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   Iran occupies a most prominent politico-economic position in the Middle East. With a surface area of 1,648,000 square kilometers, and such an strategic position, the country is truly unique, and enjoys many advantages.
   After the collapse of the ex-USSR in 1991, Iran gained a more prominent position in the region, acting as a "bridge" that links the Middle Asian states in the north to the wealthy people south of the Persian Gulf who are both producers and consumers. It also provides for Middle Asia, a sea route, via the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, to India, China and African countries. Iran is cozily nestled in the middle of a market with 380 million consumers. It has direct land or sea routes to: Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, the Republic of Armenia, Independent Republic of Nakhichevan, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Pakistan. It can provide transit routes linking the northern states - the ex-Soviet Republics - to the other states by sea and land, without the necessity of passage through a third country. It also joins the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean by road and railway. In the north and west there are two large ranges of high mountains. Also a few smaller ranges of mountains run in the south, not very far from the coasts of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. These mountains bar the central regions from the humid winds coming from the Caspian Sea in the north, the Mediterranean in the west, and the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman in the south. Thus the external slopes of these mountains are green and the internal faces dry.

   Iran consists of a high interior plateau surrounded by a series of massive, heavily eroded mountain ranges. Most of the country is over 509m above sea level. The capital, Tehran, lies at the foot of Alborz mountains and extends from an altitude of 1,300m to that of 1,600m . However, the coastal regions which lie beyond the mountains in the north and the south are quite low. In the north there is a narrow littoral, over 600 kilometers long, running along the Caspian sea, about 100 kilometers across where it is widest, and as narrow as 15 kilometers in many parts. The land falls from about 3,000 meters above the sea, down to 30m below sea level. Along the southern coast the land falls from about 700m to about sea level where it meets the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.
The Zagros range of mountains runs from the northwest downwards in a south-easterly direction, then it turns east-wards and extends to Baluchestan but the west-east section is not called Zagros: different names are given to different parts of it. As Zagros mountains move from the northwest, south-wards slightly to the east, they broaden into almost parallel alternating ridges which separate central Iran from the plains of Mesopotamia.
The Alborz range, as forbidding as Zagros mountains, runs in the northern parts of the country close and parallel to the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The highest summit is a volcanic peak more than 5,600m high, the snow-clad Mount Damavand.
At the eastern side, majestic mountains turn into low hills and sand dunes.
   In the interior plateau, most of which is desert-land or simply dry and barren, two other small ranges of mountains cut their way through. Parts of the central deserts are covered by sand and rocks. Small eases can be found here and there where some water can be had, and these usually mark the caravansaries, (or as the correct original Iranian word is caravansaries); stations on caravan routes for night rest and for trade. The plateau contains within It a salt waste, over 300 km long and about 10m wide: the "kavir." The central plateau, a high depression within these mountains, was at the one time the bed of a sea, which dried up tens of thousands of years ago.

 

In 1994, the population of Iran was about 60 millions of whom 35 millions lived in towns and 25 millions in rural areas. About 48% of the population were female and the rest were male. In the 1980s, the rate of population growth had risen alarmingly but the nation managed to control the population growth and lower the growth rate from 3.9% in the 80s down to 2.5% in the 90s.
Population distribution in Iran is very uneven because of the enormous variations in natural and climatic conditions, economic potentials, and concentration of industries and services across the country. For example, the eastern regions, the provinces of Kerman, Khorassan, and Sistan-and -Baluchestan,  which cover about 42% of the country's surface area, home only 16.7% of the population But the province of Tehran, which covers 1.7% of the country's area, is inhabited by 20% of the population. Of the 60 million Iranians, 17 millions are able to work, of which 15 millions are active.
Special efforts are being made to eradicate illiteracy and the population has welcomed the idea, and has fervently participated in the literacy program, such that today 78%, of the population of 6 years and over can read and write; and 92.6% of the Iranians aged 6-29 are literate.

Iran has numerous large and small rivers but still not enough water for irrigation. the water for some streams pours into the dry central plateau and goes to waste, and great efforts are being made nowadays to control and gather this water behind large and small dams. Iran's major rivers are the Atrak, the Sefid, and the only river that can be navigated - at least over parts of it- the Karoon. Iran's other rivers include the Zayandeh which passes through Isfahan; Karkheh and Jarrahi (south-west); and Zarrineh which flows into the Lake Urumiyeh (northwest).
There are many lakes in Iran, large and small, with the largest lake in the world, the Caspian Sea, lying to its north. The lakes include Urumiyeh (4,368 sq km), the largest inland water reservoir of the country with very high salinity; Bakhtagan in Fars (south central) and Howz Soltan near Qom, Iran' s main islands are: Qeshm (1,491 sq km), Kish (89.7 sq km), Lavan (99 sq km); and Khark, Larak, Hormuz, Hangam, Abu Musa, the Greater Tomb and the Lesser Tomb, all in the Persian Gulf. It also has other smaller islands both in the south and in the Caspian Sea.

