Great Satan USA has been a constant in Iranian foreign policy ever since. Since then, there have been almost no direct contacts between the governments of both countries for many years. Although observers attribute a number of common interests to both, attempts to normalize relations have been rejected several times by the other side. Last but not least, the demonization of the enemy is useful domestically in both Iran and the USA. Anti-US demonstrations have taken place every year on November 4 throughout Iran.

 

Israel

As part of the anti-Israel paradigm, Iran broke off political and economic contacts with Israel after 1979, apart from Israeli arms deliveries to Iran from 1980 to 1986 during the First Gulf War. Iran denies Israel any right to exist. Khamenei described Israel as a "cancer" that must be eradicated. The representatives of the Jewish minority in Iran, Haroun Yashyaei and Ciamak Moresadegh, see anti-Zionism, but not anti-Semitism in Iran, something which observers partly confirm and partly deny. Moresadegh, as a representative of the Jewish minority in the Iranian parliament, compared the Israeli military offensive in Gaza in 2014 with Nazi actions during the Second World War.

The propaganda high point is al-Quds Day, which has taken place annually since 1979, with its state-organized mass demonstrations against Israel. Furthermore, in 2006 and 2014, so-called "international Holocaust conferences" were held, at which anti-Zionists, right-wing extremists and Islamists denied the Holocaust and disputed Israel's right to exist. In addition, as part of its anti-Israel state doctrine, Iran openly supports radical Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah in the armed struggle against Israel. In a much-discussed speech on October 26, 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took up the threat of annihilation against Israel that had been made by both leaders since 1979 and regularly expressed by various Iranian representatives, and demanded: "The regime that occupies Jerusalem must be erased from the annals of history (safhe-ye ruzgār)." In some media, including on the website of the state-run Iranian broadcaster IRIB, the sentence was translated as "Israel must be wiped off the map."

Even during Rohani's reign, Iran maintained its hostile stance and underlined this with several missile tests in early March 2016. According to the state news agency Fars, the missiles tested were labeled with the phrase "Israel must be wiped out." In addition, a high-ranking commander of the Revolutionary Guards stated in this context that the Iranian missile program was directed against Israel: "We built our missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers in order to be able to hit our enemy, the Zionist regime, from a safe distance." The USA, Great Britain, France and Germany viewed the tests as a violation of the nuclear agreement that had been concluded shortly before.

 

Arab countries

The majority of Arab countries view their neighbor Iran with suspicion. This is due, among other things, to the export of revolution once proclaimed by Khomeini and the general striving for influence in the region, which is also expressed in the financing and military support of certain groups.

Since the 1980s, Syria has been Iran's only reliable long-term partner. A possible fall of the Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad in the civil war could mean that Iran would lose its influence on politics in the Levant. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the country has also built close relations with the Shiite majority in neighboring Iraq and finances armed militias there. In 2014, an Iranian MP claimed that Iran controlled four Arab governments in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. In its foreign policy strategy, Iran is keen to build a sphere of influence in the states of the Shiite Crescent and beyond.

Iran also plays a crucial role in the civil war in Yemen, supporting the militia with weapons, money laundering and illegal substances.

 

Russia

Western states fear an alliance between Russia and Iran. Both countries have a number of common interests: Russia needs Iran as a buyer of weapons and nuclear goods, and Iran has so far relied on Russia to circumvent sanctions. However, for historical reasons, mutual distrust was great, with both states accusing each other of a lack of willingness to cooperate. This has now changed, and Iran is pursuing a fact-based policy in the politically unstable Caucasus. Iran maintains excellent relations with Christian Armenia and supports it against Shiite Azerbaijan, with whom it is in a conflict over the border in the Caspian Sea and which is suspected of promoting separatism among the Azerbaijani minority in Iran.

In January 2022, Iran, China and Russia held their third joint naval exercise in the northern Indian Ocean. These exercises have taken place since 2019.

