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The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States. 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981) after a group of Iranian students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.[1]

The crisis was described by the Western media as an "entanglement" of "vengeance and mutual incomprehension."[2] President Jimmy Carter called the hostages "victims of terrorism and anarchy" and said, "The United States will not yield to blackmail."[3] In Iran, it was widely seen as a blow against the United States and its influence in Iran, including its perceived attempts to undermine the Iranian Revolution and its longstanding support of the recently overthrown Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had led an autocratic regime.

After his overthrow in 1979, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was purportedly admitted to the United States for cancer treatment. Iran demanded that he be returned to stand trial for crimes he was accused of committing during his reign. Specifically, Pahlavi was accused of committing crimes against Iranian citizens with the help of his secret police, the SAVAK. Iranians saw the decision to grant him asylum as American complicity in those atrocities. The Americans saw the hostage-taking as an egregious violation of the principles of international law, which granted diplomats immunity from arrest and made diplomatic compounds inviolable.[4][5][6][7]

The crisis reached a climax when, after failed efforts to negotiate the hostages' release, the United States military attempted a rescue operation using ships, including the USSNimitz and USSCoral Sea, that were patrolling the waters near Iran. On April 24, 1980, the attempt, known as Operation Eagle Claw, failed, resulting in the deaths of eight American servicemen and one Iranian civilian, as well as the destruction of two aircraft.

Shah Pahlavi left the United States in December 1979 and was ultimately granted asylum in Egypt, where he died from complications of cancer on July 27, 1980. In September 1980, the Iraqi military invaded Iran, beginning the IranIraq War. These events led the Iranian government to enter negotiations with the U.S., with Algeria acting as a mediator. The hostages were formally released into United States custody the day after the signing of the Algiers Accords, just minutes after the new American president, Ronald Reagan, was sworn into office.

The crisis is considered a pivotal episode in the history of IranUnited States relations.[8] Political analysts cite it as a major factor in the trajectory of Jimmy Carter's presidency and his loss in the 1980 presidential election.[9] In Iran, the crisis strengthened the prestige of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the political power of theocrats who opposed any normalization of relations with the West.[10] The crisis also led to the United States' economic sanctions against Iran, further weakening ties between the two countries.[11]

In February 1979, less than a year before the hostage crisis, Shah Pahlavi was overthrown during the Iranian Islamic Revolution. For several decades before that, the United States had allied with and supported the shah. During World WarII, Allied powers Britain and the Soviet Union had occupied Iran to force the abdication of Pahlavi's father, Reza Shah, in favor of Pahlavi.[12] The Allies feared that Reza Shah intended to align his petroleum-rich country with Nazi Germany, but Reza Shah's earlier declaration of neutrality, and his refusal to allow Iranian territory to be used to train or supply Soviet troops against Germany, were the strongest motives for the Allied invasion of Iran. Because of its importance in the Allied victory, Iran was subsequently called "The Bridge of Victory" by Winston Churchill.[13]

By the 1950s, Shah Pahlavi was engaged in a power struggle with Iran's prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, an immediate descendant of the previous monarchy, the Qajar dynasty. Mosaddegh led a general strike on behalf of impoverished Iranians, demanding a share of the nation's petroleum revenue from Britain's Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. However, he overstepped in trying to get $50 million in damages and lost revenue from the British.[14][bettersourceneeded] In 1953, the British and American spy agencies helped Iranian royalists depose Mosaddegh in a military coup d'tat codenamed Operation Ajax, allowing the shah to extend his power. The shah appointed himself an absolute monarch rather than a constitutional monarch, his position before the 1953 crisis, with the aim of assuming complete control of the government and purging the disloyal.[15][16][17] The U.S. continued to support and fund the Shah after the coup, with the Central Intelligence Agency training the government's SAVAK secret police. In the subsequent decades of the Cold War, various economic, cultural, and political issues united opposition against the shah and led to his overthrow.[18][19][20]

Months before the revolution, on New Year's Eve 1977, President Carter further angered anti-shah Iranians with a televised toast to Pahlavi, declaring how beloved the shah was by his people. After the revolution culminated in February 1979 with the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from France, the American Embassy was occupied and its staff held hostage briefly. Rocks and bullets had broken so many of the embassy's front-facing windows that they had been replaced with bulletproof glass. The embassy's staff was reduced to just over 60 from a high of nearly 1,000 earlier in the decade.[21]

The Carter administration tried to mitigate anti-American feeling by promoting a new relationship with the de facto Iranian government and continuing military cooperation in hopes that the situation would stabilize. However, on October 22, 1979, the United States permitted the shah, who had lymphoma, to enter New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center for medical treatment.[22] The State Department had discouraged the request, understanding the political delicacy.[21] But in response to pressure from influential figures including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Council on Foreign Relations Chairman David Rockefeller, the Carter administration decided to grant it.[23][24][25]

The shah's admission to the United States intensified Iranian revolutionaries' anti-Americanism and spawned rumors of another U.S.-backed coup that would re-install the shah.[26] Ayatollah Khomeini, who had been exiled by the shah for 15years, heightened the rhetoric against the "Great Satan", as he called the United States, talking of "evidence of American plotting".[27] In addition to ending what they believed was American sabotage of the revolution, the hostage takers hoped to depose the provisional revolutionary government of Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, which they believed was plotting to normalize relations with the United States and extinguish Islamic revolutionary order in Iran.[28] The occupation of the embassy on November 4, 1979, was also intended as leverage to demand the return of the shah to stand trial in Iran in exchange for the hostages.

A later study claimed that there had been no American plots to overthrow the revolutionaries, and that a CIA intelligence-gathering mission at the embassy had been "notably ineffectual, gathering little information and hampered by the fact that none of the three officers spoke the local language, Persian". Its work, the study said, was "routine, prudent espionage conducted at diplomatic missions everywhere".[29]

On the morning of February 14, 1979the same day that the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, was kidnapped and fatally shot by Muslim extremists in Kabul[30]fedayeen militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took a Marine named Kenneth Kraus hostage. Ambassador William Sullivan surrendered the embassy to save lives, and with the assistance of Iranian Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi, returned the embassy to U.S. hands within three hours.[31] Kraus was injured in the attack, kidnapped by the militants, tortured, tried, and convicted of murder. He was to be executed, but President Carter and Sullivan secured his release within six days.[32] This incident became known as the Valentine's Day Open House.[33]

The next attempt to seize the American Embassy was planned for September 1979 by Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, a student at the time. He consulted with the heads of the Islamic associations of Tehran's main universities, including the University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology (Polytechnic of Tehran), and Iran University of Science and Technology. They named their group Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line.

Asgharzadeh later said there were five students at the first meeting, two of whom wanted to target the Soviet Embassy because the USSR was "a Marxist and anti-God regime". Two others, Mohsen Mirdamadi and Habibolah Bitaraf, supported Asgharzadeh's chosen target: the United States. "Our aim was to object against the American government by going to their embassy and occupying it for several hours," Asgharzadeh said. "Announcing our objections from within the occupied compound would carry our message to the world in a much more firm and effective way."[37] Mirdamadi told an interviewer, "We intended to detain the diplomats for a few days, maybe one week, but no more."[38]Masoumeh Ebtekar, the spokeswoman for the Iranian students during the crisis, said that those who rejected Asgharzadeh's plan did not participate in the subsequent events.[39]

The students observed the procedures of the Marine Security Guards from nearby rooftops overlooking the embassy. They also drew on their experiences from the recent revolution, during which the U.S.Embassy grounds were briefly occupied. They enlisted the support of police officers in charge of guarding the embassy and of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.[40]

According to the group and other sources, Ayatollah Khomeini did not know of the plan beforehand.[41] The students had wanted to inform him, but according to the author Mark Bowden, Ayatollah Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha persuaded them not to. Khoeiniha feared that the government would use the police to expel the students as they had the occupiers in February. The provisional government had been appointed by Khomeini, and so Khomeini was likely to go along with the government's request to restore order. On the other hand, Khoeiniha knew that if Khomeini first saw that the occupiers were faithful supporters of him (unlike the leftists in the first occupation) and that large numbers of pious Muslims had gathered outside the embassy to show their support for the takeover, it would be "very hard, perhaps even impossible", for him to oppose the takeover, and this would paralyze the Bazargan administration, which Khoeiniha and the students wanted to eliminate.[42]

Supporters of the takeover stated that their motivation was fear of another American-backed coup against their popular revolution. They claimed that in 1953, the American Embassy had acted as a "den of spies" from which the coup was organized. Documents were later found in the embassy suggesting that some staff members had been working with American intelligence agencies. After the shah entered the United States, Ayatollah Khomeini called for street demonstrations.

On November 4, 1979, one of the demonstrations organized by Iranian student unions loyal to Khomeini erupted into an all-out conflict right outside the walled compound housing the U.S.Embassy.

Around 6:30a.m., the ringleaders gathered between 300 and 500 selected students and briefed them on the battle plan. A female student was given a pair of metal cutters to break the chains locking the embassy's gates, and she hid them beneath her chador.[43]

At first, the students planned a symbolic occupation, in which they would release statements to the press and leave when government security forces came to restore order. This was reflected in placards saying: "Don't be afraid. We just want to sit in." When the embassy guards brandished firearms, the protesters retreated, with one telling the Americans, "We don't mean any harm."[44] But as it became clear that the guards would not use deadly force and that a large, angry crowd had gathered outside the compound to cheer the occupiers and jeer the hostages, the plan changed.[45] According to one embassy staff member, buses full of demonstrators began to appear outside the embassy shortly after the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line broke through the gates.[46]

As Khoeiniha had hoped, Khomeini supported the takeover. According to Foreign Minister Yazdi, when he went to Qom to tell Khomeini about it, Khomeini told him to "go and kick them out". But later that evening, back in Tehran, Yazdi heard on the radio that Khomeini had issued a statement supporting the seizure, calling it "the second revolution" and the embassy an "American spy den in Tehran".[47]

The occupiers bound and blindfolded the Marines and staff at the embassy and paraded them in front of photographers. In the first couple of days, many of the embassy workers who had sneaked out of the compound or had not been there at the time of the takeover were rounded up by Islamists and returned as hostages.[48] Six American diplomats managed to avoid capture and took refuge in the British Embassy before being transferred to the Canadian Embassy. Others went to the Swedish Embassy in Tehran for three months. In a joint covert operation known as the Canadian caper, the Canadian government and the CIA managed to smuggle them out of Iran on January 28, 1980, using Canadian passports and a cover story that identified them as a film crew.[49]

A State Department diplomatic cable of November 8, 1979, details "A TENTATIVE, INCOMPLETE LIST OF U.S. PERSONNEL BEING HELD IN THE EMBASSY COMPOUND".[50]

The Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line demanded that Shah Pahlavi return to Iran for trial and execution. The U.S. maintained that the shahwho died less than a year later, in July 1980had come to America for medical attention. The group's other demands included that the U.S. government apologize for its interference in the internal affairs of Iran, including the overthrow of Prime Minister Mosaddegh in 1953, and that Iran's frozen assets in the United States be released.

The initial plan was to hold the embassy for only a short time, but this changed after it became apparent how popular the takeover was and that Khomeini had given it his full support.[46] Some attributed the decision not to release the hostages quickly to President Carter's failure to immediately deliver an ultimatum to Iran.[51] His initial response was to appeal for the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds and to share his hopes for a strategic anti-communist alliance with Iran.[52] As some of the student leaders had hoped, Iran's moderate prime minister, Bazargan, and his cabinet resigned under pressure just days after the takeover.

The duration of the hostages' captivity has also been attributed to internal Iranian revolutionary politics. As Ayatollah Khomeini told Iran's president:

This has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us. We can put the constitution to the people's vote without difficulty, and carry out presidential and parliamentary elections.[53]

Theocratic Islamists, as well as leftist political groups like the socialist People's Mujahedin of Iran,[54] supported the taking of hostages as an attack on "American imperialism". According to scholar Daniel Pipes, writing in 1980, the Marxist-leaning leftists and the Islamists shared a common antipathy toward market-based reforms under the late Shah, and both subsumed individualism, including the unique identity of women, under conservative, though contrasting, visions of collectivism. Accordingly, both groups favored the Soviet Union over the United States in the early months of the Iranian Revolution.[55] The Soviets, and possibly their allies Cuba, Libya, and East Germany, were suspected of providing indirect assistance to the participants in the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The PLO under Yasser Arafat provided personnel, intelligence liaisons, funding, and training for Khomeini's forces before and after the Revolution, and was suspected of playing a role in the embassy crisis.[56]Fidel Castro reportedly praised Khomeini as a revolutionary anti-imperialist who could find common cause between revolutionary socialists and anti-American Islamists. Both expressed disdain for modern capitalism and a preference for authoritarian collectivism.[57] Cuba and its socialist ally Venezuela, under Hugo Chvez, would later form ALBA in alliance with the Islamic Republic as a counter to neoliberal American influence.

