Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in the southwest of Asia, and in the Middle East. It is an Islamic Republic. The country borders Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east; the Soviet Union in the north ;Turkey and Iraq to the west and finally the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south.
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BCE. Throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and is a regional power. Iran is a founding member of the NAM, OIC, and OPEC. The political system of Iran, based on the 1979 Constitution, comprises several intricately connected governing bodies.
Iran occupies an important position in international energy security and world economy due to its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan, and means "Land of the Aryans".
==Geography==
Total area: 1,648,000 km2; land area: 1,636,000 km2
 
Comparative area: slightly larger than Alaska
 
Land boundaries: 5,492 km total; Afghanistan 936 km, Iraq 1,458 km,
Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, USSR 1,690 km
 
Coastline: 3,180 km
 
Maritime claims:
 
Continental shelf: not specific;
 
Exclusive fishing zone: 50 nm in the Sea of Oman, median-line
boundaries in the Persian Gulf;
 
Territorial sea: 12 nm
 
Disputes: Iran began formal peace negotiations with Iraq in August
1988 to end the war that began on 22 September 1980--troop withdrawal,
freedom of navigation, sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway and
prisoner-of-war exchange are the major issues for negotiation; Kurdish
question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR; occupies three
islands in the Persian Gulf claimed by UAE (Jazireh-ye Abu Musa
or Abu Musa, Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg or Greater Tunb,
and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek or Lesser Tunb); periodic disputes with
Afghanistan over Helmand water rights; Boluch question with Afghanistan
and Pakistan
 
Climate: mostly arid or semiarid, subtropical along Caspian coast
 
Terrain: rugged, mountainous rim; high, central basin with deserts,
mountains; small, discontinuous plains along both coasts
 
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper,
iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur
 
Land use: 8% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 27% meadows and
pastures; 11% forest and woodland; 54% other; includes 2% irrigated
 
Environment: deforestation; overgrazing; desertification
 
==People==
Population: 55,647,001 (July 1990), growth rate 3.1% (1990)
 
Birth rate: 45 births/1,000 population (1990)
 
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
 
Net migration rate: - 5 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
 
Infant mortality rate: 91 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
 
Life expectancy at birth: 62 years male, 63 years female (1990)
 
Total fertility rate: 6.3 children born/woman (1990)
 
Nationality: noun--Iranian(s); adjective--Iranian
 
Ethnic divisions: 51% Persian, 25% Azerbaijani, 9% Kurd, 8% Gilaki
and Mazandarani, 2% Lur, 1% Baloch, 1% Arab, 3% other
 
Religion: 95% Shia Muslim, 4% Sunni Muslim, 2% Zoroastrian, Jewish,
Christian, and Bahai
 
Language: 58% Persian and Persian dialects, 26% Turkic and Turkic
dialects, 9% Kurdish, 2% Luri, 1% Baloch, 1% Arabic, 1% Turkish, 2% other
 
Literacy: 48% (est.)
 
Labor force: 15,400,000; 33% agriculture, 21% manufacturing; shortage of
skilled labor (1988 est.)
 
Organized labor: none
 
==Government==
Long-form name: Islamic Republic of Iran
 
Type: theocratic republic
 
Capital: Tehran
 
Administrative divisions: 24 provinces (ostanha, singular--ostan);
Azarbayjan-e Bakhtari, Azarbayjan-e Khavari,
Bakhtaran, Bushehr, Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari,
Esfahan, Fars, Gilan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Ilam,
Kerman, Khorasan, Khuzestan,
Kohkiluyeh va Buyer Ahmadi, Kordestan,
Lorestan, Markazi, Mazandaran, Semnan,
Sistan va Baluchestan, Tehran, Yazd, Zanjan
 
Independence: 1 April 1979, Islamic Republic of Iran proclaimed
 
Constitution: 2-3 December 1979; revised 1989 to expand powers of
the presidency
 
Legal system: the new Constitution codifies Islamic principles of
government
 
National holiday: Islamic Republic Day, 1 April (1979)
 
Executive branch: cleric (faqih), president, Council of Cabinet Ministers
 
Legislative branch: unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly
(Majlis-e-Shura-e-Islami)
 
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
 
Leaders:
Cleric and functional Chief of State--Leader of the Islamic
Revolution Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI (since 3 June 1989);
 
Head of Government--President Hashemi BAHRAMANI (since 3 August
1989);
 
Political parties and leaders: there are at least seven licensed
parties; the two most important are--Militant Clerics Association, Mehdi
Mahdavi-Karubi and Mohammad Asqar Musavi-Khoinima; Fedaiyin Islam
Organization, Sadeq Khalkhali
 
Suffrage: universal at age 15
 
Elections:
President--last held NA July 1989 (next to be held April 1993);
results--Hashemi BAHRAMANI was elected with only token opposition;
 