 

China

The People's Republic of China has recently become an important partner of Iran. Iran is a strategic partner, especially in achieving China's New Silk Road Initiative. In August 2019, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Beijing to discuss the roadmap for a strategic partnership. The aim of the partnership is Chinese investments in key Iranian industries in exchange for oil deliveries from Iran on very favorable terms. Although China sees a potentially nuclear-armed Iran as contrary to its interests, it helped Iran to mitigate Western sanctions and in return has expanded its economic relations with the country. In March 2021, both countries signed a 25-year strategic partnership agreement. With an agreement brokered by China, Saudi Arabia and Iran resumed diplomatic relations in March 2023.

 

Nuclear program

The beginning of the Iranian nuclear program dates back to the 1950s: In keeping with the spirit of the times, the Shah intended to build a strong nation with the help of nuclear power. As part of the Atoms for Peace program, the first reactor came to Iran in 1957. Thanks to the Shah's great personal interest in nuclear power and the high oil revenues, the AEOI, founded in 1974, was endowed with a large budget. Not least, the aim at the time was to invest the large oil profits in the country in such a way that the economy was not thrown out of balance. At the beginning of the 1970s, the nuclear program envisaged the construction of up to 20 reactors. In 1975, the contract for the construction of the first nuclear power plant was signed with Kraftwerk Union AG, and a little later that for the construction of another power plant with Framatome; both were turnkey projects. In addition, the CEA built a turnkey research center near Isfahan. The acquisition of nuclear weapons was expressly not the focus of these efforts. The Shah considered his conventional armaments so strong that he did not think that his relations with the USA should be burdened with a nuclear weapons program. Iran was therefore one of the first signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Until the Islamic Revolution, Iran complied with all obligations under this agreement and allowed all inspections without hindrance. The USA, however, had reservations about providing Iran with nuclear support: they had in mind the scenario of the overthrow of the Pahlavi dictatorship and an irrational successor regime and tried to prevent Iran from gaining full control over the fuel cycle.

After the Islamic Revolution, the nuclear program was initially viewed as part of a plot to westernize Iran and was stopped; foreign workers had to leave the country. Payments to the contractors were stopped. It was not until 1984 that money was budgeted again for the construction of the nuclear power plant, but the contractors refused to continue working on the Bushehr power plant during the Iraq-Iran war. From the mid-1980s, Iran was looking for a partner to continue its nuclear program, because the official nuclear states were refusing to support it under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The USA successfully prevented help from other states. Officially, Iran continued to reject the atomic bomb. However, this stance was already being questioned in the early 1980s because, given its complicated foreign policy situation, the country had every reason to strive for nuclear weapons. Media in the Western world were already speculating at that time how far the road to an Iranian atomic bomb was. In the second half of the 1980s, Iran began working on a uranium enrichment program without reporting to the IAEA and by circumventing export restrictions. The first call for nuclear weapons development came in 1988 from the mouth of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who called for an Islamic atomic bomb because of Israel's nuclear weapons. In the mid-1990s, construction began on the heavy water reactor in Arak and the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz; at the same time, relations with the USA in particular continued to deteriorate.

