|RNational holiday:|N Victory of the Islamic revolution, February 11. Islamic republic Day, April 1.
|RNature and climate:|N Most of Iran is a highland plateau surrounded by mountain chains.Highest peak, the volcano Damavadn, reaches 5605 m.a.s.l. The plateau has no outlet and most of the area is a salt desert. The coastal strip against the Caspian Sea have a very rich flora with subtropical forests.
Average temperature i January between 0 and +5°C in the northern parts and between 10 and 15°C in south. In July between 25 and 30°C in the north and between 30 and 35°C in the south.
Percipitation between 100 and 250 on the highland plateau and between 400 and 1000 mm by the Caspian Sea and on the west side of the mountains.
|REconomy:|N 33% of the labour force is occupied in agriculture, 21% in industry and commerce and 27% in services.
Only 11% of the land is cultivated and 30% of that area is artificially irrigated. Most important crops are grains, rice, fruits, sugar beets, cotton and grapes. Since the late 1960:ies the food production has not been sufficient for the domestic demands.
The most important fishing is in the Caspian Sea were sturgeons are caught for the caviar.
Sheep and goat raising are very important and the wool is the base for the traditional carpetbinding.
Iran have many minerals such as oil, natural gas, copper, lead, zinc, chromium, sulphur, uranium, coal and iron ore.
The most important industries are petrochemical, steel and copper.
Iran also have an extensive manufacturing of vehicles, tractors, machinery, building materials, pharmaceuticals, textiles and food. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979 most industries and all foreign trade are state controlled.
|RHistory:|N The Zagros Mountains at the border to Iraq saw the first peasant culture of the earth at about 9000 BC. At about 6000 BC the people here started to build houses of clay and sundried bricks.
During the 2nd millenium BC an Indo-European group, the Iranians, invaded and took control over the area.
In 549 BC the different tribes were united under the Persian cyrus the Great who founded the Persian Empire and in 538 BC conquered Babylonia. During the following centuries the realm expanded and by the 4th century BC it contained all land between the river Indus in the east to river Nile in the west. They also conquered todays Turkey and held parts of Greece and had a great impact on all Greek affairs. In 333 BC Persia was conquered by Alexander the great, but the Persians regained independence in the next century.
In the last century BC and the two first AD there were many wars between Persia and Rome that weakened the Persian dynasty and in 224 AD a new dynasty gained control, the Sassanians. These conquered vast areas to the east, but also continued the wars against Rome. This struggle between the two giants weakened both of them and when the Persian king Chosroes II in 627 lost the battle of Ninive he was killed by his own soldiers and chaos and anarchy spread all over the area and 643 the whole former Persia was in Arabic hands.
National movements and local dynasties gained control from the 10th century but in the 11th century Turkish tribes several times invaded.
1220 to 1224 Persia was conquered by Djingis Khan and 1380 it was conquered by Timur Lenk and belonged to his Mongolian Empire until 1468. In 1499 the Safavid dynasty took control and ruled Persia as a national state in great prosper until 1736, although some areas were lost. Under the next dynasty, the Kadjars, persia declined and in the 19th century Russia and Britain gained control.
After World War I Persia was formerly recognized as an independent country, but was in fact a British protectorate. National currents led to a coupe putting the general Reza Khan at power. In 1925 he was appointed Shah and Persia became a hereditary monarchy. In 1935 the country's name was formally changed to Iran.
In World War II Iran was occupied by British and Russian troops and in 1941 Reza Shah was forced to abdicate in favour of his son Muhammed Riza Pahlavi.
After WW II the Shah tried to modernize the country in all ways. First Iran took control over the oil resources. Then the army was built up and in 1962 a white revolution started. It's purpose was to industrialize the country, educate the people, split up the great land properties and nationalize the forests and all minerals. This revolution met great opposition from the landowners and the clergy at first and when the Shah in 1975 made himself a dictator that tolerated no political opposition he lost the support from the students and the intellectuals which led to mass demonstrations and strikes and in 1979 the Shah and his family left the country and the religious opposition leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and established an Islamic republic with himself as Faghi, the final authority.
The new regime in Iran isolated itself, but when Iraqi troops attacked in 1980 Iran was forced to resume trade with the rest of the world to be able to pay for the military activities.
The longtime dispute about the important waterway of Shatt-al-Arab was the reason for the attack. The Iraqi troops soon gained control over vast areas in Iran, but the war continued and soon Iran regained most of the disputed area. This conflict affected the whole world as both Iraqi and Iranian air forces attacked neutral tankers in the Persian Gulf. A ceasefire was signed in 1988.
The rigid Islamic Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 pronounced a death sentence on the British author Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses. The book was banned in many Muslim countries and Britain and the EU broke diplomatic relations with Iran. later in 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini died.
In 1990 a major earthquake struck northern Iran killing more than 45 000 people, injuring more than 100 000 and leaving more than 400 000 homeless.
During the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, 1990 to 1991, Iran condemned the presence of western troops in the Middle East, but it abided the UN sanctions against Iraq.
In recent years the regime has opened more to the western world, modernizing the economy and taking greater part in the world of politics.