Revolutionary teams displayed secret documents purportedly taken from the embassy, sometimes painstakingly reconstructed after shredding,[58] to buttress their claim that "the Great Satan" (the U.S.) was trying to destabilize the new regime and that Iranian moderates were in league with the U.S. The documentsincluding telegrams, correspondence, and reports from the U.S. State Department and CIAwere published in a series of books called Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den (Persian: ). According to a 1997 Federation of American Scientists bulletin, by 1995, 77 volumes of Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den had been published.[59] Many of these volumes are now available online.[60]

By embracing the hostage-taking under the slogan "America can't do a thing", Khomeini rallied support and deflected criticism of his controversial theocratic constitution,[61] which was scheduled for a referendum vote in less than one month.[62] The referendum was successful, and after the vote, both leftists and theocrats continued to use allegations of pro-Americanism to suppress their opponents: relatively moderate political forces that included the Iranian Freedom Movement, the National Front, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari,[63] and later President Abolhassan Banisadr. In particular, carefully selected diplomatic dispatches and reports discovered at the embassy and released by the hostage-takers led to the disempowerment and resignation of moderate figures[64] such as Bazargan. The failed rescue attempt and the political danger of any move seen as accommodating America delayed a negotiated release of the hostages. After the crisis ended, leftists and theocrats turned on each other, with the stronger theocratic group annihilating the left.

The hostage-takers, declaring their solidarity with other "oppressed minorities" and "the special place of women in Islam", released 13 women and African Americans in the middle of November 1979. (The only African American hostage not released that month was Charles A. Jones,Jr.[65]) One more hostage, a white man named Richard Queen, was released in July 1980 after he became seriously ill with what was later diagnosed as multiple sclerosis. The remaining 52 hostages were held until January 1981, a total of 444 days of captivity.

The hostages were initially held at the embassy, but after the failed rescue mission, they were scattered around Iran to make a single rescue impossible. Three high-level officialsBruce Laingen, Victor Tomseth, and Mike Howlandwere at the Foreign Ministry at the time of the takeover. They stayed there for some months, sleeping in the ministry's formal dining room and washing their socks and underwear in the bathroom. At first, they were treated as diplomats, but after the provisional government fell, their treatment deteriorated. By March, the doors to their living space were kept "chained and padlocked".[66]

By midsummer 1980, the Iranians had moved the hostages to prisons in Tehran[67] to prevent escapes or rescue attempts and to improve the logistics of guard shifts and food delivery.[68] The final holding area, from November 1980 until their release, was the Teymur Bakhtiar mansion in Tehran, where the hostages were finally given tubs, showers, and hot and cold running water.[69] Several foreign diplomats and ambassadorsincluding Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor before the Canadian capervisited the hostages over the course of the crisis and relayed information back to the U.S. government, including dispatches from Laingen.

Iranian propaganda stated that the hostages were "guests" treated with respect. Asgharzadeh, the student leader, described the original plan as a nonviolent and symbolic action in which the "gentle and respectful treatment" of the hostages would dramatize to the world the offended sovereignty and dignity of Iran.[70] In America, an Iranian charg d'affaires, Ali Agha, stormed out of a meeting with an American official, exclaiming: "We are not mistreating the hostages. They are being very well taken care of in Tehran. They are our guests."[71]

The actual treatment was far different. The hostages described beatings,[72] theft,[73] and fear of bodily harm. Two of them, William Belk and Kathryn Koob, recalled being paraded blindfolded before an angry, chanting crowd outside the embassy.[74] Others reported having their hands bound "day and night" for days[75] or even weeks;[76] long periods of solitary confinement;[77] and months of being forbidden to speak to one another[78] or to stand, walk, or leave their space unless they were going to the bathroom.[79] All of the hostages "were threatened repeatedly with execution, and took it seriously".[80] The hostage-takers played Russian roulette with their victims.[81]

The most terrifying night for the hostages came on February 5, 1980, when guards in black ski masks roused them from their sleep and led them blindfolded to other rooms. They were searched after being ordered to strip naked and keep their hands up. They were then told to kneel down, still wearing blindfolds. "This was the greatest moment," one hostage said. Another later recalled, "It was an embarrassing moment. However, we were too scared to realize it." The guards cocked their weapons and readied them to fire, but finally ejected their rounds and told the prisoners to get dressed. The hostages were later told that the exercise had been "just a joke," something the guards "had wanted to do".[82]

One, Michael Metrinko, was kept in solitary confinement for months. On two occasions, when he expressed his opinion of Ayatollah Khomeini, he was punished severely. The first time, he was kept in handcuffs for two weeks,[83] and the second time, he was beaten and kept alone in a freezing cell for two weeks.[84]

Another hostage, U.S.Army medic Donald Hohman, went on a hunger strike for several weeks,[85] and two hostages attempted suicide. Steve Lauterbach broke a water glass and slashed his wrists after being locked in a dark basement room with his hands tightly bound. He was found by guards and rushed to the hospital.[86] Jerry Miele, a CIA communication technician, smashed his head into the corner of a door, knocking himself unconscious and cutting a deep gash. "Naturally withdrawn" and looking "ill, old, tired, and vulnerable", Miele had become the butt of his guards' jokes, and they had rigged up a mock electric chair to emphasize the fate that awaited him. His fellow hostages applied first aid and raised the alarm, and he was taken to a hospital after a long delay created by the guards.[87]

Other hostages described threats to boil their feet in oil (Alan B. Golacinski),[88] cut their eyes out (Rick Kupke),[89] or kidnap and kill a disabled son in America and "start sending pieces of him to your wife" (David Roeder).[90]

Four hostages tried to escape,[91] and all were punished with stretches of solitary confinement when their attempts were discovered.

Queen, the hostage sent home because of his multiple sclerosis, first developed dizziness and numbness in his left arm six months before his release.[92] His symptoms were misdiagnosed by the Iranians at first as a reaction to drafts of cold air. When warmer confinement did not help, he was told that it was "nothing" and that the symptoms would soon disappear.[93] Over the months, the numbness spread to his right side, and the dizziness worsened until he "was literally flat on his back, unable to move without growing dizzy and throwing up".[94]

The cruelty of the Iranian prison guards became "a form of slow torture".[95] The guards often withheld mailtelling one hostage, Charles W. Scott, "I don't see anything for you, Mr. Scott. Are you sure your wife has not found another man?"[96]and the hostages' possessions went missing.[97]

As the hostages were taken to the aircraft that would fly them out of Tehran, they were led through a gauntlet of students forming parallel lines and shouting, "Marg bar Amrika" ("death to America").[98] When the pilot announced that they were out of Iran, the "freed hostages went wild with happiness. Shouting, cheering, crying, clapping, falling into one another's arms."[99]

In the United States, the hostage crisis created "a surge of patriotism" and left "the American people more united than they have been on any issue in two decades".[100] The hostage-taking was seen "not just as a diplomatic affront", but as a "declaration of war on diplomacy itself".[101] Television news gave daily updates.[102] In January 1980, the CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite began ending each show by saying how many days the hostages had been captive.[103] President Carter applied economic and diplomatic pressure: Oil imports from Iran were ended on November 12, 1979, and with Executive Order 12170, around US$8 billion of Iranian assets in the United States were frozen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control on November 14.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas in 1979, high school students made cards that were delivered to the hostages.[2] Community groups across the country did the same, resulting in bales of Christmas cards. The National Christmas Tree was left dark except for the top star.

The two Trenton NJ newspapers at the time, The Trenton Times and the Trentonian and perhaps others around the country, printed full-page color American flags in their newspapers for readers to cut-out and place in the front windows of their homes as support for the hostages to be left in their windows until the hostages were brought home safely.

A severe backlash against Iranians in the United States developed. One Iranian American later complained, "I had to hide my Iranian identity not to get beaten up, even at university."[104]

According to Bowden, a pattern emerged in President Carter's attempts to negotiate the hostages' release: "Carter would latch on to a deal proffered by a top Iranian official and grant minor but humiliating concessions, only to have it scotched at the last minute by Khomeini."[105]

On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the home of the Canadian diplomat John Sheardown, under the protection of the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor. In late 1979, the government of Prime Minister Joe Clark secretly issued an Order in Council[106] allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. In cooperation with the CIA, which used the cover story of a film project, two CIA agents and the six American diplomats boarded a Swissair flight to Zurich, Switzerland, on January 28, 1980. Their rescue from Iran, known as the Canadian caper,[107][108][109] was fictionalized in the 2012 film Argo.

After rejecting Iranian demands, Carter approved an ill-fated secret rescue mission, Operation Eagle Claw. Late in the afternoon of April 24, 1980, eight RH53D helicopters flew from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to a remote road serving as an airstrip in the Great Salt Desert of Eastern Iran, near Tabas. They encountered severe dust storms that disabled two of the helicopters, which were traveling in complete radio silence. Early the next morning, the remaining six helicopters met up with several waiting Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft at a landing site and refueling area designated "Desert One".

At this point, a third helicopter was found to be unserviceable, bringing the total below the six deemed vital for the mission. The commander of the operation, Colonel Charles Alvin Beckwith, recommended that the mission be aborted, and his recommendation was approved by President Carter. As the helicopters repositioned themselves for refueling, one ran into a C130 tanker aircraft and crashed, killing eight U.S. servicemen and injuring several more.

In May 1980, the Joint Chiefs of Staff commissioned a Special Operations review group of six senior military officers, led by Admiral James L. Holloway III, to thoroughly examine all aspects of the rescue attempt. The group identified 23 issues that were significant in the failure of the mission, 11 of which it deemed major. The overriding issue was operational security: that is, keeping the mission secret so that the arrival of the rescue team at the embassy would be a complete surprise. This severed the usual relationship between pilots and weather forecasters; the pilots were not informed about the local dust storms. Another security requirement was that the helicopter pilots come from the same unit. The unit picked for the mission was a U.S. Navy mine-laying unit flying CH-53D Sea Stallions; these helicopters were considered the best suited for the mission because of their long range, large capacity, and compatibility with shipboard operations.

Two hours into the flight, the crew of helicopter No. 6 saw a warning light indicating that a main rotor might be cracked. They landed in the desert, confirmed visually that a crack had started to develop, and stopped flying in accordance with normal operating procedure. Helicopter No. 8 landed to pick up the crew of No. 6, and abandoned No. 6 in the desert without destroying it. The report by Holloway's group pointed out that a cracked helicopter blade could have been used to continue the mission and that its likelihood of catastrophic failure would have been low for many hours, especially at lower flying speeds. The report found that the pilot of No. 6 would have continued the mission if instructed to do so.

When the helicopters encountered two dust storms along the way to the refueling point, the second more severe than the first, the pilot of No. 5 turned back because the mine-laying helicopters were not equipped with terrain-following radar. The report found that the pilot could have continued to the refueling point if he had been told that better weather awaited him there, but because of the command for radio silence, he did not ask about the conditions ahead. The report also concluded that "there were ways to pass the information" between the refueling station and the helicopter force "that would have small likelihood of compromising the mission"in other words, that the ban on communication had not been necessary at this stage.

Helicopter No. 2 experienced a partial hydraulic system failure but was able to fly on for four hours to the refueling location. There, an inspection showed that a hydraulic fluid leak had damaged a pump and that the helicopter could not be flown safely, nor repaired in time to continue the mission. Six helicopters was thought to be the absolute minimum required for the rescue mission, so with the force reduced to five, the local commander radioed his intention to abort. This request was passed through military channels to President Carter, who agreed.[113]

After the mission and its failure were made known publicly, Khomeini credited divine intervention on behalf of Islam, and his prestige skyrocketed in Iran.[114] Iranian officials who favored release of the hostages, such as President Bani Sadr, were weakened. In America, President Carter's political popularity and prospects for being re-elected in 1980 were further damaged after a television address on April 25 in which he explained the rescue operation and accepted responsibility for its failure.

A second rescue attempt, planned but never carried out, would have used highly modified YMC-130H Hercules aircraft. Three aircraft, outfitted with rocket thrusters to allow an extremely short landing and takeoff in the Shahid Shiroudi football stadium near the embassy, were modified under a rushed, super-secret program known as Operation Credible Sport. One crashed during a demonstration at Eglin Air Force Base on October 29, 1980, when its braking rockets were fired too soon. The misfire caused a hard touchdown that tore off the starboard wing and started a fire, but all on board survived. After Carter lost the presidential election in November, the project was abandoned.