In 2002, members of the People's Mojahedin living abroad made the secret activities public; in 2003, Abdul Kadir Khan's network, through which Iran had obtained plans and equipment, was exposed. This revealed that Iran was working on two routes to nuclear weapons and that it had concealed the program. While Iran feared air strikes on the facilities, negotiations began with the EU-3, which resulted in an agreement in which Iran committed to suspending uranium enrichment, to transparency and to cooperating with the IAEA. Since Iran believed that it had received nothing in return for suspending enrichment, efforts were resumed two years later; in the meantime, it had also emerged that Iran had plans to build a nuclear bomb. After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office, the country took a confrontational course with the West and refused to engage in dialogue. In 2006, it was possible to enrich uranium to 3.5%, which is enough for fuel in nuclear power plants. In August 2006, the plant in Arak was opened, and in 2007 the construction of the enrichment plant in Fordo was reported to the IAEA. At the same time, it was also possible to produce more highly enriched uranium. Western countries reacted with sanctions: at the end of 2006, UN Security Council Resolution 1737 banned deliveries of goods for the nuclear industry. These were tightened in March 2007 and extended to include rocket technology. Resolution 1803 (2008) imposed travel bans, sanctions on Iranian companies active in the nuclear sector, and bans on trade in dual-use technology. The USA and the EU imposed further unilateral sanctions against Iranian state-owned companies and the Revolutionary Guards, and the assets of Bank Melli were frozen. Despite Iran's increased turn towards China and Russia, these measures caused economic problems; in 2010, the sanctions were extended to include an arms and financial embargo (Resolution 1929), and finally the EU strengthened its embargo by boycotting Iranian oil and freezing the assets of the Iranian central bank. In parallel to the diplomatic track, the Iranian nuclear program was fought by secret services; in 2009, for example, the Stuxnet computer virus affected centrifuges for uranium enrichment; Iranian nuclear scientists (Dariusch Rezaie, Mostafa Ahmadi Roschan) were murdered. Explosions in Iranian research centers have occurred more frequently since 2010. Explosions in the summer of 2020 damaged, among other things, an underground nuclear facility in Natanz.

Negotiations with Iran were only fruitful after another change of government: on January 20, 2014, the sanctions were initially relaxed considerably for six months. The signing of an agreement on a permanent settlement was subsequently postponed again and again and was finally announced as completed on July 14, 2015 in Vienna.

After several missile tests in March 2016, the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany called on the Security Council in a letter to initiate "appropriate reactions" because Iran had violated the terms of the nuclear agreement. The missiles tested "could in principle carry nuclear warheads".

 

Military

Iran only began to build a military based on the Western model in the 1920s. At times, Reza Shah Pahlavi spent up to 40% of Iranian state spending on military purposes, and the military became one of the most important pillars of the Shah's rule. Before the Islamic Revolution, Iran had the fifth largest armed force in the world, had 400,000 men under arms and imported modern weapons systems in large quantities, so that up to 20,000 US military advisors were in the country. After the revolution, political purges took place in the military, which claimed the lives of around 17,000 officers, leading to chaotic conditions and reduced effectiveness in the Iran-Iraq war.

There are currently around 400,000 soldiers serving in Iran's regular armed forces (Artesh). The Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) have 120,000 soldiers. These numbers have remained roughly the same since 2001. Both have land, sea and air forces. While the regular armed forces are better equipped in the conventional area, the Revolutionary Guards have strong ties with the country's political elite. The Revolutionary Guards also include the Quds Force for missions at home and abroad. The third arm of the Iranian military is the Basij militia, which is under the command of the Revolutionary Guards and is intended to suppress uprisings and fend off invasions. Originally, the Revolutionary Guards' tasks also included exporting the revolution, but this increased and legitimized the presence of the US military in Iran's neighboring countries. Iran has therefore pursued a strategy of deterrence and détente since the 1990s; however, since 2001 there was fear of a US campaign against Iran and, despite international isolation, began to prepare militarily for this scenario.

The Revolutionary Guards are not only a military force in Iran, but also an economic one. Thanks to their political ties, they have built up a dominant position in the construction, oil, gas, electronics and arms industries with numerous companies, which they continue to consolidate.

Iran's defense budget doubled between 2001 and 2010, reaching 10.5 billion US dollars in 2010. In 2017, it was just under 14.5 billion US dollars, or 3.1% of economic output. However, in regional comparison, this is not particularly high: the seven members of the Gulf Cooperation Council alone spend a total of seven times as much on their military as Iran. The Iranian armed forces are limited, especially in terms of conventional capabilities. It can be assumed that the Iranian army would be overwhelmed if it had to invade one of its neighboring countries. For this reason, the defense strategy known in Iran as "passive defense" is based on making an attack using unconventional means as expensive as possible for the attacker.

