Name Origin

The name "Iran" comes from the old Persian wordmeaning " The land of Aryans ". Iran has been the name of this country at least since the Sassanid (Sasanian) empire. However, until 1935, the English-speaking world knew this country as Persia, a legacy (heritage) of the Greeks who named the area (zone) after its most important province, Pars (present-day Fars)

Flag Description

Iran’s flag is made up of  three equal horizontal bands of green, white, and red (from top to bottom). Centered in the white band is the red Emblem; a stylized representation of the word Allah (God in Arabic) in the shape of a Tulip, a symbol of martyrdom. The words Allah Akbar, meaning "God is Great" are repeated 11 times along each of the inner edged of the green and red bands in white letters in angular Kufic script.(Arabic alphabet)

 

Location

 

Middle East

 

Area

Total: 1,648,195 sq. Km

Land: 1,531,595 sq. Km (99.27%)

Water: 116,600 sq. Km (0.73%)

Comparative: the size of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland all combined; almost 2.5 times the size of Texas.

 

Land Boundaries

Total: 5,894 km

Coastline: 2,440 km

 

Weather

mostly Arid or Semi-arid climate, subtropical along the Caspian coast. Iran is also a four season country.

 

 

Terrain

rugged, mountainous rim; high, central basin with deserts (sahara) and mountains; small, discontinuous plains along both coasts

 

Elevation Extremes

Lowest point: Caspian Sea - 28 m

Highest point: Mount Damavand Peak, 5,671 m

 

 

Natural Resources

petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur

 

Population

-Population: 82,801,633 (July2016 est)

-Population growth rate: 1.18% (2016 est)

-Gender ratio: 0.85 males/ 1 female (2016 est)

 

Ethnic groups

Persian 51%/other 1%

Iranian Azerbaijanis 24% Arabs of Iran 3%

 

Lurs 2% Kurds 7%

 

Mazani and Gilaki 8%

Baloch People 2% Turkman (Torkaman) 2%

Languages

Persian and dialects 51%, Turkish and dialects26%, Kurdish 9%, Lurs 2%, Baluchis 1%, Arabic 1%, other 3%

 

Economy

A mixture of state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures

-Major industries: oil, gas, agriculture and carpets

-Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), metal fabricating, armaments

-Agriculture-products: wheat, persian rice ,other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton, dairy products, wool, caviar

Exports-commodities: oil and oil products 85%, carpets, fruits and nuts, iron and steel, chemicals

 

Currency

Iranian rials (IR)