Explore Iran

Location:
Iran

Currency:
Iranian rial (IRR)

Communications:
The telephone code for Iran: + 973

About:
Iran, the second largest country in the Middle East, has 5,000 years of fascinating history.

Literally surrounded by the most tumultuous area on the planet, the rigidity of its own long-standing political and social policies have come under attack in recent years, and there's now a powerful and growing internal pressure for reform.

Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and the shah was forced into exile.

Conservative clerical forces established a theocratic system of government with ultimate political authority nominally vested in a learned religious scholar. Thrust into the worldwide spotlight in 1979, when Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran, it also struggled through a bloody and disastrous ( no win ) eight-year-war with Iraq in the 1980s.

During 1980-88, Iran fought a bloody, indecisive war with Iraq that eventually expanded into the Persian Gulf and led to clashes between US Navy and Iranian military forces between 1987-1988. Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism for its activities in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world and remains subject to US economic sanctions and export controls because of its continued involvement.

Following the elections of a reformist president and Majlis in the late 1990s, attempts to foster political reform in response to popular dissatisfaction floundered as conservative politicians prevented reform measures from being enacted, increased repressive measures, and made electoral gains against reformers. Parliamentary elections in 2004 and the August 2005 inauguration of a conservative stalwart as president, completed the reconsolidation of conservative power in Iran's government.

The country is rich in natural gas and petroleum resources, and when that economic power is combined with its outwardly-friendly and hard working people, a troubled past certainly points to a bright future.