 

Censorship

In its history, Iran has gone through periods of strict censorship (such as after the 1953 coup and after the 2009 Green Movement protests) and relative respect for freedom of expression (just before and after the Islamic Revolution). In 2011, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance operated a system that forces publishers to obtain a license and a clearance for each book they publish; revoking a license means going out of business. Even with clearance, however, it is possible for prosecutors to identify harmful content in a publication and therefore hold the author, publisher and censor accountable. This system, whose existence the Iranian government denies, violates the Iranian constitution and the commitments made by Iran under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It creates fear among all parties because of its arbitrariness and lack of transparency. In addition, there is high financial risk for publishers and high costs. This is causing considerable damage to the development of Iranian literature. Foreign works are often not allowed to be published at all or only in a modified form, which fuels further mistrust among potential readers. Authors therefore sometimes only publish their works on the Internet, although censorship also exists there.

The government monitors and filters Internet traffic or slows it down considerably, as was the case during the 2013 presidential election. In 2007, ten million Internet sites were blocked for users in Iran; in 2009, the law against virtual crimes was passed and an institution against criminal content was created. For this reason, in 2014 more than two thirds of Iranians used technologies that circumvented Internet controls. Nevertheless, leading Iranian politicians are also represented on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the use of which is actually prohibited in Iran. During the presidential election campaign, easing Internet censorship was one of the most important election promises of the eventual winner, Rohani. Since then, Iranian Internet censorship has become more centralized and intelligent, following the Chinese model, and is accompanied by efforts to create a domestic and government-controlled offering in order to reduce the attractiveness of foreign services.

 

Economy

The Iranian economy is characterized by strong state influence, the high importance of oil and gas exports, and international sanctions due to Iran's nuclear program. The biggest challenge for the government is to provide sufficient jobs for the large number of young people.

The gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power parity was around US$8,000 before the Islamic Revolution, by 1988 it had fallen to US$4,000 and by 2005 it had risen to US$7,000. Economic growth has fluctuated greatly since the revolution; it was 12% in 1991 and the economy stagnated in 1994. The reasons for this include war, fluctuating revenues from oil exports, government intervention, and poor management. Nominal gross domestic product, which was $377 billion in 2016/17, is expected to grow by about 4.3% each year in the coming years, with growth in the non-oil component being weaker. Inflation was 8.9% in 2016/17 and is expected to remain between 10% and 11% in the coming years. Unemployment, which was 12.5% ​​in 2016/17, is likely to remain at this level.

Iran's main economic sectors include oil and gas, petrochemical, automotive, agriculture, metal, and cement and building materials production.

Despite many problems and international sanctions, Iran's economy is being built up. Iranian steel production grew from 0.55 million tons in 1980 to 1.6 million tons in 1990 and 6.6 million tons in 2000 to 14.5 million tons in 2012. Cement production increased from 7.5 million tons in 1980 to 23.9 million tons in 2000 and 35.0 million tons in 2007 to 70 million tons in 2012, making Iran the fourth largest cement producer in the world.

In the Global Competitiveness Index, which measures a country's competitiveness, Iran ranks 69th out of 137 countries (as of 2017-2018). In the Index of Economic Freedom, the country ranks 155th out of 180 countries in 2017. The Iranian economy is heavily influenced by the state and is not liberalized. Iran ranks 124th out of 190 nations in the World Bank's 2018 Doing Business Index. In theocratic Iran, large parts of the economy are nationalized. With a few exceptions, these include the banks. Other economic sectors are organized privately or cooperatively. The capitalist economy is generally referred to as a command economy, in which the political centers of power try to control the economy. State planning is based on five-year plans.

In the 2010s, the corruption perception index fluctuated between 25 and 30 points, with 100 points being the best value.

