Iran

**Iran** or **Persie**, kent as the **Islamic Republic o Iran**, is a kintra in Wastren Asie. Wi ower 81 million indwallers, Iran is the warld's 18t maist populous kintra. Comprisin a laund airt o , it is the seicont lairgest kintra in the Middle East an the 17th maistmuckle in the warld. Iran haes mairches tae the northwast wi Armenie an the Republic o Azerbaijan, tae the north bi the Caspian Sea, tae the northeast bi Turkmenistan, tae the east bi Afghanistan an Pakistan, tae the sooth bi the Persie Gulf an the Gulf o Oman, an tae the wast bi Turkey an Iraq. The kintra's central location in Eurasie an Wastren Asia, an its proximity tae the Strait o Hormuz, gie it geostrategic importance. Tehran is the kintra's caipital an mucklemaist city, as weel as its leadin economic an cultural centre.

Iran is hame tae ane o the warld's auldest ceevilisations, beginnin wi the formation o the Elamite kinricks in the fowert millennium BCE. It wis first unifee'd bi the Iranian Medes in the seivent century BCE, reachin its greatest territorial size in the saxt century BCE, whan Cyrus the Great foondit the Achaemenid Empire, that stretched frae Eastern Europe tae the Indus Valley, becomin ane o the mucklemaist empires in history. The Iranian realm fell tae Alexander the Great in the fowert century BCE an wis dividit intae several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion culminatit in the establishment o the Parthian Empire, that wis succeedit in the third century CE bi the Sasanian Empire, a leadin warld pouer for the next fower centuries.

Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seivent century CE. The Islamisation o Iran led tae the decline o Zoroastrianism, that wis bi then the kintra's dominant releegion, an Iran's major contreibutions tae airt an science spreid within the Muslim rule in the Islamic Gowden Age. Efter twa centuries, a period o various native Muslim dynasties begoud, that were later conquered bi the Seljuq Turks an the Ilkhanate Mongols. The rise o the Safavids in the 15t century led tae the reestablishment o a unifee'd Iranian state an naitional identity, wi the kintra's conversion tae Shia Islam merkin a turnin point in Iranian an Muslim history. Unner Nader Shah, Iran wis ane o the maist pouerfu states in the 18t century, tho bi the 19t century, a series o conflicts wi the Russian Empire led tae signeeficant territorial losses. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the early 20t century led tae the establishment of a constitutional monarchy an the kintra's first legislatur. A 1953 coup instigatit bi the Unitit Kinrick an the Unitit States resultit in greater autocracy an growin Wastren poleetical influence. Subsequent widespreid dissatisfaction an unrest against the monarchy led tae the 1979 Revolution an the establishment o an Islamic republic, a poleetical seestem that includes elements o a pairlamentar democracy vettit an supervised bi a theocracy govrened bi an autocratic "Supreme Leader". In the 1980s, the kintra wis engaged in a war wi Iraq, that lastit for awmaist nine year an resultit in a heich nummer o casualties an economic losses for baith sides.

The sovereign state o Iran is a foondin member o the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC, an OPEC. It is a major regional an middle pouer, an its lairge reserves o fossil fuels – that include the warld's lairgest naitural gas supply an the fowert lairgest pruiven ile reserves – exert conseederable influence in internaitional energy security an the warld economy.

The kintra's rich cultural legacy is reflectit in pairt bi its 22 UNESCO Warld Heritage steids, the third lairgest nummer in Asie an 11t lairgest in the warld. Iran is a multicultural kintra comprisin numerous ethnic an lingueestic groups, the lairgest bein Persies (61%), Azeris (16%), Kurds (10%), an Lurs (6%).

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