The failed rescue attempt led to the creation of the 160th SOAR, a helicopter aviation Special Forces group.

With the completion of negotiations, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, That day, at the moment President Reagan completed his 20minute inaugural address after being sworn in, the 52 American hostages were released into U.S. custody.[115][116] There are theories and conspiracy theories regarding why Iran postponed the release until that moment.[117][118][119](See also: October Surprise conspiracy theory) They were flown from Iran to Algeria as a symbolic gesture of appreciation for the Algerian government's help in resolving the crisis. The flight continued to Rhein-Main Air Base in West Germany and on to an Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, where former President Carter, acting as emissary, received them. After medical check-ups and debriefings, the hostages took a second flight to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, with a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, where they were greeted by a large crowd. From Newburgh, they traveled by bus to the United States Military Academy at West Point and stayed at the Thayer Hotel for three days, receiving a heroes' welcome all along the route. Ten days after their release, they were given a ticker tape parade through the Canyon of Heroes in New York City.

The Iraqi invasion of Iran occurred less than a year after the embassy employees were taken hostage. The journalist Stephen Kinzer argues that the dramatic change in AmericanIranian relations, from allies to enemies, helped embolden the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, and that the United States' anger with Iran led it to aid the Iraqis after the war turned against them.[120] The United States supplied Iraq with, among other things, "helicopters and satellite intelligence that was used in selecting bombing targets". This assistance "deepened and widened anti-American feeling in Iran".[120]

The hostage-taking was unsuccessful for Iran in some respects. It lost international support for its war against Iraq, and the negotiated settlement was considered almost wholly favorable to the United States because it did not meet any of Iran's original demands,[121] However, in the documentary titled " Iran and the West ", made decades later, Carter and several other key politicians of that time acknowledged the fact that the United States, alongside the United Kingdom, agreed to return several billion dollars of Iranian assets in exchange for the release of hostages. But the crisis strengthened Iranians who had supported the hostage-taking. Anti-Americanism became even more intense.[122] Politicians such as Khoeiniha and Behzad Nabavi[123] were left in a stronger position, while those associated withor accused of association withAmerica were removed from the political picture. A Khomeini biographer, Baqer Moin, described the crisis as "a watershed in Khomeini's life" that transformed him from a "cautious, pragmatic politician" into "a modern revolutionary single-mindedly pursuing a dogma". In Khomeini's statements, imperialism and liberalism were "negative words", while revolution "became a sacred word, sometimes more important than Islam".[124]

Some[who?] have suggested that the greatest benefit of the takeover of the American Embassy was the acquisition of intelligence contained within the embassy, including the identity of informants to the U.S. government, which the new Islamist government could use to remove potential dissenters and consolidate its gains.[citation needed]

The Iranian government commemorates the event every year with a demonstration at the embassy and the burning of an Americanflag. But on November 4, 2009, pro-democracy protesters and reformists demonstrated in the streets of Tehran. When the authorities encouraged them to chant "death to America", the protesters instead chanted "death to the dictator" (referring to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and other anti-government slogans.[125]

Gifts, including lifetime passes to any minor league or Major League Baseball game,[126] were showered on the hostages upon their return to the United States.

In 2000, the hostages and their families tried unsuccessfully to sue Iran under the Antiterrorism Act of 1996. They originally won the case when Iran failed to provide a defense, but the State Department then tried to end the lawsuit,[127] fearing that it would make international relations difficult. As a result, a federal judge ruled that no damages could be awarded to the hostages because of the agreement the United States had made when the hostages were freed.[128]

The former U.S. Embassy building is now used by Iran's government and affiliated groups. Since 2001, it has served as a museum to the revolution. Outside the door, there is a bronze model based on the Statue of Liberty on one side and a statue portraying one of the hostages on the other.[129]

The Guardian reported in 2006 that a group called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign had used the embassy to recruit "martyrdom seekers": volunteers to carry out operations against Western and Israeli targets.[130] Mohammad Samadi, a spokesman for the group, signed up several hundred volunteers in a few days.[130]

There were 66 original captives: 63 taken at the embassy and three captured and held at the Foreign Ministry offices. Three of the hostages were operatives of the CIA.[29]

Thirteen hostages were released November 1920, 1979, and one was released on July 11, 1980.

All State Department and CIA employees taken hostage received the State Department Award for Valor. Political Officer Michael J. Metrinko received two: one for his time as a hostage and another for his daring rescue of Americans who had been jailed in Tabriz months before the embassy takeover.[136]

The U.S.military later awarded the 20 servicemen who were among the hostages the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. The only hostage serviceman not issued the medal was Staff Sgt Joseph Subic,Jr., who "did not behave under stress the way noncommissioned officers are expected to act"[137]that is, he cooperated with the hostage-takers, according to other hostages.[138]

The Humanitarian Service Medal was awarded to the servicemen of Joint Task Force 179, the planning authority for Operation Rice Bowl/Eagle Claw, who participated in the rescue attempt.

The Air Force Special Operations component of the mission was given the Air Force Outstanding Unit award for performing their part of the mission flawlessly, including evacuating the Desert One refueling site under extreme conditions.

A small number of hostages were not connected to diplomatic staff. All were released by late 1981.

Allegations that the Reagan administration negotiated a delay in the release of the hostages until after the 1980 presidential election have been numerous but unproven. Gary Sick, principal White House aide for Iran and the Persian Gulf on the Carter administrations National Security Council, claimed in his book October Surprise: America's Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan[145] that CIA Director William Casey and possibly Vice President George H. W. Bush went to Paris to negotiate such a delay. Many others have made the same allegations.

Records of the Prime Minister's Office, Correspondence & Papers; 1979-1997 at discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk: IRAN. Internal situation in Iran; Attack on British Embassy; Hostage-taking at US Embassy; Freezing of Iranian Assets; US Mission to release hostages; Relations with US & UK following hostage taking at US Embassy.

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Iran, fresh from an OPEC meeting where it won significant concessions from regional rival Saudi Arabia, accelerated the rejuvenation of its sanctions-ravaged energy industry on Tuesday when the state producer signed a new-model oil investment contract.

National Iranian Oil Co. agreed to the framework of a $2.2 billion dealwith Persia Oil & Gas Industry Development Co. to boost output at three fields along the countrys western border with Iraq,Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said during a ceremony at the ministry. A second contract will be signed with a local company on Wednesday, Tasnim news agency reported, without giving details. Zanganeh has said the new type of contract, designed to better reward investment in crude and natural gas production, is crucial to increasing the countrys long-term export potential.

Although it may take years for new investment deals to bear fruit, Tuesdays signing caps a good few days for Zanganeh, who returned from last weeks OPEC meeting in Algiers having secured Irans right to pump more oil even as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies agreed to curb output. President Hassan Rouhanis government has argued that it should be allowed to return production to levels achieved before international sanctions curbed shipments.

To read a QuickTake on Irans oil, click here

Iranians feel that theyve missed out on a big, big party because of sanctions, Francisco Blanch,head of commodities research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in an interview. Sanctions basically took a lot of production out at a time when oil prices were very, very high. Iran doesnt really have to cut production, and its going to get a higher price.

The prospect of higher oil -- benchmark prices in London traded at a three-month high above $50 a barrel on Monday -- coupled with increased investment in the energy industry will also be a boost to Rouhani, who faces a reelection battle next year when he must convince voters that rapprochement with the West is paying off economically. Brent crude rose 0.4 percent to $51.10 a barrel at 3:02 p.m. in London.

Even if the real test for Rouhanis government would be to persuade international oil companies to invest in the country, the oilfield development accord is evidence of progress, together with rising crude exports. Persia Oil & Gas, theenergy arm of the conglomerate Execution of Imam Khomeinis Order, will develop part of the Yaran, Koupal and Maroon fields near the Iraqi border. The contract is an agreement that sets the framework for a final deal to be signed in five to six months, Zanganeh said.

The International Monetary Fund said Monday that economic conditions in Iran are improving substantially and forecast growth of at least 4.5 percent in 2016-17.

Iran aims to increase exports to 2.35 million barrels a day in coming months from about 2.2 million barrels a day, state news agency Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday, citing Mohsen Ghamsari, NIOCs international affairs director.The country has raised export capacity to 4 million barrels a day, NIOCs managing director Ali Kardor said, according to an IRNA report on Monday.

Iran told the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that it wants to produce about 4 million barrels of crude a day to regain its pre-sanctions share of the market, Zanganeh said last week. Iran produced 3.62 million barrels a day in August, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

A previous attempt to reach a freeze agreement in April failed when Saudi Arabia insisted that Iran should participate even without recouping the production levels it lost under international sanctions. Saudi Arabia, OPECs biggest producer, softened its stance in Algiers, with Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih saying that Iran, along with Libya and Nigeria, should be allowed to produce at the maximum levels that make sense.

Irans eventual production cap isnt clear. While OPEC agreed on a new overall range for production, it will set up a committee to decide on output quotas for individual members, before it meets again in Vienna next month.

Iran may already be near its maximum output in the absence of new investment, Jaafar Altaie, managing director at consultants Manaar Energy Group, said by phone from Abu Dhabi. The country needs foreign money and technology to counter the natural decline of its aging fields and to push production capacity much beyond 3.8 million barrels a day, he said.

Paolo Scaroni, theformer chief executive of Italys Eni SpA, said Iran is able to pump as much as 4.1 million to 4.2 million barrels daily. Any increase from there will take time and foreign investment, said Scaroni, who is now a vice chairman at NM Rothschild & Sons Ltd., speaking in a Bloomberg television interview from London on Monday.

The pressure is on NIOC to show they can bring additional barrels to the market, Manaar Energys Altaie said.

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Tehran Metropolis Greater Tehran Coordinates: 354146N 512523E / 35.69611N 51.42306E / 35.69611; 51.42306Coordinates: 354146N 512523E / 35.69611N 51.42306E / 35.69611; 51.42306 Country Iran Province Tehran County Tehran Rey Shemiranat District Central Government Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf City Council Chairman Mehdi Chamran Area[1] Urban 730km2 (280sqmi) Metro 1,274km2 (492sqmi) Elevation[2] 900 to 1,830m (2,952 to 6,003ft) Population (2015)[3] Density 12,896/km2 (33,400/sqmi) Urban 7,006,884,678,200,000,0008,846,782 Metro 7,007,152,325,640,000,00015,232,564 Population Rank in Iran 1st Population Data from 2015 Census and Statistical Centre of Iran Metro area figure refers to Tehran Province. Demonym(s) Tehrani(en) Time zone IRST (UTC+03:30) Summer (DST) IRDT (UTC+04:30) Area code(s) 021 Website http://www.tehran.ir

Tehran (Persian: Tehrn, pronounced[tehrn]( listen)) is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With a population of around 9 million in the city and 16 million in the wider metropolitan area,[4] Tehran is the largest city and urban area of Iran, the 2nd-largest city in Western Asia, and the 3rd-largest in the Middle East. It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area.[5]

In the Classical era, part of the present-day city of Tehran was occupied by a Median city that in the Avesta occurs as Rhaga.[6] It was destroyed by the Mongols in the early 13th century, and remains now as a city in Tehran Province, located towards the southern end of the modern-day city of Tehran.

Tehran was first chosen as the capital of Iran by Agha Mohammad Khan of the Qajar dynasty in 1796, in order to remain within close reach of Iran's territories in the Caucasus, before being separated from Iran as a result of the Russo-Persian Wars, and to avoid the vying factions of the previously ruling Iranian dynasties. The capital has been moved several times throughout the history, and Tehran is the 32nd national capital of Iran.

The city was the seat of the Qajars and Pahlavis, the two last imperial dynasties of Iran. It is home to many historical collections, such as the royal complexes of Golestan, Sa'dabad, and Niavaran, as well as the country's most important governmental buildings of the modern period.

Large scale demolition and rebuilding began in the 1920s, and Tehran has been a destination for the mass migrations from all over Iran since the 20th century.[7]

The most famous landmarks of the city include the Azadi Tower, a memorial built during the Pahlavi period, and the Milad Tower, the world's 17th tallest freestanding structure, which was built in 2007. Tabiat Bridge, which was completed in 2014, is considered the third contemporary symbol of the city.[8]

The majority of the people of Tehran are Persian-speaking people,[9][10] and roughly 99% of the population understand and speak Persian; but there are also large populations of other Iranian ethnicities in the city such as Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Lurs, and Kurds who speak Persian as their second language.[11]

Tehran is served by the Mehrabad and Khomeini international airports, a central railway station, the rapid transit rail system of the Tehran Metro, as well as a trolleybus and a BRT system, and has a large network of highways.