 

Foreign trade

In 2021, Iran exported goods worth 76.4 billion US dollars. The largest export partners in 2019 were China (45.6%), India (13.9%), Turkey (10.5%), South Korea (7.3%) and the United Arab Emirates (4.2%). The most important export commodity is oil. The high price of oil allows Iran to cross-subsidize its industry and state treasury.

Imports amounted to 55 billion US dollars in 2021. The largest import partners in 2019 were China (24.9%), the United Arab Emirates (13.8%), India (6.4%), Turkey (6.3%) and Germany (5.9%).

Various embargoes have been imposed on Iran. For the countries of the European Union, the restrictions of Regulation (EU) No. 267/2012 apply.

 

State budget

The state budget in 2016 included expenditure of the equivalent of 72.29 billion US dollars, compared to revenues of the equivalent of 65.87 billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 1.6% of GDP.

Public debt in 2016 was 35.0% of GDP.

In 2020, the share of government spending (in % of GDP) was:
Health: 5.3%
Education: 3.6%
Military: 2.1% (2023)

 

Religious foundations

Religious foundations (Bonyād) represent an important economic factor. They control around 80% of the value added. The government plans to significantly increase the private sector. The Bonyād system already existed under the Shah and even then it carried out charitable tasks, as well as slush funds for the ruling elite. Even today, the Bonyāds are accused of a lack of transparency, corruption and nepotism. Tax advantages would hinder the development of a private economic sector. The Bonyāds operate in the form of holding companies and dominate large parts of the economy, for example in the areas of exports, building materials (concrete), shipping companies and petrochemicals. They also operate hotels, universities and banks. The Bonyāds are solely responsible to the religious leader and head of state, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The two largest foundations, each of which is estimated to have assets of up to US$15 billion, are the Bonyād-e-Mostafezān (Foundation for the Disenfranchised) and the Astan-e Qods-e Razavi of Mashhad, originally the administration of a holy tomb, but now a large corporation. In Iran's social system, the Bonyāds are the largest factor alongside the state and support around half of the needy population.

 

Privatization

Since 2001, Iranian governments have been running programs to promote the private sector. Article 44 of the constitution had to be amended for this. In 2006, the government issued a privatization program that included strategically important industries in the oil and financial sectors. The implementation of the program was weak because the private sector showed little interest in investing. In 2008, the government issued another program to encourage private investment.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard also benefits from the privatization efforts, as its pension funds buy up large companies, for example in the telecommunications industry. The extent to which the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard have a direct influence on the management of the acquired companies is controversial. Since capital monopolies do not exist in Iran as in other countries, many companies are financed with accumulated small capital and through pension funds. Direct influence by the Revolutionary Guard on management is not evident in every case; for example, no member of the Pāsdārān sits on the supervisory board of the Telekom acquired by the Revolutionary Guard. This purchase was also half privately financed. Tax advantages over private companies and the exemption from customs duties of the Revolutionary Guard have been criticized. The National Construction Company, which is said to belong to the Revolutionary Guard, and the religious foundation Bonyād-e Mostazafin va Dschānbāzān ("Foundation of the Oppressed and War-Disabled") each have a half share in the expansion of the Tehran metro. The Pāsdārān themselves deny any direct economic activity and in particular reject the accusation of smuggling made by President Ahmadinejad.

 

Agriculture

Despite numerous mountains and deserts, agricultural land accounts for 10% of the country's surface area, a third of which is artificially irrigated. Agriculture is one of the country's largest employers. Important products are pistachios, wheat, rice, sugar, cotton, fruit, nuts, dates, wool and caviar. Since the 1979 revolution, the cultivation of grapes has been almost entirely converted to table grapes and raisins on the 200,000 hectares of vineyards due to the legal ban on alcohol consumption for Muslims in Iran (the Sharia). Iran is now the second largest exporter of raisins in the world after Turkey, and by far the largest exporter of saffron, with around 90% of global demand.

