1. The country of Iran is located in the South-West Asia. With its land area accounting for 1,648,195 km2, Iran is considered the world’s seventeenth largest country. In the North, Iran borders Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, in the East – Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the West – Iraq. The country’s Southern shore is washed with The Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Iran is considered one of the world’s most resource-rich nations. The country’s share in the discovered oil-deposits on the planet accounts for 10% and in the natural gas-deposits for 16%. This, of course, creates objective preconditions for Iran to influence the geopolitical developments in the area rather substantially, and to remain the focus of the most powerful international players’ attention. As of 20012, the country’s total GDP amounted to approximately $988.000 billion. Out of the Iran’s population of some 65 million, 99% of citizens are the affiliates of Islam. Being an Islamic country, Iran features the world’s largest population of Shiites (about 50 million). Iran is considered a comparatively ‘young’ country, as 34% of its population is comprised of individuals under the age of 14 (Salehi-Isfahani 604). As of recently, Iran has developed the capability to enrich uranium, which in turn caused the country to become the subject of the internationally imposed sanctions. This, however, did not have much of an effect of the functioning of the country’s economy. One of the reasons for this is that, despite being often referred to in terms of an ‘outcast’, Iran is informally allied with China, Russia and India. 2. The bulk of the country’s territory is situated upon the Iranian Plateau, which in turn causes Iran to be considered a predominantly mountainous country. The Iran’s highest mountain is the Mount Damavand (5604 m). The country’s lowest land-point (at the shore of the Caspian Sea) is 28 m. The Iran’s East is predominantly covered with salt-deserts, the largest of which are Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut. With the exception of a few oases, these areas are virtually uninhabited. The country’s largest plains are located in the North (along the Caspian Sea’s shore) and in the South-West (along the shore of the Persian Gulf). The Iran’s West is dominated by the mountainous system of Zagros, with the total length of about 1500 km. Even though the country’s Western areas are considered the most seismically active, they are simultaneously being the most populated ones. Along with the earlier mentioned oil and natural gas, Iran is rich with uranium, copper and iron. There are a few rivers in the Eastern Iran and The Karun River in the Southwest. Most of the country’s rivers are becoming progressively shallower. The same can be said about the majority of lakes in Iran, many of which are on the verge of being turned into the salt-water swamps. The Iran’s climate is best described as subtropical, continental. The January’s average temperature in the southernmost parts of Iran is +15 degree Celsius, with the same temperature in the North being estimated to account for -2 degree Celsius. Most of the country’s territory receives from 50 mm to 500 mm of a rainfall annually, which in turn contributes to the Iranian climate’s strongly defined aridness. 3. The Iranian n