There have been plans to relocate Iran's capital from Tehran to another area; due mainly to air pollution and the city's exposure to earthquakes. To date, no definitive plans have been approved. A 2016 survey of 230 cities by consultant Mercer ranked Tehran 203rd for quality of living.[12] According to the Global Destinations Cities Index, Tehran is among the top ten fastest growing destinations.[13]

The origin of the name Tehran is uncertain.[14] The settlement of Tehran dates back over 7,000 years.[15]

The present-day city of Tehran was a suburb of an important Median city that was known as Rhaga in Old Persian. In the Avesta's Videvdat (i, 15), Rhaga is mentioned as the twelfth sacred place created by the Ohrmazd.[16] In Old Persian inscriptions, Rhaga appears as a province (Behistun 2, 1018). It was a major area for the Iranian tribes of Medes and Achaemenids. From Rhaga, Darius the Great sent reinforcements to his father Hystaspes, who was putting down the rebellion in Parthia (Behistun 3, 110).[16] In some Middle Persian texts, Rhaga is given as the birthplace of Zoroaster,[17] although modern historians generally place the birth of Zoroaster in Khorasan. Derived into Modern Persian as Rey, it remains now as a city located towards the southern end of the modern-day city of Tehran, which has been absorbed into the Greater Tehran metropolitan area.

Mount Damavand, the highest peak of Iran, which is located near Tehran, is an important location in Ferdowsi's Shahname,[18] the long Iranian epic poem that is based on the ancient epics of Iran. It appears in the epics as the birthplace of Manuchehr, the residence of Keyumars, the place where Freydun binds the dragon fiend Ai Dahka and the place where Arash the Archer shot his arrow from.[18]

During the Sassanid era, in 641, Yazdgerd III issued his last appeal to the nation from Rey, before fleeing to Khorasan.[16] Rey was dominated by the Parthian Mihran family, and Siyavakhshthe son of Mihran the son of Bahram Chobinwho resisted the Muslim Invasion.[16] Because of this resistance, when the Arabs captured Rey, they ordered the town to be destroyed and ordered Farrukhzad to rebuild the town anew.[16]

In the 9th century, Tehran was a well known village, but less known than the city of Rey, which was flourishing nearby. The medieval writer Najm od Din Razi declared the population of Rey about 500,000 before the Mongol Invasion.

In the 10th century, Rey was described in detail by Muslim geographers.[16] Despite the interest that Arabian Baghdad displayed in Rey, the number of Arabs in the city remained insignificant and the population mainly consisted of Persians of all classes.[16][19] The Oghuz Turks invaded Rey discretely in 1035 and 1042, but the city was recovered during the Seljuk and Khwarazmian eras.[16]

In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded Rey, laid the city to ruin and massacred many of its inhabitants.[16] Following the invasion, many of the city's inhabitants escaped to Tehran, and the new residence took over its role.

In July 1404, Castilian ambassador Ruy Gonzlez de Clavijo visited Tehran while on a journey to Samarkand, the capital of Timur who ruled Iran at the time. Clavijo later described Tehran as an unwalled region under the Timurid Empire.

When the Italian traveler Pietro della Valle passed through the city overnight in 1618, he mentioned it as "Taheran" in his memoirs, while Thomas Herbert mentioned it as "Tyroan". Herbert stated that the city had 3,000 houses in 1627.[20]

In the early 18th century, Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty ordered a palace and a government office to be built in Tehran, possibly to declare the city his capital, but he later moved his government to Shiraz. Eventually, the Qajar king Agha Mohammad Khan was the first to choose Tehran as the capital of Iran in 1776.[21]

Agha Mohammad Khan's choice of his capital was based on a similar concern for the control of both the northern and the southern regions of Iran.[21] He was aware of the loyalties of the inhabitants of the previous capitals Isfahan and Shiraz to the Safavid and Zand dynasties respectively, and was wary of the power of the local notables in these cities.[21] Thus, he probably viewed Tehran's lack of a substantial urban structure as a blessing, because it minimized the chances of resistance to his rule by the notables and by the general public.[21] Moreover, he had to remain within close reach of Azerbaijan and Iran's integral Caucasian territories in the North and South Caucasus,[21] at that time not yet irrevocably lost per the treaties of Golestan and Turkmenchay to the neighboring Imperial Russia, which would follow in the course of the 19th century.[22]

After 50 years of Qajar rule, the city still barely had more than 80,000 inhabitants.[21]

Up until the 1870s, Tehran consisted of a walled citadel, a roofed bazaar, and a town where the majority of the population resided in the three main neighborhoods of Udlajan, Chale Meydan and Sangelaj. The first development plan of Tehran in 1855 emphasized the traditional spatial structure. Architecture, however, found an eclectic expression to reflect the new lifestyle.

The second major planning exercise in Tehran took place under the supervision of Dar ol Fonun. The map of 1878 included new city walls, in the form of a perfect octagon with an area of 19 square kilometers, which mimicked the Renaissance cities of Europe.[23]

As a response to the growing social awareness of civil rights, on June 2, 1907, the first parliament of the Persian Constitutional Revolution passed a law on local governance known as the Baladie Law. The second and third articles of the law, on Baladie Community (or the city council), provided a detailed outline on issues such as the role of councils within the city, the members' qualifications, the election process and the requirements to be entitled to vote.

After the First World War, Reza Shah immediately suspended the Baladie Law of 1907, and the decentralized and autonomous city councils were replaced by centralist approaches of governance and planning.[23]

From the 1920s to 1930s, the city was essentially rebuilt from scratch, under the rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi. Reza Shah believed that ancient buildings such as large parts of the Golestan Palace, Tekye Dowlat, the Toopkhane Square, the city fortifications and the old citadel among others, should not be part of a modern city. They were systematically demolished, and modern buildings in the pre-Islamic Iranian style, such as the National Bank, the Police Headquarters, the Telegraph Office and the Military Academy were built in their place. The Grand Bazaar of Tehran was divided in half and many historic buildings were demolished in order to build wide straight avenues in the capital. Many Persian gardens also fell victim to new construction projects.[24]

The changes in the urban fabric started with the street-widening act of 1933, which served as a framework for changes in all other cities. As a result of this act, the traditional texture of the city was replaced with cruciform intersecting streets creating large roundabouts, located on the major public spaces such as the bazaar.

As an attempt to create a network for the easy movement of goods and vehicles in Tehran, the city walls and gates were demolished in 1937 and replaced by wide streets cutting through the urban fabric. The new city map of Tehran in 1937 was heavily influenced by the modernist planning patterns of zoning and gridiron networks.[23]

During the Second World War, Soviet and British troops entered the city. Tehran was the site of the Tehran Conference in 1943, attended by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

A former Parliament Building, built in the 1920s

A street in Tehran during the 1930s

National Bank of Iran, Sabze Meydan, in the 1940s

The establishment of the planning organization of Iran in 1948 resulted in the first socio-economic development plan to cover 1949 to 1955. These plans not only failed to slow the unbalanced growth of Tehran, but with the 1962 land reforms that Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi called the White Revolution, Tehran's chaotic growth was further accentuated.

To bring back order to the city and resolve the problem of social exclusion, the first comprehensive plan of Tehran was approved in 1968. The consortium of Iranian consultants Abd ol Aziz Mirza Farmanian and the American firm of Victor Gruen Associates identified the main problems blighting the city to be high density suburbs, air and water pollution, inefficient infrastructure, unemployment and rural-urban migration. Eventually, the whole plan was marginalized by the 1979 Revolution and the subsequent IranIraq War.[23]

Tehran's most famous landmark, the Azadi Tower, was built by the order of the Shah in 1971. It was designed by Hossein Amanat, an architect who won a competition to design the monument, using Sassanid and Achaemenid elements. Formerly known as the Shahyad Tower, it was built in commemoration of the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Tehran was rapidly developing under the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Modern buildings altered the face of Tehran and ambitious projects were envisioned for the following decades. The majority of these projects, such as the Milad Tower, were continued after the 1979 Revolution when Tehran's urbanization had reached its peak, and the new government started many other new projects.

During the 198088 IranIraq War, Tehran was the target of repeated Scud missile attacks and air strikes.

The 435-meter-high Milad Tower was completed in 2007, and has become a landmark of the city of Tehran. The 270-meter pedestrian overpass of Tabiat Bridge is another landmark of the city,[8] which was designed by the award winning Leila Araghian and was completed in 2014.

Tehran County borders Shemiranat County to the north, Damavand County to the east, Eslamshahr, Pakdasht, and Rey counties to the south, and Karaj and Shahriar counties to the west.

The City of Tehran is divided into 22 municipal districts, each with its own administrative center. 20 of the 22 municipal districts are located in Tehran County's Central District, while the districts 1 and 20 are respectively located in Shemiranat and Ray counties.

Tehran

North: District 1: izar Dar Abad Darake Darband Damaran Velenjak Gejtarije Nobonjad Tadri Zafaranije District 2: Farahzad Shahrara Gia Punak-e Bahtari Sadat Abad Sadegije ahrak-e Garb ahrak-e andarmeri Tarat Tovhid District 3: Darus Davudije Ehtijarije Golhak Vanak ordan District 5: Bulvar-e Firdusi Danat Abad Ekbatan Punak District 6: Amir Abad Arantin Jusef Abad Park-e Lale

East: District 4: Khak Sefid Hakimije Lavizan Ozgol Pasdaran Resalat ams Abad emiran No Tehranpars Zargande District 7: Abas Abad Behdat Abad Emam Hosein Sabalan District 8: Moalem Narmak Samangan Nezam Abad District 13: Duan Tape Niru Havaji Teheran No Piroozi District 14: aharsad Dastgah Dulab Esfahanak Horasan Sad Dastgah

Center: District 10: Berjanak Haft enar Salsabil District 11: Dohanijat Lakar Monirije ejh Hadi District 12: Baharestan Bazar-e Tehran Firdusi Gorgan Park-e ar Pi-e emiran District 17: Emamzade Hasan Hazane Falah Kale Morgi

South: District 15: Afsarije Bisim Havaran Kijanar Masudije Moirije District 16: Ali Abad Bag-e Azari Hazane Boharae Jahi Abad Javadieh Nazi Abad District 19: Abdol Abad Hava Niruz Nemat Abad District 20: Dovlat Abad Davanm.-e Kasab Ebn-e Babavejh Hazrat-e Abdol-Azim Sizdah-e Aban

West: District 9: Dej Sar-Asjab District 18: ahar Bari Jaft Abad ad Abad ahrak-e Vali-Asr Tolid Daru District 21: Iran Hodro Tehransar Vardavard District 22: Bag-e Had-Sejf Kan Kuj-e Sazman-e Barname Parc itgar Pejkanar Stadium-e Azadi ahrak-e eme ahrak-e Rah-Ahan ahrak-e Omid

Northern Tehran is the wealthiest region of the city, consisting of various smaller districts from northeast to northwest, such as Zaferanie, Jordan, Elahie, Kamranie, Ajodanie, Farmanie, Darrous, Qeytarie, and Qarb Town.[25][26]

Tehran features a semi-arid climate (Kppen climate classification: BSk) with continental climate characteristics and a Mediterranean climate precipitation pattern. Tehran's climate is largely defined by its geographic location, with the towering Alborz Mountains to its north and the central desert to the south. It can be generally described as mild in the spring and autumn, hot and dry in the summer, and cold and wet in the winter.

Because the city is large with significant differences in elevation among various districts, the weather is often cooler in the hilly north than in the flat southern part of Tehran. For instance, the 17.3km (10.7mi) Valiasr Street runs from Tehran's railway station at 1,117m (3,665ft) elevation above sea level in the south of the city to the Tajrish Square, and at 1,612m (5,289ft) elevation above sea level in the north.[citation needed] However, the elevation can even rise up to 1,900m (6,200ft) at the end of the Velenjak Street in the north of Tehran.

Summer is long, hot and dry with little rain, but relative humidity is generally low. Average high temperatures are between 35 and 40C (95 and 104F), and at nights it rarely drops below 23C (73F). Most of the light annual precipitation occurs from late autumn to mid-spring, but no one month is particularly wet. The hottest month is July, with a mean minimum temperature of 26C (79F) and a mean maximum temperature of 36C (97F), and the coldest is January, with a mean minimum temperature of 1C (30F) and a mean maximum temperature of 8C (46F).[27]

The weather of Tehran can sometimes be unpredictably harsh. The record high temperature is 43C (109F) and the record low is 17C (1F). On January 5 and 6, 2008, after years of relatively little snow, a wave of heavy snow and low temperatures covered the city in a thick layer of snow and ice, forcing the Council of Ministers to officially declare a state of emergency and close down the capital on January 6 and 7.[28]

Tehran has seen an increase in relative humidity and annual precipitation since the beginning of the 21st century. This is most likely because of the afforestation projects, which also include expanding parks and lakes. The northern parts of Tehran are still more lush than the southern parts.