 

Mining, oil and natural gas

The extraction and processing of oil and natural gas play a particularly important role in the Iranian economy. The first Iranian oil was found in the city of Masjed Soleyman in 1908 by the British Burma Oil Company, which had taken over the D'Arcy concession. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was subsequently founded, which was owned by the British but had to hand over a share of the profits to the Iranian state. Foreign control of Iranian oil and the low payments that the Iranian state received from the oil business led to calls for the nationalization of the oil industry from 1946 onwards, later to the Abadan crisis and the overthrow of the Mossadegh government. In 1960, Iran was a founding member of OPEC.

In 1968, Iran produced 2,847,580 barrels per day, making it the largest oil producer in the Middle East and the fourth largest oil producer in the world after the USA, the USSR and Venezuela, as well as one of the largest natural gas producers. Since the Islamic Revolution, all natural resources have been state-owned, and all oil and gas projects are run by the state-owned companies National Iranian Oil Company, National Iranian Gas Company and National Petrochemical Company. Pre-revolution production levels (6 million barrels per day) have not been reached since then due to wars, lack of investment and the decline in the productivity of existing sources.

The production and processing of oil and natural gas contributed about 20% to Iran's GDP in 2012. In the same year, Iran was the third largest producer of natural gas and the sixth largest producer of oil. It was estimated that at the end of 2012, Iran had 157 billion barrels of oil (9.4% of the world's oil reserves) and 33.6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas (18% of the world's natural gas reserves). However, in 2019, Iran reported the discovery of a new oil field containing 53 billion barrels of oil. In 2014, Iran produced 3.4 million barrels of oil per day. Of this, 1.8 million barrels remained for domestic consumption; refinery capacity in 2014 was 2 million barrels per day. Nevertheless, about 61,000 barrels per day of petroleum products had to be imported. In addition, 163 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced in 2013 (4.8% of the world's amount), almost all of which was consumed domestically. South Pars is the country's largest gas field, located in the Persian Gulf and containing 40% of Iran's gas reserves. This makes Iran one of the largest consumers of natural gas in the world. In order to slow the growth of energy demand and to curb waste and smuggling, subsidies were cut in 2010, and further measures will follow.

Iran's oil deposits are mostly located in the southwest of the country and some extend into the territory of neighboring countries. One of the largest natural gas fields is near Gach Saran on the edge of the Zagros Mountains. Around 70% of the oil reserves are onshore, and around 80% of the deposits were discovered before 1965 (as of 2015). From the ports on the Persian Gulf, the oil has to be transported to the recipient countries through the busy Strait of Hormuz; in 2013, 17 million barrels of oil and 3.7 Tcf of liquefied natural gas flowed through this strait every day.

Due to the international sanctions against Iran, oil production fell sharply between 2011 and 2014 and natural gas production increased only very slightly. Revenue for the Iranian state fell from 118 billion US dollars in 2011/12 to around 56 billion US dollars in 2013/2014. The decline in production is mainly attributed to the lack of foreign technology and investment, the withdrawal of foreign partners from developing new sources and the lack of insurance coverage for tanker transport.

Mining and the processing of mined raw materials contribute a further 14.2% to Iran's GDP. The most important of these raw materials include coal (1.3 million tons in 2012), iron (24 million tons), copper (260,000 tons), aluminum (230,000 tons), lead (40,000 tons) and manganese (70,000 tons). Some of the mines are privately owned, while others are controlled by the government through the state-owned company IMIDRO.

 

Automotive industry

In 2010, around 500,000 people were employed in the automotive industry, making it the second largest employer after the oil industry and Iran the largest automobile producer in the Middle East. In 2012, Iranian automobile production fell sharply; only 989,110 vehicles were produced - 40 percent less than in 2011. This includes 848,000 passenger cars and 141,110 commercial vehicles. The two largest automobile manufacturers are the state-owned SAIPA - currently in the process of privatization - and Iran Khodro (IKCO). In addition to domestic models such as Dena and Runna, IKCO produces models under license from Peugeot, among others. SAIPA overtook IKCO in the rankings for the first time in 2010. According to Business Monitor International's Iran Autos Report, the resilience of the Iranian automotive industry will only become apparent in the next few years, when the domestic market is saturated and Iran increasingly operates on the international market, because so far the increase in production has been largely due to government support. 12.64% of registered vehicles run on gas, making Iran the fifth largest country in the world in terms of the use of gas-powered vehicles. Swedish truck manufacturer Scania opened a new production line in Qazvin in 2011, replacing Daimler-Chrysler, which has severed its business ties with Iran.

