Iran, also called Persia, and also formally the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a nation in Western Asia. It is surrounded to the west by Iraq and also Turkey, to the northwest by Azerbaijan as well as Armenia, to the north by the Caspian Sea and also Turkmenistan, to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to the south by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

Iran covers an area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), making it the fourth-largest country entirely in Asia as well as the second-largest in Western Asia. It has a populace of 85 million, making it the 17th-most populated nation on the planet. Its capital and biggest city is Tehran.

Iran is house to among the globe’s earliest civilizations, starting with the development of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first merged by the Iranian Medes in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great established the Achaemenid Empire, which became one of the largest realms in history as well as has been described as the world’s initial superpower.

The empire was up to Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and was separated into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion developed the Parthian Realm in the 3rd century BC, which was been successful in the 3rd century advertisement by the Sasanian Realm, a significant world power for the next 4 centuries. Arab Muslims dominated the empire in the seventh century advertisement, which caused the Islamization of Iran. It ultimately ended up being a significant facility of Islamic society and knowing, with its art, literary works, viewpoint, as well as style dispersing across the Muslim globe and also beyond during the Islamic Golden Age.

Over the following 2 centuries, a series of indigenous Muslim empires arised prior to the Seljuq Turks and also the Mongols overcame the area. In the 15th century, the indigenous Safavids re-established a linked Iranian state as well as nationwide identity as well as converted the country to Shia Islam. Under the regime of Nader Shah in the 18th century, Iran once again became a significant world power, though by the 19th century a series of conflicts with Russia resulted in significant territorial losses.

The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution. Initiatives to nationalize its fossil fuel supply from Western firms caused an Anglo-American coup in 1953, which caused greater autocratic rule under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as well as expanding Western political influence. He took place to introduce a significant series of reforms in 1963. After the Iranian Transformation, the present Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who ended up being the nation’s very first Supreme Leader.