In February 2005, heavy snow covered all of the parts of the city. Snow depth was 15cm (6in) in south part of the city and 100cm (39in) in the north of city. A newspaper said it had been the worst weather for 34 years. 10,000 bulldozers and 13,000 municipal workers deployed to keep the main roads open.[30][31]

On February 3, 2014, Tehran reached a heavy snowfall, specifically in the northern parts of the city, with a height of 2 meters. Within the one week successive snowfall roads were made impassable in some areas in north of Tehran along with a temperature variety of -8C to -16C [32]

On June 3, 2014, a severe thunderstorm with powerful microbursts created a haboob that engulfed the city in sand and dust. Five people were killed and more than 57 injured. This disaster also knocked numerous trees and power lines down. It struck between 5 and 6 PM, plummteing temperatures from 33C to 19C in just an hour. The dramatic temperature drop was accompanied by wind gusts reaching nearly 118km/h. [33]

A plan to move the capital has been discussed many times in prior years, due mainly to the environmental issues of the region. Tehran is rated as one of the worlds most polluted cities, and is also located near two major fault lines.

The city suffers from severe air pollution. 80% of the city's pollution is due to cars.[34] The remaining 20% is due to industrial pollution. Other estimates suggest that motorcycles alone account for 30% of air and 50% of sound pollution in Tehran.[35]

In 2010, the government announced that "for security and administrative reasons, the plan to move the capital from Tehran has been finalized."[36] The Iranian Parliament named Shahroud, Esfahan and Semnan as three of the main candidates to replace Tehran as the capital. There are plans to relocate 163 state firms to the provinces and several universities from Tehran to avoid damages from a potential earthquake.[36][37]

The officials are engaged in a battle to reduce air pollution. It has, for instance, encouraged taxis and buses to convert from petrol engines to engines that run on compressed natural gas. Furthermore, the government has set up a "Traffic Zone" covering the city center during peak traffic hours. Entering and driving inside this zone is only allowed with a special permit.

There have also been plans to raise people's awareness about the hazards of the pollution. One method that is currently being employed is the installation of Pollution Indicator Boards all around the city to monitor the current level of particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and carbon monoxide (CO).

The city of Tehran had a population of approximately 7.8 million in 2006[38] With its cosmopolitan atmosphere, Tehran is home to diverse ethnic and linguistic groups from all over the country. The native language of the city is the Tehrani accent of the Persian language, and the majority of people in Tehran identify themselves as Persians.[10][39] However, historically, the original native dialect of the TehranRey region is not Persian, which is linguistically Southwest Iranian and originates in Fars (Pars) in the south of the country, but a (now extinct) Northwest Iranian dialect belonging to the Central Iranian group.[40]

Ethnic Azerbaijanis form by far the largest minority of the city, comprising about 25%[41] to 1/3,[42][43] of its total population. Other ethnic minority groups include Kurds, Armenians, Georgians, Bakhtiaris, Talysh people, Baloch people, Assyrians, Arabs, Jews and Circassians.

According to a 2010 census conducted by the Sociology Department of Tehran University, in many districts of Tehran across various socio-economic classes in proportion to population sizes of each district and socio-economic class, 63% of people in Tehran were born in Tehran, 98% know Persian, 75% identify themselves as ethnic Persian, and 13% have some degree of proficiency in a European language.[44]

Tehran saw a drastic change in its ethno-social composition in the early 1980s. After the political, social and economic consequences of the 1979 Revolution and the years that followed, some Iranian citizens, mostly Tehranis, left Iran due to the pressures. The majority of Iranian emigrations have left for the United States, France, Germany, Sweden, and Canada.

With the start of the IranIraq War (19801988) following the Iraqi invasion, a second wave of inhabitants fled the city, especially during Iraqi air offensives on the capital. With most major powers backing Iraq at the time, economic isolation gave yet more reason for many inhabitants to leave the city (and the country). Having left all they had and having struggled to adapt to a new country and build a life, most of them never came back when the war was over. During the war, Tehran also received a great number of migrants from the west and the southwest of the country bordering Iraq.

The unstable situation and the war in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq prompted a rush of refugees into the country who arrived in their millions, with Tehran being a magnet for many seeking work, who subsequently helped the city to recover from war wounds, working for far less pay than local construction workers. Many of these refugees are being repatriated with the assistance of UNHCR but there are still sizable groups of Afghan and Iraqi refugees in Tehran who are reluctant to leave, being pessimistic about the situation in their own countries. Afghan refugees are mostly Persian speaking Hazara or Tajik people, speaking a dialect of Persian, and Iraqi refugees are mainly Mesopotamian Arabic speakers who are often of Iranian origin.

The majority of Tehranis are officially Twelver Shia Muslims, which has also been the state religion since the Safavid conversion of Iran. Other religious communities in the city include followers of the Sunni and Mystic branches of Islam, various Christian denominations, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and the Baha'i Faith.

There are many religious centers scattered around the city from old to newly built centers, including mosques, churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian fire temples.

The city has also a very small number of third generation Indian Sikhs that have a local gurudwara that was visited by the Indian Prime Minister in 2012.[45]

Tehran is the economic center of Iran.[46] About 30% of Iran's public-sector workforce and 45% of its large industrial firms are located in the city and almost half of these workers are employed by the government.[47] Most of the remainder of workers are factory workers, shopkeepers, laborers and transport workers.

Few foreign companies operate in Tehran because of the government's complex international relations. But before the 1979 Revolution, many foreign companies were active in this region.[48] Today, many modern industries in the city include the manufacturing of automobiles, electronics and electrical equipment, weaponry, textiles, sugar, cement and chemical products. It is also a leading center for the sale of carpets and furniture. There is an oil refinery near Rey, south of the metropolitan Greater Tehran.

Tehran has had four airports. Mehrabad International Airport and Imam Khomeini International Airport are the remaining active ones. Dushan Tappe Airbase is closed and the former Qale Morqi Airbase has been converted into an amusement park named Velayat Park.

Tehran relies heavily on private cars, buses, motorcycles and taxis, and is one of the most car-dependent cities in the world. The Tehran Stock Exchange, which is a full member of the Federation Internationale des Bourses de Valeurs (FIBV) and a founding member of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges, has been one of the world's best performing stock exchanges in recent years.[49]

Tehran has a wide range of shopping centers from traditional bazaars to modern shopping malls. The Grand Bazaar of Tehran and the Bazaar of Tajrish are the biggest old bazaars in Tehran. Shopping districts such as Valiasr, Shariati, and Mirdamad have a wide range of different shops. A few of the well known malls across the city include Tiraje and Hyperstar, and smaller shopping centers such as Tandis, Golestan, Palladium Mall, 7center and Safavie.

Most of the international branded stores and upper class shops are located in the northern and western parts of the city, while the rest of the shopping centers are located across the city. Tehran's retail business is growing with several newly built malls and shopping centers.

Tehran, as one of the main tourist locations in Iran, has a wealth of cultural attractions. It is home to royal complexes built during the two last monarchical periods of the country, including the Golestan, Sa'dabad and Niavaran complexes.

There are several historic, artistic and scientific museums in Tehran, such as the National Museum, Malek Museum, Ferdows Garden, Glassware and Ceramics Museum, Museum of the Qasr Prison, the Carpet Museum, Museum of Glass Painting (vitrai art) and the Safir Office Machines Museum. There is also the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in which works of famous artists such as Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol are featured.

Tehran is also home to the Iranian Imperial Crown Jewels, claimed to be the largest jewel collection in the world. The collection comprises a set of crowns and thrones, some 30 tiaras, numerous aigrettes, jewel studded swords and shields, a vast amount of precious loose gems, as well as the largest collections of emeralds, rubies and diamonds in the world. It also includes other items collected by the Shahs of Iran. The imperial crown jewels are on display at the Central Bank of Iran.

Tehran International Book Fair is known to the international publishing world as one of the most important publishing events in Asia.[50]

The metropolis of Tehran is equipped with a network of highways and interchanges.[51]

While the center of the city houses the government ministries and headquarters, the commercial centers are more located toward Valiasr Street, Taleghani Ave, and Beheshti Ave further north. Although administratively separate, Rey, Shemiran, and Karaj are often considered part of the larger Tehran metropolitan area.

A number of streets in Tehran are named after international figures, including:

According to the head of Tehran Municipality's Environment and Sustainable Development Office, Tehran was designed to have a capacity of about 700,000 cars but currently more than 5 million cars are on the roads.[52] The automation industry has recently developed but international sanctions influence the production processes periodically.[53]

Tehran's transport system includes conventional buses, trolleybuses and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Buses have served the city since the 1920s. There are four bus terminals that also provide connections at low rates.[clarification needed] The terminals are located on the south, east, and west, and Bei-haqi Park-Drive.

The trolleybus system opened in 1992, using a fleet of 65 articulated trolleybuses built by koda.[54] This was the first trolleybus system in Iran and remains the country's only such system.[54] In 2005, trolleybuses were operating on five routes, all starting at Imam Hossein Square[55] near Imam Hossein Station on the Tehran Metro Line 2. Two routes running northeastwards operate almost entirely in a segregated busway located in the middle of the wide carriageway (along Damavand Street), stopping only at purpose built stops located about every 500 metres along the routes, effectively making these routes trolleybus-BRT (but they are not called such). The other three trolleybus routes run south from Imam Hossein Square and operate in mixed-traffic. Both route sections are served by limited-stop services and local (making all stops) services.[55] A 3.2-km extension from Shoosh Square to Rah Ahan Square and the railway station there opened in March 2010.[56]

Tehran Bus Rapid Transit was officially inaugurated in 2008 by Tehran's mayor of the time, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. BRT has three lines with 60 stations in different areas of the city. As of 2011[update], BRT had a network of 100 kilometres (62 miles), transporting 1.8 million passengers on a daily basis. The city has also developed a bicycle sharing system that includes 12 hubs in one of Tehran's districts.[57]

Tehran has a central railway station that connects services round the clock to various cities in the country, along with a TehranEurope train line also running.

The feasibility study and conceptual planning of the construction of Tehran's subway system were started in the 1970s. The first two of the eight projected metro lines were opened in 2001.

Tehran is served by the international airports of Mehrabad and Khomeini. Mehrabad Airport, an old airport in Western Tehran that doubles as a military base, is mainly used for domestic and charter flights. Imam Khomeini Airport, located 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of the city, handles the main international flights.

There are over 2,100 parks within the metropolis of Tehran,[58] with one of the oldest being Jamshidieh Park, which was first established as a private garden for the Qajar prince Jamshid Davallu and was then dedicated to the last empress of Iran, Farah Diba. The total green space within Tehran stretches over 12,600 hectares, covering over 20 percent of the city's area.

The Parks and Green Spaces Organization of Tehran was established in 1960. It is responsible for the protection of the urban nature present in the city.[59]

Tehran's Birds Garden is the largest bird park of Iran. There is also a zoo located on the TehranKaraj Expressway, housing over 290 species within an area of about five hectares.[60]

There are four parks in Tehran established exclusively for women, totaling about 80 hectares in area,[58] in which the female mandatory dress codes are not required.

Tehran is the largest and most important educational center of Iran. There are a total of nearly 50 major colleges and universities in Greater Tehran.

Since the establishment of Dar ol Fonun by the order of Amir Kabir in the mid-19th century, Tehran has amassed a large number of institutions of higher education. Some of these institutions have played crucial roles in the unfolding of Iranian political events. Samuel M. Jordan, whom Jordan Avenue in Tehran was named after, was also one of the founding pioneers of the American College of Tehran.

Among major educational institutions located in Tehran, Sharif University of Technology, University of Tehran, and Tehran University of Medical Sciences are the most prestigious universities of Iran. Allameh Tabatabaei University, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Shahid Beheshti University (Melli University), Kharazmi University, Iran University of Science and Technology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, Shahed University and Tarbiat Modarres University are among the other universities of Iran located in Tehran.

Tehran is also home to Iran's largest military academy, and several religious schools and seminaries.