 

Tourism

The Iranian government's stated goal is to attract more tourists in order to generate foreign currency earnings and jobs. Ten million people are expected to visit Iran every year by 2025. Special tourist attractions include:

Beaches on the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, which cover a total of 3,000 kilometers of coastline
Sand deserts of Kawir and Lut
Cities such as Tehran and Isfahan with their old buildings, museums and bazaars.

 

Inequality and subsidies

One of the leitmotifs of the Islamic Revolution was redistribution from the capitalists to the "disinherited". For this reason, numerous efforts were made after the revolution, such as electrifying rural regions and improving the health and education system, but also introducing subsidies for food, medicine and energy as well as labor market regulations. In the 1990s, the proportion of the population living in poverty fell sharply; today only 2-3% of Iranians live in severe poverty, a low figure by international comparison. The Gini coefficient, which measures inequality, is 0.43, only slightly below the level before the revolution; by international comparison it is average.

The Iranian government spent about $2 billion on food and medicine subsidies in 2005.

In the second half of 2010, the Iranian government began implementing a long-planned reform of subsidies on energy prices, grain, bread and public transport. The IMF said Iran was off to a good start with inflation falling from over 30% to 10% as of September 2009. In the first year of the reforms, $60 billion in subsidies were cut, 15% of gross domestic product. The reason for the reform is rising energy prices on the world market, with prices kept artificially low at home, which led to Iran becoming one of the biggest energy wasters, while low-income households hardly benefited from the subsidies. The IMF cites an average of $4,000 in annual subsidies for a household of four, but there is a large proportion of Iranians whose annual income is less than $4,000. The hope is that this will lead to more economical use of energy and the development of energy-saving technologies, for example in Iranian car production, and more social justice through direct payments to low-income households and increased state revenues through increased export capacity for oil and gas. In total, 30% of the money saved by the cuts in subsidies will go directly back to citizens, 20% will be paid to industry to develop energy-saving measures, and the rest will remain in the state budget to offset the increased energy prices. 93% of Iranian citizens are registered for the direct payments. Each person in a household receives around $80 every two months. In June, the IMF drew a positive interim assessment of the reforms: despite energy prices increasing by up to 20 times, the inflation rate rose moderately to 14.2% in May 2011. A temporary slowdown in economic growth and an equally temporary increase in the inflation rate were expected, but the IMF noted more social justice and lower energy consumption.

 

Labor market

Iran has a large and well-educated working-age population. The country can benefit from having completed the demographic transition, which has led to increased investment in human capital. Iran is predicted to have a good dependency ratio by around 2045. However, the inefficient labor market prevents the country from making the most of this situation. Over the past 30 years, the unemployment rate in Iran has always been around 11%, with youth unemployment at around 30%. In addition, only 17% of women participate in the labor market, resulting in a very low participation rate by international standards. In addition, there is a large gap between urban and rural unemployment. The 1990 Labor Law provides for heavy penalties for companies that fire employees without good cause. This means that private companies are very cautious about hiring new workers and can only judge an applicant's skills based on the diplomas presented. The result is that young people strive to obtain the best possible diplomas rather than productive skills, and that around 84% of all university graduates are employed in the state and semi-state sectors. The labor market thus takes on the function of social and unemployment insurance, which leads to major economic costs.