Iran has vastly varying climates depending on the season, and the part of the country.
Generally speaking central Iran, being closed off from humidity of the seas by the surrounding mountains, has a distinctly continental climate. In winter though, a high-pressure belt centered in Siberia gushes westwards and south wards reaching the Iranian central plateau and at the same time low pressures develop over the warm waters of the Caspian, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. In summer, winds develop in parts of the country, specially the "summer wind" which sometimes reaches speeds of 100 km per hour. Warm wind blows from Arabia bringing with it high humidity from the Persian Gulf, to southern Iran.
Maximum and minimum temperatures are extreme, varying from 51C in Khuzistan in summer, to -37C in the north west, in winter.

Rainfall too varies considerably from one part of Iran to another. In the Caspian littoral the weather is relatively mild and rainfall high. Rainfall is lowest in the south-central regions.
In the west, the weather varies from cold in the north, becoming increasingly warmer- moving south wards. But on the whole, the weather in Iran is warm in the valleys and moderate on the mountains in summer; and moderate in the valleys and very cold on the mountains, in winter.
The southern coasts are generally I-rot and humid in summer, and mild and misty, sometimes with heavy fog, in winter.
as one moves from the north to the south and from the west to the east, the weather becomes warmer and the land more barren.

In 1993 Iran's First Five-Year Social and Economic Development Plan, which followed the end of the war with Iraq, came to its end. On the whole the plan was a success, in some areas its achievements were even better than expected.
The Second Plan began in 1995 and will continue till 1999, the final year of the 20th century.
The Second Plan has the following social and economic aims:

    1- Efforts towards social justice and equity.
    2- Moral advancement on the basis of Islamic ethics, and general cultural and educational development of the society.
    3- Guidance of the youth towards God, native culture, purity, knowledge, creativity in arts and technology, physical training, and finally towards family and social participation in cultural, political and economic activities.
    4- Greater efficiency.
    5- Training of the necessary work force.
    6- Growth and development of a stable economy with a strong agricultural basis.
    7- Improvement in the supervisory and judicial systems of the country.
    8- Growth in the participation of the people in implementing the Plan.
    9- Expansion of non-oil exports and movement towards economic independence from oil.
    10- Environmental protection and better use of natural resources.
    11- Greater defensive power.
    12- More effective foreign policy.
    13- Complete rule of the law and prevalence of security in the society.
    14- Research and development towards a more highly - developed nation.
    15- A more balanced economic structure (among public, private and coop sectors).
    16- Better use of financial resources and the state's potentials, according to the values of the Islamic Revolution.
To achieve these aims, the plan intends to adept the following major executive policies, amongst others:
    1- A more balanced social and economic structure that would raise the standards of living, working, education etc, etc, in the less advanced regions of the country to the same level as the more advanced areas.
    2- A better and more equitable quality of life among the nation: ie a more balanced distribution of Wealth and income.
    3- improvements in the fiscal and tax system.
    4- Elimination of false incomes.
    5- Expansion of social security system coverage and improvements in the system.
    6- Special attention to deprived regions and rural areas, with priority given to employment, health and education,
    7- Protection of the needy and vulnerable members of the society.
    8- Extension of the educational system to cover all children and adolescents for general education
    9- Expansion of the insurance system for the self-employed, to cover all.
    10- Protecting and securing the rights of both the consumers and producers.
    11- Reducing subsidies in some sectors and deviating the amount thus saved, to the more needy, through different channels.
    12- Eradication of poverty and social and economic inequality.
    13- Greater legal and economic security.
    14- More efficient expenditure of the country's financial resources in cultural activities education, health and medical treatment, higher education, research and physical training.

Gross domestic product, at 1982 fixed prices, is assumed by the Second Plan to grow at slightly above 5% during the Plan period (1994-9), from 13766 billion rials to about 18000 billions (1USD=3000 rials).
Considering that the population growth is now under control and the growth rate has been lowered to 2.5%, at the beginning of the 21st century per capita GDP should reach about 256000 rials.

The official language and the script are Farsi or Persian; but Arabic and Turkish are also spoken by large minorities. English is the most current foreign language.

 

The metric system is generally used in Iran.
 

Iran's currency is called the "rial" (Rls).
Every 10 rials make one "tooman".
Iranian money is available in the following coinages:
5, 10, 50, 100, 250 rials
and notes of:
100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10000 rials.
The official rate of the rial against the US dollar is 7950 ie. 7950
Rls=l USD

 

The code for communicating with Iran by telephone (or fax of course) is 0098 which should then be followed by the code for the relevant town. The code for Tehran is 021. So when dialing a Tehran number from abroad, one should dial 0098 21- then the relevant phone number.

 

The Iranian calendar has been based since pre-Islamic era on the movement of the sun . but the Islamic calendar which revolves round the movement of the moon is also current in Iran for religious purposes.
The Iranian solar calendar was modified in the 12th century AD by Omar Khayyam, the poet, scientist and astronomer.
The new calendar was named the Jalali calendar. It's accuracy is one dap in 5000 years.
The Iranian calendar begins with the Hejira (departure), the day the ]Holy Prophet Mohammad left Mecca for Medina, in 421 AD. Each Iranian year begins on March 21st (the first day of spring) and ends on March 20th. The Iranian year is just over 365 days long and every four years, is a leap year, the last month of which, is considered as having 30 days instead of 29 days.
The Islamic calendar year, however, is about 354 days. Therefore, the two calendars, the national calendar and the religious calendar, do not coincide and vary from year to year.
The Iranian new year, the first day of spring, has since ancient times been a day of celebration, feast and joy.

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