The oldest surviving architectural monuments of the city are from the Qajar and Pahlavi eras. Although, considering the area of Greater Tehran, monuments dating back to the Seljuk era remain as well; notably the Toqrol Tower. There are also remains of Rashkan Castle, dating back to the ancient Arsacid era, of which some artefacts are housed at the National Museum.[61]

Tehran only had a small population until the late 18th century, but began to take a more considerable role in Iranian society after it was chosen as the capital city. Despite the regular occurrence of earthquakes during the Qajar period and after, some historic buildings have remained from that era.[62]

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Tehran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Irni Iszlm Kztrsasg (Dzsomhuri-je Iszlmi-je Irn) Nemzeti mott: (perzsa) (Esztegll, zdi, dzsomhuri-je iszlmi) Fggetlensg, szabadsg, iszlm kztrsasg Nemzeti himnusz: Szorud-e melli-je dzsomhuri-je iszlmi Fvrosa Tehern . sz. 35 41, k. h. 51 2535.683333333333, 51.416666666667 Legnagyobb vros Tehern llamforma iszlm kztrsasg Vezetk Legfels vezet Ali Hmenei Elnk Hasszn Rohani Hivatalos nyelv perzsa Beszlt nyelvek azeri, trk, kurd Egyests i. e. 625 Iszlm kztrsasg kikiltsa 1979. prilis 1. Tagsg ENSZ, IMF, OIC, OPEC Npessg Npszmlls szerint 77447168 f (2013)[1] Rangsorban 17 Becslt 78 192 200 f(2014. jlius) Rangsorban 17 Npsrsg 48 f/km GDP 2016. (forrs: IMF) sszes 419,643 millird dollr(29) PPP: 816,839 millird dollr Egy fre jut 5246 dollr(85) PPP: 11 209 dollr HDI(2008.) 0,777(84)kzepes Fldrajzi adatok Terlet 1 648 195 km Rangsorban 18 Vz 0,7% Idzna teherni id (UTC+3:30) teherni nyri id (UTC+4:30) Egyb adatok Az adatok megjelentshez kattints a kinyit hivatkozsra. Pnznem irni ril(IRR) Nemzetkzi gpkocsijel IR Hvszm 98 Seglyhv telefonszm Internet TLD .ir Villamos hlzat 220 volt Elektromos csatlakoz Kzlekeds irnya jobb

Irn (perzsul ), hivatalos nevn az Irni Iszlm Kztrsasg (perzsul ), rgebbi elnevezssel Perzsia kzel-keleti orszg Dlnyugat-zsiban. Az Egyeslt Nemzetek Szervezete, az OPEC, az Iszlm Konferencia Szervezete s az ENKM alapt tagja.

Noha az orszgot a helyiek mr legalbb az Akhaimenida-idszak ta Irnknt is ismerik, nyugaton 1935-ig csak a Perzsia elnevezssel illettk. 1959-ben Mohammad Reza Pahlavi irni sah bejelentette, hogy mindkt megnevezs hasznlhat. A Homeini ajatollah vezette 1979-es forradalmat kveten az orszg hivatalos neve Irni Iszlm Kztrsasg (perzsul ) lett, amely llamformja szerint teokratikus (iszlm) kztrsasg.

Az Irn () sz si formja az Arianm, amely elnevezssel Irn vagy Perzsia npe orszgt egykor nevezte (elszr a szsznida idszakban). E kifejezs mellett az Ernsahr kifejezs is hasznlatban volt. Az arianm az Indoirni npek sz tbbes szma, melynek jelentse gy "Az rjk fldje".

A Perzsia kifejezst az eurpai orszgok hasznltk az orszg jellsre az perzsa Birodalom akhaimenida dinasztija ta, az i. e. 6. szzadtl. Elssorban a grg trtnetrk hasznltk elszeretettel a Persis () kifejezst, amelynek jelentse "A perzsk orszga".

Irn a kzel-keleti trsg msodik legnagyobb terlet orszga, terlete 1 648 195km2. Szomszdai szakon rmnyorszg, Azerbajdzsn, a Kaszpi-tenger, valamint Trkmenisztn, keleten Afganisztn s Pakisztn, dlen az Omni-bl s a Perzsa-bl, nyugaton pedig Irak s Trkorszg.

Terletnek kzponti rszt sivatagos, illetve sztyepp-bortotta, mocsarakkal, ss tavakkal tarktott felfld teszi ki, amelyhez szakon a Kaszpi-tenger partjn hzd Alborz, dlnyugaton pedig a Zagrosz-hegysg lncai kapcsoldnak.

Irn terlett az Irni-fennsk s a fennskot kzrefog, az Eurzsiai-hegysgrendszer rszt kpez hegysglncok (Zagrosz, Alborz s ms hegysgek) alkotjk.

A fennsk medenci keleten rszben ss tavakkal kitlttt sivatagok, a nyugatabbra elhelyezked fennski terleteken azonban a nagyobb csapadkmennyisg sztyeppe kialakulst eredmnyezte.

Irn kt legnagyobb hegysglnca az szakon hzd Alborz s a nyugaton hzd Zagrosz. Az Alborz s egyben Irn legmagasabb pontja a Tehern kzelben tallhat Damvand (5771 m). A Zagrosz legmagasabb cscsa a 4409 m magas Dena.

Nagyobb sksgok az Irni-fennskon s a peremhegysgeken kvl tallhatk, elssorban a Kaszpi-tenger, valamint a Perzsa- s az Omni-bl partvidkn.

Irntl szakra tallhat a Kaszpi-tenger, tle dlre a Perzsa-bl s az Omni-bl. A kedveztlen ghajlati felttelek miatt a szrazfldn nem alakultak ki hossz, bviz folyk. Egyetlen hajzhat mret folyja a Karun, amely dlen a Perzsa-blbe torkoll Satt el-Arab (ms nven Arvand Rd) folyhoz csatlakozik. Nagyobb llvz az orszgban az szaknyugaton tallhat Urmia-t, valamint a keleti orszgrsz nhny nagyobb ss mocsara, mint pldul a Dast-e Kavir s a Dast-e Lut.

Irn ghajlata vltozatos, tbb ghajlati gv egyszerre jelen van terletn.

Legszrazabbak a mrskelt vi sivatagi ghajlat uralta fennski medenck, elssorban a keleti rszek, ahov a nedvessget hoz szl nem jut el. Itt valdi sivatagok alakultak ki. A csapadk valamivel tbb a fennsk nyugati rszn, amely ebbl fakadan srbben lakott. Az ves csapadkmennyisg helyenknt 200mm alatti. A nyr forr s szraz, az tlaghmrsklet meghaladja a 38 fokot.

Dl-Irnban a Perzsa-bl s az Omni-bl parti sksgain a nyr nagyon forr s prs, a tl pedig enyhe. Az vi csapadkmennyisg 135355mm kztti.

Az orszg szaki peremn, a Kaszpi-tenger sksgn a tl szintn enyhe, a hmrsklet ritkn esik fagypont al. A nyri hmrsklet ltalban nem haladja meg a 29 fokot. A sksg keleti rszn az vi csapadkmennyisg 680mm, a nyugati rszn meghaladja az 1000mm-t. Itt nedves, szubtrpusi klma alakult ki.

A hegyvidken kontinentlis ghajlat uralkodik, magashegysgi ghajlati jegyek jellemzk. A Zagrosz medenciben alacsonyabb a hmrsklet, tlen a napi tlaghmrsklet fagypont alatt marad, sok a h.

Erdk

Erds sztyeppe

Fves sztyeppe

Flsivatagos terlet

Sivatag

Ss rtri mocsr

ghajlati s domborzati vltozkonysga folytn Irn nvny- s llatvilga is vltozatos.

Az orszg egytized rszt bortjk erdk. Az erdalkot fa tpust az ghajlati s domborzati viszonyok befolysoljk. Legkiterjedtebb erdssggel a Kaszpi-tenger menti rgi rendelkezik, ahol a jellemz erdalkotk a tlgy, kris, szilfa s a klnbz ciprusflk.

Fbb emlsllatai: medvk, gazellk, vaddisznk, farkasok, nagymacskaflk (eurzsiai hiz, zsiai geprd, perzsa leoprd), vadtevk, vadkecskk, saklok. Az zsiai geprd kihalflben van, vente alig pr pldnyt regisztrlnak belle Irn szerte.

Legfbb hziastott llatai: birka, kecske, szamr, teve, szarvasmarha, vzibivaly, l.

Irnban is kialakult a termszetvdelem soklpcss rendszere vannak nemzeti parkok, vdett erdk, llatrezervtumok, vdett tjak, termszetvdelmi terletek.[2]

2016-ban az UNESCO termszeti vilgrksgg nyilvntotta a Lut-sivatagot a VII. s VIII. kritriumok alapjn.[3]

Trtnelem eltti rgszeti lelhelyek tucatjai szerte az irni fennskon mutatjk, hogy az i. e. IV. vezredben mr si kultrk s vrosias teleplsek lteztek, vszzadokkal a kzeli Mezopotmia legkorbbi civilizcii eltt.

Az indoirniakbl akkoriban vltak el az elirni npek. Az rja (elirni) trzsek az i. e. III. s II. vezredben rkeztek az Irni-fennskra, valsznleg tbb hullmban. k nomdok voltak akkoriban. Ksbb az elirniak nyugati s keleti csoportra vltak szt. Az i. e. I. vezredben a nyugati csoporthoz a mdek, perzsk, baktriaiak s a parthusok tartoztak, mg a kimmerek, szarmatk s alnok (a jszok eldei), szktk a Fekete-tengertl szakra lv pusztkon ltek. Ms trzsek keleten telepedtek le, szllsterletk messze benylt az indiai szubkontinens szaknyugati hegyvidki hatrterletre egszen a mai Beludzsisztnig. Megint ms trzsek messze nyugaton a Balknon ltek, mint a szktk, vagy messze keleten, Hszincsiangban. Az avesztainak nevezett keleti irni nyelven rtk a zoroasztrista valls szent irata, az Aveszta i. e. 1000 krl. Ez himnuszokat s trvnyeket tartalmaz. A zoroasztrinizmus volt az Akhaimenida Birodalom s az azt kvet irni birodalmak llamvallsa a 7. szzadig.

A mdek egyestettk elszr Irnt (i. e. 625559), legnagyobb kirlyuk, Nagy Krosz pedig a mdek s perzsk egyestsvel ltrehozta az Akhaimenida Birodalmat (i. e. 559330). Krosz halla utn legidsebb fia, II. Kambszsz folytatta a hdtsokat. Egyiptomot is meghdtotta. Kambszsz halla utn trnviszly trt ki, amelybl a kirlyi csald tvoli rokona, Dareiosz (i. e. 522486) kerlt ki gyztesen. t tekintik az kori Irn legjelentsebb uralkodjnak.

Krosz s Dareiosz uralkodsa alatt a Perzsa (Irni) Birodalom az addigi trtnelem legnagyobb s leghatalmasabb birodalma volt. A birodalom hatrai keleten az Indus s Amu-darja folykig, nyugaton a Fldkzi-tengerig terjedtek, belertve Anatlit (a mai Trkorszgot) s Egyiptomot. I. e. 494-ben az athniak tmogattk a miltosziak lzadst, az eredmny Szardeisz kirablsa lett. Ez vltotta ki a perzsk grgk elleni hadjratait az i. e. 5. szzad els felben a grgperzsa hborkat. Ezekben a hborkban a perzsk rtek el jelentkeny sikereket, mg Athnt is leromboltk i. e. 480-ban, de vgl a grgk gyztek s visszavonulsra knyszertettk a perzskat. A harcok i. e. 449-ben rtek vget.

Nagy Sndor i. e. 334-ben tmadta meg az Akhaimenida Birodalmat, utols uralkodjt i. e. 333-ban gyzte le az isszoszi csatban. Ezt kveten i. e. 328327-ben elfoglalta teljes terlett. A birodalom rszeinek lre sajt tisztjeit lltotta, ezzel elksztve a birodalom sztesst, ami halla utn kvetkezett be. Az jraegyestsre majdnem 700 vet kellett vrni. Nagy Sndor birodalmnak utdllamait, gy a szeleukidk majd az ket kvet arszakidk llamt is, a vazallus uralkodk rendszere jellemezte. A szsznidk korban azonban ismt az akhaimenidkhoz hasonlan kormnyzkat (modern perzsa nyelven: shahrab) nevezett ki az uralkod, ami ltal kzvetlenl rvnyeslt a kzponti hatalom akarata. Nagy Sndor, majd az t kvet ksbbi idegen dinasztik uralma alatt is fejldtt s perzsa jelleg maradt a trsadalom.

Az i. e. 3. szzad vgtl kezdve az arszakida dinasztia ltal vezetett Prtus Birodalom legyzte a szeleukida birodalmat s uralma alatt egyestette az irni felfldet, majd uralma alatt tartotta Mezopotmit i. e. 150 s i. sz. 224 kztt. Ez volt az kori Irn harmadik bennszltt dinasztija, t vszzadon t maradt hatalmon. Mdia, Asszria, Babilnia s Elm meghdtsa utn a prthusok megszerveztk birodalmukat. Ezekben az orszgokban a korbbi elit grg volt, az j uralkodk tvettk szoksaikat, ha az clszernek ltszott uralmuk szempontjbl. Vgeredmnyben a vrosok megtartottk korbbi jogaikat s a polgri kzigazgats tbb-kevsb srtetlenl kerlt prthus irnyts al.