After the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini decreed that only believers who believe in the Islamic Republic could take on top positions in the state and economy: pious and righteous people must take on state tasks, otherwise the state would perish. This principle now applies to the entire state sector of the country, which generates 70% of economic output. The Gozinesh procedure, enshrined in the 1996 selection law, provides for the selection of personnel based on religious thinking as well as ideological, moral and political factors. These criteria are tested using specialist questions on religious practice, the Koran, and the politics, ideology and history of the Islamic Republic, as well as interviews with neighbors and family. The compliance of workers who have passed the Gozinesh procedure continues to be monitored at the workplace. This practice leads to the potential of well-trained personnel being wasted, well-trained people having to work in jobs for which they are overqualified, and key positions being filled by people who are not suited to them. Many secular people are therefore forced to lead a double life for their jobs. These circumstances contribute significantly to the talent exodus, the migration of qualified people from Iran.

In addition to high unemployment, child labor and the employment of low-wage workers, especially from Afghanistan, are widespread. There is no union representation for the employees. Low-wage workers in particular are subject to severe repression.

 

Infrastructure

Traffic

Iran has around 2,500 km of motorways and a large network of other roads, including developed expressways. The entire road network is 198,866 km long (160,366 km of which are paved).

With 32.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants per year, the country had one of the highest rates of traffic fatalities in the world. By comparison: In Germany, the figure was 4.3 in the same year. In total, around 25,000 people lost their lives in traffic. The reasons for this are an overloaded transport network with inadequate infrastructure and relatively advanced motorization. In 2017, there were 256 motor vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants in Iran (in Germany, there were over 500 vehicles).

Iran has had a railway network since 1888.
Railway Company of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Trans-Iranian Railway.

The state-owned airline Iran Air flies national and international routes. Due to international sanctions, the airline is struggling with the condition of an outdated fleet. In addition to the state-owned Iran Air, there are a number of private airlines, which means that all major cities in Iran can be reached by plane.

 

Fire service

In 2019, the Iranian fire service had a total of 9,285 professional firefighters, who work in 452 fire stations and firehouses, in which 1,300 fire engines and 20 turntable ladders or telescopic masts are available. The national fire service organization Tehran Fire Department (TFD) represents the Iranian fire service and its firefighters in the World Fire Service Association CTIF.

 

Energy

In Iran, around 224 billion kWh of electrical energy was generated in 2013, 92% of which was in thermal power plants fired with natural gas (70%) or petroleum. The remaining 8% came from nuclear power, hydropower and other renewable energy sources. The demand for electricity is expected to continue to rise, although the government raised electricity prices by 25% at the beginning of 2014 and plans to raise them again in 2015 to slow growth and reduce pressure on existing capacity. To meet demand, but also to be able to export more electricity, the Ministry of Energy has proposed building 35 new power plants.

The only nuclear power plant in Iran at present is the plant in Bushehr, which is to have an output of 700 MW. Construction began in the 1970s, but due to the Islamic Revolution, damage in the Iraq-Iran war and problems with the contractor Rosatom, which was entrusted with the construction, the plant did not go online until 2013. There are plans for two more blocks in Bushehr, each of which will produce 1000 MW. Another nuclear power plant in Darkhovin has long been planned. Plans to build nuclear power plants at 15 other locations have not yet been implemented due to international sanctions against Iran.

Iran has become a major dam builder. 157 dams have been built, 84 are under construction or in planning; before the Islamic Revolution there were only 13 dams in the country. Apart from producing electricity, which in turn will release more oil for export, the country wants to use it to deal with the increasing water shortage. The largest project is the Bakhtiyari Dam in Lorestan Province in southwest Iran, in the Zagros Mountains. It is to be the largest double-arch dam in the world, with a height of 315 meters. Due to its difficult geographical location, it is not necessary to relocate people for it.

 

Internet

Iran gained access to the Internet in 1993. In 2022, 81.7 percent of Iran's population used the Internet. Internet content, such as Instagram channels, is monitored by the internet police “Fata”.