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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]."
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
The fuel cards that were previously required have been abolished, and the supply of diesel is also problem-free in 2018.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Packages sent abroad must be brought openly to the post office. The contents and passport of the sender are checked.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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).
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 (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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.