Parthia a Rmai Birodalom sellensge volt keleten, megakadlyozta a rmaiak terjeszkedst kelet fel. A prthusok pnclozott nehzlovassgot (kataphrakt lovassg) s knnyebb felszerels, de mozgkonyabb lovas jszok alkalmazsval 300 ven t lltak ellent Rmnak. I. e. 36-ban nevezetes rmai hadvezr, Marcus Antonius katasztroflis hadjratot vezetett a prthusok ellen. 32000 embert vesztett el. Augustus rmai csszr idejn Rma s Parthia bizonyos vits krdseket diplomciai ton rendezett. Ekkor szolgltatta vissza Parthia azokat a lgijelvnyeket, amelyeket Marcus Antoniustl, illetve i. e. 53-ban a katasztroflis Carrhae-i csatban Crassustl zskmnyolt.

A Parthus Birodalom 224-ben bukott el, amikor a rosszul szervezett birodalom utols kirlya veresget szenvedett sajt vazallustl, Ardasrtl. I. Ardasr a Szsznida Birodalom alaptja. Megkezdte a birodalom gazdasgi s katonai jjszervezst. A szsznida birodalmat az akhaimenida mintjra szerveztk jj. A birodalmat az "rjk birtoknak" hvtk, fvrosa Ktsziphon volt. A rmaiak sorozatos veresget szenvedtek tlk.

632-ben kezdtk az Arab-flszigetrl rkez portyzk tmadni a Szsznida birodalmat.

A Prthus, majd a Szsznida birodalom idejn a Selyemton foly kereskedelem jelents szerepet jtszott Kna, Egyiptom, Mezopotmia, Perzsia, az indiai szubkontinens orszgai s Rma fejldsben, ezltal elsegtette a modern vilg megalapozst. Bizonyos prthus intzmnyekben kimutathat a klasszikus grgsg befolysa s keletiv alaktsa. A prthusok ptszeti jtsai befolysoltk az eurpai romn stlus ptszetet. A szsznidk idejn Irn kapcsolatai Knig rtek, virgzott a mvszet, a zene s az ptszet.

Az iszlm hdts utn Irnt az Omajjd Kaliftusba tagoltk be. Az iszlamizci mlyrehat vltozsokat okozott a kultrban, a tudomnyban s az irni trsadalom szerkezetben: a felvirgz perzsa irodalom, filozfia, orvostudomny s mvszet az jonnan alakul muszlim civilizci lnyeges eleme lett. Kulturlis, politikai s vallsi tren az irni hozzjruls az j muszlim civilizcihoz rendkvl fontos. Mindezek kvetkezmnye Irn muszlim aranykora.

Egy irni hadvezr, Abu Muszlim elzte az omajjdokat Damaszkuszbl s segtette az abbszida kalifkat Bagdad meghdtsban. Az abbszida kalifk vezreket neveztek ki az irniak fl, ezek az irni kormnyzk jelentkeny autonmira tettek szert. 822-ben Khoraszn kormnyzja, Tahir fggetlenn nyilvntotta magt s megalaptotta a thiridk j perzsa dinasztijt. Az ezt kvet szmnida rban Irn megvdte s megerstette fggetlensgt.

Irnban sohasem sikerlt az arabizls. Volt erre trekvs, de az csak megerstette az irniak elszntsgt, hogy megvjk fggetlensgket az arab hdtktl. A nemzeti dinasztik alatt kulturlis virgzs a 9. s 10. szzadban tartott. E korszak legjelentsebb hatsa, hogy folytatdott a perzsa nyelv hasznlata, amely a mai napig Irn hivatalos nyelve. Firdausz, Irn legjelentsebb eposznak szerzje, mindmig a legfontosabb szemly a perzsa nyelv fenntartsban. Az iszlm hdts utni irni filozfia kapcsolatban llt az irni, az grg s a fejld muszlim filozfival. Perzsia e korbl szrmaz filozfiai hagyomnya az okkult s transzcendentlis filozfia.

A 11. szzadban, Mahmd al-Gazn megalaptotta a kiterjedt Gaznavida Birodalmat, amelynek fvrosai Iszfahn s az afganisztni Gazna (ma Gazni) voltak. Utdai, a szeldzsukok a Fldkzi-tenger s a Kzp-zsia kztti trsg legjelentsebb hatalma voltak. Ebben az idszakban tudsok szzai jelentsen hozzjrultak a mszaki ismeretek, a tudomny s az orvosls fejldshez. Ez a ksbbiekben befolysolta az emelked Eurpa tudomnyt a renesznsz korig.

1218-ban a keleti tartomnyokat elpuszttotta Dzsingisz kn betrse. Ez volt a mongol hdts kezdete. 1220 s 1260 kztt Irn lakossga 2500000-rl 200000-re cskkent a tmeges kivgzsek s az hnsg kvetkeztben. Dzsingisz kn unokja, Hleg kn azt lltotta IX. Lajos francia kirlyhoz rt levelben, hogy betrse Irnba s a Kaliftusba 200000 halottat okozott. A pusztuls akkora volt, hogy sok vros a 20. szzadig nem rte el a mongol betrs eltti lakossgt, vagyis nyolc vszzadon t. De Hleg kn, Timur Lenk s utdaik tvettk a meghdtottak szoksait s intzmnyeit, fennmaradt a klnll perzsa kultra.

Az els irni sita iszlm llamot a Szafavida-dinasztia (15011722) els tagja, Iszmil sah alaptotta. A szafavida dinasztia jelents politikai hatalom volt, szmos ktoldal llamkzi szerzds rszese. A szafavidk hatalmuk cscst Nagy Abbsz uralkodsa idejn rtk el. A dinasztia gyakran kerlt sszetkzsbe a trkkkel, az zbg trzsekkel s a portuglokkal. Uralmuk alatt Iszfahnban kszltek az irni iparmvszet trtnetnek eszttikai szempontbl legbecsesebb darabjai. Szigoran kzpontostottk llamukat, ksrletet tettek a hadgy modernizlsra, sajtos ptszeti stlus jelzi uralmuk idejt. 1722-ben afgn lzadk legyztk Szultn Huszajn sahot, ezzel elbukott a szafavida dinasztia. 1735-ben Ndir sah kiszortotta az afgnokat Iszfahnbl. 1738-ban betrt Indiba, ekkor zskmnyolta a Pvatrnt, a Koh-e-Noor s Darya-e-Noor gymntot, az irni kirlyi kincstr keit. Uralma nem volt hossz, 1747-ben meggyilkoltk. t 1750-ben a Zand-dinasztia kvette, alaptja Karim kn volt, fvrosa pedig Sirz. Uralmukat viszonylagos bke s virgzs jellemezte. E dinasztinak hrom uralkodja volt. Az utolst 1794-ben kivgeztette Aga Muhammad kn, a Kdzsr-dinasztia alaptja. a fvrost Tehernba tette t. Tehetsges kancellrja, Amir Kabir modern kzigazgatst vezetett be s ms modernizl reformokat kezdemnyezett. A Kdzsr rban Irn tbb hbort vvott az oroszokkal, amelyek eredmnyeknt Irn elvesztette terletnek csaknem felt Oroszorszg s a Brit Birodalom javra. Mgis, Irn kpes volt megrizni fggetlensgt, elkerlni a gyarmatostst. Az ismtld kls tmadsok s sajt korrupcija meggyengtette a Kdzsr dinasztit. 1906-ban alkotmnyos forradalom trt ki, sszehvtk az els orszggylst, bevezettk az alkotmnyos kirlysgot.

1921-ben az ertlen kormnyt brit sztnzsre egy Atatrkt pldakpnek tart tiszt, Reza Pahlavi megdnttte, s 1925-ben sahh kiltatta ki magt, megbuktatva a Kdzsrokat. Az 1941-ig regnl Pahlavi a trk reformokat kvnta tltetni Irnba, ezrt kemnyen harcolt a klfldiek ltal felszerelt nomdok s a befolysos sita egyhz ellen. Nevhez fzdik az els irni egyetem megalaptsa, a ktelez kzoktats elrendelse, a vezetknvhasznlat ktelezv ttele, az llami hadsereg megteremtse s erltetett felduzzasztsa, valamint az j, bolgrbelga mintj alkotmny, valamint a sart felvlt polgri s bntettrvnyknyvek bevezetse. Heves iszlmellenessge felttlen nyugatbartsgban, az kori pogny perzsa kultra fellesztsi ksrleteiben s a sita klrus elleni kegyetlen megtorlsokban csapdott le, amivel rendkvl npszertlenn vlt alattvali krben. Radsul diktatrikus kormnyzata az arisztokrcira tmaszkodott, ezrt a paraszti tmegek sorsa javtsa rdekben nem tett semmit.

1941-ben a britek s szovjetek megszlltk az orszgot, hogy a msodik vilghborban az irni vastkapacitst hasznljk, 1944-ben a nmetbart sahot pedig knyszertettk, hogy a fia, Mohamed Reza Pahlavi javra lemondjon. 1953-ban Irn miniszterelnkt, Mohammed Mosszadeket akit kt alkalommal is kpviselnek vlasztottak (1923 s 1944), majd 1951-tl az orszg miniszterelnke volt llamcsnnyel tvoltottk el a hatalombl. Ezt a brit s az amerikai titkosgynksgek szerveztk meg (Ajax-hadmvelet). J nhny trtnsz gy gondolja, hogy ez azrt trtnt, mert Moszaddek llamostotta Irn kolajkszleteit.

Moszaddek bukst kveten a sah egyre diktatrikusabban kormnyzott. Az Egyeslt llamok s az Egyeslt Kirlysg hathats tmogatst lvezve ugyan tovbb modernizlta az irni ipart, de eltiporta a polgri szabadsgjogokat. Uralma, melynek rsze volt a szisztematikus knzs, s ms emberi jogi megsrtse, vgl 1979-ben az irni forradalomba torkollott, melyben rezsimjt megdntttk. Klnbz csoportok tbb mint egy ves kzdelme utn vgl iszlm kztrsasg alakult Khomeini ajatollah vezetsvel, aki a tmegek tmogatst is lvezte.

Az j teokratikus politikai rendszer vallsi alap reformokat hajtott vgre, klpolitikjban nyugatellenes volt. Irn klnsen tvolsgtartv vlt az Egyeslt llamokkal szemben az 1953-as puccsban val rszvtele okn, amely megdnttt egy vlasztott kormnyt, hogy a sah elnyom rezsimjvel cserlje fel azt. Emellett Irn nyilatkozatot tett arrl, hogy nem ismeri el Izrael llam ltezst. Az j kormny tmogatott klnfle csoportokat, melyet a nyugati vilg nagy rsze fundamentalistaknt knyvel el. Ennek kvetkeztben nmely orszgok, kzttk az Amerikai Egyeslt llamok Irnt ellensges hatalomknt tartjk szmon mig.

1980-ban Irak megtmadta Irnt. A pusztt irakirni hbor 1988-ig folytatdott, egyik llam sem rte el cljt. Sok szzezren vesztettk letket, Irak tbbszr is bevetett vegyi fegyvert.

Nhny ve a demokratikus formkat rz politikai szerkezet j nhny reformista politikus megvlasztst tette lehetv, mint pldul a volt miniszterelnkt (Mohammad Khatami). A vita a reformistk s a konzervatvok kztt ma is folytatdik az orszg jvjrl, az iszlm rendszer keretein bell. A 2009-es vlasztsokon a konzervatv miniszterelnk-jellt megvlasztsnl felmerlt a vlasztsi csals lehetsge.[4][5][6][7] Ennek kapcsn zavargsok trtek ki.[8]

Rvid let llamalakulatok a 20. szzad sorn a mai Irn terletn: Giln, Mahabd, Npi Azerbajdzsn.

Lsd mg: Az irni kirlysgok teljes listja

A politikai rendszer alapjt kpez 1979-es alkotmny rgzti, hogy a legfbb hatalom az Irni Iszlm Kztrsasgban Isten, minlfogva az irni rendszer elnki teokratikus kztrsasgknt rtelmezhet.