Islamic Consultative Assembly--last held 8 April and 13 May
1988 (next to be held April 1992); results--percent of vote by party
NA;
seats--(270 seats total) number of seats by party NA
 
Communists: 1,000 to 2,000 est. hardcore; 15,000 to 20,000 est.
sympathizers; crackdown in 1983 crippled the party; trials of captured leaders
began in late 1983 and remain incomplete
 
Other political or pressure groups: groups that generally
support the Islamic Republic include Hizballah, Hojjatiyeh Society,
Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution, Muslim Students Following the Line
of the Imam; armed political groups that have been almost completely
repressed by the government include Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO),
People's Fedayeen, and Kurdish Democratic Party; the Society for the
Defense of Freedom is a group of liberal nationalists that has been
repressed by the government for accusing it of corruption
 
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red; the
national emblem (a stylized representation of the word Allah) in red is centered
in the white band; Allah Akbar (God is Great) in white Arabic script is
repeated 11 times along the bottom edge of the green band and 11 times along the
top edge of the red band
 
==Economy==
Overview: Since the 1979 revolution, the banks, petroleum industry,
transportation, utilities, and mining have been nationalized, but the
new five-year plan--the first since the revolution--passed in January
1990, calls for the transfer of many government-controlled enterprises
to the private sector. War-related disruptions, massive corruption,
mismanagement, demographic pressures, and ideological rigidities have kept
economic growth at depressed levels. Oil accounts for 90% of export
revenues. A combination of war damage and low oil prices brought a 2%
drop in GNP in 1988. GNP probably rose slightly in 1989, considerably
short of the 3.4% population growth rate in 1989. Heating oil and gasoline
are rationed. Agriculture has suffered from the war, land reform, and shortages
of equipment and materials. The five-year plan seeks to reinvigorate the
economy by increasing the role of the private sector, boosting nonoil
income, and securing foreign loans. The plan is overly ambitious but
probably will generate some short-term relief.
 
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 50-80% (1989)
 
Unemployment rate: 30% (1989)
 
Industrial production: growth rate NA%
 
Electricity: 14,579,000 kW capacity; 40,000 million kWh produced,
740 kWh per capita (1989)
 
Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and other building
materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil
production), metal fabricating (steel and copper)
 
Agriculture: principal products--rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits,
nuts, cotton, dairy products, wool, caviar; not self-sufficient in food
 
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium poppy for the domestic and
international drug trade
 
Currency: Iranian rial (plural--rials); 1 Iranian rial (IR) = 100 dinars;
note--domestic figures are generally referred to in terms of the toman
(plural--tomans), which equals 10 rials
 
Exchange rates: Iranian rials (IR) per US$1--70.019 (January 1990),
72.015 (1989), 68.683 (1988), 71.460 (1987), 78.760 (1986), 91.052 (1985)
 
Fiscal year: 21 March-20 March
 
==Communications==
Railroads: 4,601 km total; 4,509 km 1.432-meter gauge, 92 km 1.676-meter
gauge; 730 km under construction from Bafq to Bandar Abbas
 
Highways: 140,072 km total; 46,866 km gravel and crushed stone; 49,440 km
improved earth; 42,566 km bituminous and bituminous-treated surfaces;
1,200 km (est.) of rural road network
 
Inland waterways: 904 km; the Shatt al Arab is usually navigable by
maritime traffic for about 130 km, but closed since September 1980 because
of Iran-Iraq war
 
Pipelines: crude oil, 5,900 km; refined products, 3,900 km; natural gas,
3,300 km
 
Ports: Abadan (largely destroyed in fighting during 1980-88 war),
Bandar Beheshti, Bandar-e Abbas, Bandar-e Bushehr, Bandar-e Khomeyni,
Bandar-e Shahid Rajai, Khorramshahr (largely destroyed in fighting
during 1980-88 war)
 
Merchant marine: 133 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,631,836
GRT/8,662,454 DWT; includes 36 cargo, 6 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 33 petroleum,
oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 4 chemical tanker, 3 refrigerated cargo,
49 bulk, 2 combination bulk
 
Civil air: 42 major transport aircraft
 
Airports: 201 total, 175 usable; 82 with permanent-surface runways; 17
with runways over 3,659 m; 17 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 68 with runways
1,220-2,439 m
 
Telecommunications: radio relay extends throughout country; system
centered in Tehran; 2,143,000 telephones; stations--62 AM, 30 FM, 250 TV;
satellite earth stations--2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT;
HF and microwave to Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and USSR
 
==Defense Forces==
Branches: Islamic Republic of Iran Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force,
and Revolutionary Guard Corps (includes Basij militia and own ground, air, and
naval forces), Gendarmerie
 
Military manpower: males 15-49, 12,302,967; 7,332,614 fit for military
service; 569,647 reach military age (21) annually
 
Defense expenditures: 8% of GNP, or $7.8 billion (1989 est.)