Irn legmagasabb rang vallsi s politikai szemlyisge a Legfbb Vallsi Vezet, aki egyttal a fegyveres erk fparancsnoka is, s gyakorlatilag ellenrzst gyakorol mind a trvnyhoz, mind a vgrehajt, mind a bri hatalomra. jelli ki a 12 tag rk Tancsa hat egyhzjogszt, de kzvetve a hat jogi szakrt szemlynek kivlasztsra is befolysa van; br kzvetlenl a parlament vlasztja ki a jogi szakrtket, a jelltek listjt a Legfbb Vallsi Vezet ltal kijellt Legfbb Igazsggyi Mltsg lltja ssze. A Legfbb Vallsi Vezet szemlyt a Szakrtk Gylse vlasztja, akinek jogban ll indokolt esetben a Vezett meneszteni is.

Politikai rtelemben a Legfbb Vallsi Vezett utn a msodik legfontosabb szemly Irn politikai rendszerben a vgrehajti hatalmat gyakorl kztrsasgi elnk; szemlyt titkos szavazs tjn vlasztjk ngy vre, legfeljebb kt egymst kvet ciklusra. A kztrsasgi elnk nevezi ki a minisztereket, de a kinevezseket a parlamentnek is jv kell hagynia.

Irn legfbb trvnyhoz testlete a 270 tagot szmll Iszlm Nemzetgyls (parlament). Tagjait a np titkos szavazs tjn vlasztja ngy vre, ktforduls vlaszts tjn. A hozott trvnyeket az rk Tancsnak ratifiklnia kell.

Irnban az igazsgszolgltats ersen politikai befolys alatt ll. A Legfbb Igazsggyi Mltsgot s trvnyek vgrehajtsnak felgyeletrt felels Legfelsbb Brsg tagjait a Legfelsbb Vallsii Vezet nevezi ki. A Legfbb Igazsggyi Mltsg s a Legfelsbb Brsg bri vlasztjk ki a Legfelsbb Brsg elnkt s a Legfbb gyszt.

Irn harmincegy tartomnybl ll:

Gazdasga: agrr-ipari orszg.

2012-ben az Irnt sjt embarg miatt, nehezen tudnak dollrhoz s eurhoz jutni, ezrt jelentsen cskkentek a jegybanki devizatartalkok. Ennek kvetkeztben 2012. janur s szeptember kztt 60%-kal rtkeldtt le a ril. Ez v augusztusban 12260 ril volt az amerikai dollr hivatalos rfolyama, de a feketepiacon 25650 rilt kellett fizetni.[21] Oktber els kt napjn pedig 25%-ot vesztett a nemzeti valuta az rtkbl.[22]

2016. janur 16-n az Eurpai Uni s az Amerikai Egyeslt llamok vget vetett a gazdasgi szankciknak Irnnal szemben, miutn Nemzetkzi Atomenergia-gynksg jelentse szerint teljestettk a 2015-ben alrt megllapodsokat.[23]

A mezgazdasg fejldse felfel vel, ez elssorban az ntzs kiterjesztsnek tulajdonthat. Legfontosabb termesztett nvnyek: bza, rizs, gyapot, datolya, citrusflk.

A mezgazdasg szmra a Kaszpi-tenger mellett elterl termfldek a legrtkesebbek; itt gabonaflket, rizst, gyapotot, gymlcst s tet termesztenek.

Sokan foglalkoznak nomd kecske- s juhtenysztssel.

Erteljesen fejldtt a kolajfinomt-ipar (bdnban tallhat a vilg legnagyobb kolaj-finomtja) s a petrolkmia. Ms ipargai: vaskohszat, gpgyrts, gpkocsiipar, textilipar, bripar, elektrotechnika s lelmiszeripar.

A perzsasznyegszvs az irniak hagyomnyos foglalkozsa, vilgszerte hres.

Fontosabb svnykincsei a kolaj, a feketeszn, a vas- s sznesfmrcek.

Fbb kereskedelmi partnerek 2013-ban:[24]

Irn rendelkezik a vilg msodik legjelentsebb olaj- s gzkszletvel.[1] A jelenlegi kiaknzs mretei azonban messze elmaradnak a lehetsgektl, a Khomeini-idszak eltti termelsi szintektl. Irn olaj- s gzberendezsei elavultak, az iraki-irni hbor okozta krokat mg mindig nem hoztk rendbe, nem trtntek jelents j beruhzsok sem. Az amerikai bojkott, a nemzetkzi szankcik s a klfldi olajvllalatok tartzkodsa az j beruhzsoktl htrltatjk az j termel kapacitsok fejlesztst. Az irni atomprogram miatt kialakult konfliktus, a fejlett nyugati orszgok, gy Franciaorszg fokozatos kivonulshoz vezet. Irn a nyugati cgek helyett a fknt knai s az orosz energia-egyttmkdst helyezi eltrbe. 2004-ben Knval 70 millird dollr rtk hossz tv megllapodst kttt. Oroszorszggal kzs rdeke, hogy lehetsg szerint tvol tartsa ms orszgok nagyvllalatait a Kaszpi-tenger krnyknek olaj- s gzkszleteitl. Az irni elkpzelsek kztt szerepel a kaszpi-tengeri olaj- s gzkszletek kijuttatsa a dl-irni kiktkn keresztl a nemzetkzi piacokra. Irn rdekelt abban, hogy India kulcsfontossg, hossz tv energia-szlltjv vljk. Perspektvban szmt az eurpai piacokra is, amelyeket klnbz tvonal, jelenleg mg tervezsi szakaszban lv vezetkekkel, alternatv tvonalakon kvn elrni Szrin, Trkorszgon, Grgorszgon, Ukrajnn stb. keresztl. Tekintettel arra, hogy hatalmas gzkszletekkel rendelkezik, belthat idn bell a cseppfolystott gz egyik legfontosabb forrsv vlhat.

A Perzsa-bl partjn lv busheri atomermvet 2007-ben nyitottk meg. Ezen kvl szmos nukleris ltestmnye van. Szghnd kzelben urnrc-feldolgoz zemel. Guhane bnyakomplexum. Iszfahnban nukleris reprocesszl zemel. Arakban nehzvz-elllt mkdik. 2005. szn hmdinezsad kijelentette, hogy Irn folytatja atomprogramjt, a Nemzetkzi Atomenergia-gynksg tiltakozsa ellenre is. Donald Rumsfeld amerikai vdelmi miniszter fontolgatta az irni nukleris ltestmnyek elleni lgicsapst. Az irniak a kvetkezetessg hinyt srelmezik az USA nukleris politikjn. Irn alrta az atomsoromp-egyezmnyt, s hajlandak ellenrzs al vonni ltestmnyeiket, addig Izrael nem rta al ugyanezt. Ahmedinedzsd szmtalanszor kinyilvntotta, hogy el fogja trlni a Fld sznrl Izraelt, a zsid llamot, ellenrket pedig nem engedtek be atomltestmnyeikbe, amelyekben titkosszolglati forrsok szerint atomfegyver ellltsn fradoznak. A jelenlegi irni elnk kevsb harcos retorikt folytat, de tmogatja a trekvst Izrael elpuszttsra. Irnnak Oroszorszg is fejlett fegyverrendszereket szlltott az elmlt vekben.

Irn rott trtnete tbb ezer ves. Tbb ezer v alatt sokat ptkeztek. A kulturlis emlkek kzl vilgrksgg nyilvntotta az UNESCO[3] a kvetkezket:

Az irni atomprogramot az 1950-es vekben indtottk. Az orszg jelenlegi ltestmnyei kz tartozik szmos kutatreaktor, egy urnbnya, egy majdnem teljesen ksz atomreaktor, s egy urn feldolgoz zem, melynek a terletn urndstssal is foglalkoznak.

Az Irni rgynksg els, Sian-1 nev mholdjt 2006-ban indtotta el. 2007-ben egy rrakta indult tjra.[25] Clja az egyetemi hallgatk kutatsi munkjnak elmozdtsa s a tudomny fejlesztse volt.[26] Ksbb kifejlesztettk a Safir raktt, melynek segtsgvel 2009. februr 3-n Fld krli plyra lltottk az Omid mholdat.[27][28]

Nem hivatalos nemzeti szimblumok:

A megszokott dvzlsi forma a kzfogs, amely viszonylag enyhe kzszortst jelent s amelyet enyhe meghajls is ksrhet. A frfiak csak akkor foghatnak kezet egy nvel, ha a n a kezdemnyez. Ha a n nem nyjtja a kezt, akkor mosollyal ksrt enyhe biccentssel dvzljk. Egy gyerekkel val kzfogs a szlk megbecslst fejezi ki.

Az irni konzervatv mohamedn kultra sok mindenben korltozza a nket. A frfiak a kikezdhetetlen fejei egy csaldnak s a fikat is sokkal jobban megbecslik, mint a lnyokat. A vls nagyon ritka esemny.

Az irniakat a pontossg nem tartja izgalomban. Az idt rugalmasan fogjk fel: az emberi szksgletek fontosabbak, mint egy merev rarend betartsa. Nem tartjk teht illetlensgnek egy gyfl vrakoztatst sem.

A nk hagyomnyosan csak olyan ruht viselnek a nyilvnossg eltt, melybl csak a kezk s az arcuk ltszik ki. Ujjatlan ruhk s blzok nem hordhatk. A nk hajt sllal vagy a hagyomnyos fekete maqhna-ehhel kell befedni.[29]

Nemzeti teleik a klnfle kebabok, fleg a cselo-kebab.[30] A cselo-kebab birkbl kszlt nyrsonslt. Hagyma, paradicsom, friss zldsgek s fszernvnyek, gyakran tojs s klnfle mrtsok egsztik ki a rizses, vajszeletes kompozcit.

A frissenslteket gyakran kzzel eszik. A rizst olykor mazsolval, pisztcival vagy srgs sfrnnyal zestik s forr birkafaggyval meglocsoljk.

Kukuszabszi nven a zldsg-felfjtat illetik. A saltaflket tvgygerjesztknt eszik. A salta mellett mg jellemz a panr nev ss sajt s a maszt, amely joghurt.

Az dessgek igazi keleti csemegk: a magyar konyhhoz kpest tl desek, szinte sziruposak.

A kenyrflk: a szngki falusi lngos, a lvs forr kavicsokon sttt hatalmas lepny, a brbri hosszks kenyrfonat.

Hres az irni kavir.

Nemzeti italaik a tea (csj) s a dugh (dough). A dugh hgtott, ss joghurt mentafvel zestve. Jellemz mg a limu vegyes gymlcskbl s az ab-limu citrombl kszlt limond. A srt abedzsonak hvjk, csak kevesen isszk. A sarab hres fehr bor. A Kaszpi-tenger krnykn jz konyakot is ksztenek.[31]

Tehern az orszg mdiakzpontja. Itt jelenik meg tbb napilap: Jumhori-yi Islami, Resalat, Kayhan, Akhbar, Ettelaat s tbb angol nyelv napilap is: Tehran Times, Kayhan International, Iran Daily, Iran News. Slyos llami cenzra uralkodik az orszgban, ahol mr az internet s a szabad sajtt jelent blogok is tmads alatt llnak.[32] 128 kb/s-ra korltozzk a maximlis sebessget, amely lehetetlenn teszi a multimdis tartalmak elrst s a nagy svszlessget ignyl szolgltatsokat. Tbb akadmikus tiltakozott ez ellen, mert szerintk visszaveti az orszg fejldst amikor az egsz vilgon a svszlessg bvtst kiemelt prioritsknt kezelik. Kna utn Irnban cenzrzzk a legtbb weboldalt, lehetetlenn tve letltsket.

A 30 irni televzin kvl San Fernando Valley-ban (Los Angeles mellett) mkdik egy fggetlen televzi is, amely az irniakat cenzramentesen tjkoztatja a vilg esemnyeirl.

Javasolt oltsok Irnba utazknak:

Malria ellen gygyszer van. (Nyugati s Dli hatrvidkeken nagy a kockzata a fertzsnek).

Ktelez olts, ha fertztt orszgbl rkezik/orszgon t utazik valaki:

Az iszlm erteljes hatsa Irnt zsia egyik legbiztonsgosabb orszgv teszi a klfldiek szmra. Br elfordulhat, hogy egy klfldit politikai vizsglati fogsgba vetnek, minden esetre jval ritkbban mint a mltban. Nem javasolt viszont az orszg keleti hatrvidknek megltogatsa s a szrazfldi hatrtlps Pakisztnba vagy Afganisztnba. Ugyangy kockzatos lehet az iraki hatr kzelbe val utazs.[33]

Az orszg eddig 11 aranyrmet szerzett a jtkok sorn. A legeredmnyesebb sportg a birkzs.

Az Irni labdarg-vlogatott trsgi jtkokon sokszor llt dobogn.

See the original post here:
Irn Wikipdia