Iran — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Antiquity

Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC, including the Jiroft culture in southeastern Iran. Inscriptions in the Proto-Elamite script, which predates cuneiform, have been found from the early third millennium BC. The western part of the Iranian plateau participated in the traditional ancient Near East with Elam (3200–539 BC), and later with other peoples such as the Kassites, Mannaeans, and Gutians. The earliest Iranian peoples began to arrive from Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BC.

The Median dynasty ruled the earliest Iranian state. In 612 BC, Cyaxares and the Babylonian king Nabopolassar invaded Assyria and destroyed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, which led to the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes later conquered and dissolved Urartu as well.

The Achaemenids united all Persian tribes under Cambyses I. Under his son, Cyrus the Great, the Achaemenids defeated the Medes and established the Achaemenid Empire, the largest-ever Iranian state. Cyrus conquered the Lydian and Neo-Babylonian empires, creating an empire far larger than Assyria. His son, Cambyses II (r. 530–522 BC), conquered the last major power of the region, ancient Egypt, causing the collapse of its twenty-sixth dynasty.

After the death of Cambyses II, Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC) ascended the throne by overthrowing the Achaemenid monarch Bardiya. Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building program at Persepolis. He improved the extensive road system, and during his reign the first recorded mentions are made of the Royal Road, a highway from Susa to Sardis.

In 499 BC, Athens supported a revolt in Miletus, resulting in the sacking of Sardis. This led to the Greco-Persian Wars, which lasted the first half of the 5th century BC. In the First Persian invasion of Greece, Persian general Mardonius re-subjugated Thrace and made Macedon a full part of Persia. Darius' successor Xerxes I (r. 486–465) launched the Second Persian invasion of Greece. At a crucial moment in the war, about half of mainland Greece was overrun by the Persians, including territories to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth. This was reversed by a Greek victory following the battles of Plataea and Salamis, during which Persia lost all of its footholds in Europe, and withdrew from it.

The empire entered a period of decline. From 334 BC to 331 BC, Alexander the Great defeated Darius III (r. 336–330 BC) in the battles of Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela, swiftly conquering the Achaemanid Empire by 331 BC. Alexander's empire collapsed after his death; his general, Seleucus I Nicator, tried to take control of Iran, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia. His empire was the Seleucid Empire.

The Arsacids of Parthia, initially Seleucid vassals, originated as leaders of the Iranian Parni tribe in the northeastern steppes. The Parthians gradually challenged Seleucid rule over Iran, eventually securing control through the 142 BC conquest of Babylonia. Although fighting continued, the death of Antiochus VII Sidetes in 129 BC marked the collapse of the Seleucid Empire, which then lingered on as a rump state in Syria until conquered by the Roman Empire in the 60s BC.

The Parthian Empire endured for five centuries, but civil wars destabilized it. Parthian power evaporated when Ardashir I revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224 AD. Ardashir established the Sasanian Empire, which ruled Iran and much of Near East. At their zenith, the Sasanians controlled all of modern-day Iran and Iraq and parts of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as the Caucasus, the Levant, and parts of Central and South Asia.

The strong economic conditions left by Parthians allowed the Sasanians to build a powerful and distinctive economic state whose reputation spread well beyond its political frontiers and time. The Sasanian Empire was characterized by a complex and centralized government bureaucracy and the revitalization of Zoroastrianism as a legitimizing and unifying ideal.

Medieval period

Most of the Sasanian Empire's lifespan was overshadowed by the frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars, a continuation of the Roman–Parthian Wars. The last of these wars ultimately contributed to the empire's fall, which culminated with the Islamic conquest of Persia. The Rashidun Caliphate conquered the Sasanian Empire between 632 and 654.

Over time, the majority of Iranians converted to Islam. Most of the aspects of the previous Persian civilizations were not discarded, but rather absorbed by the new Islamic polity.

After the fall of the Sasanian Empire in 651, the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate adopted many Persian customs, especially the administrative and the court mannerisms. Arab provincial governors were undoubtedly either Persianized Arameans or ethnic Persians; certainly, Middle Persian remained the language of official business of the caliphate until the adoption of Arabic toward the end of the seventh century.

However, Iran was still not entirely under Arab control; the Daylam region was under the control of the Daylamites, Tabaristan was under Dabuyid and Paduspanid control, and Mount Damavand under Masmughan control. Arabs had invaded these regions several times but the regions' inaccessible terrain prevented a decisive result. The most prominent ruler of the Dabuyids, Farrukhan the Great (r. 712–728), managed to hold his domains during his long struggle against the Arab general Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, who was defeated by a combined Daylamite–Dabuyid army and forced to retreat from Tabaristan.

Anti-Umayyad insurrections were supported by non-Arab Islamic converts, who were resentful over being relegated to lower social standing. In 747–750, one of these insurrections grew into the Abbasid revolution, in which the Umayyads were replaced with the Abbasids, descendants of Muhammad's uncle, Abbas.

The political authority of the Abbasid caliphs diminished over the course of the 9th and 10th centuries. This led to the establishment of several independent Iranian dynasties, the ousting of Arab rulers from their scattered bastions across the country, and an Iranian cultural renaissance. The period between the collapse of Abbasid authority and the conquest of Iran by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century is referred to as the "Iranian Intermezzo".

The Iranian Intermezzo saw the rise and fall of several major and minor dynasties. Among the most significant of these overlapping dynasties were the Tahirids in Khorasan (821–873); the Saffarids in Sistan (861–1003); and the Samanids (819–1005), originally at Bukhara. The Samanids eventually ruled an area from central Iran to Pakistan.

By the early 10th century, the Abbasids almost lost control to the growing Iranian faction known as the Buyid dynasty (934–1062). Since much of the Abbasid administration had been Persian, the Buyids were quietly able to assume real power in Baghdad. The Buyids were defeated in the mid-11th century by the Seljuk Turks, who continued to exert influence over the Abbasids. The Seljuks were eventually supplanted by the Khwarazmian Empire in 1194, a culturally Persianate empire of Turkic mamluk origin.

The Islamization of Iran was a long process. As Persian Muslims consolidated their rule, the Muslim population rose from approximately 40% in the mid-9th century to close to 90% by the end of the 11th century. Historian Seyyed Hossein Nasr suggests that the rapid increase in conversion was aided by the Persian nationality of the rulers. Although Persians adopted the religion of their conquerors, over the centuries they worked to protect and revive their distinctive language and culture, a process known as Persianization. Arabs and Turks participated in this process.

In the early 13th century, the Mongols reached Iran. Bukhara was conquered in 1220 and the Khwarazmian Empire was destroyed. During 1220–21 Bukhara, Samarkand, Herat, Tus and Nishapur were razed, and the whole populations were slaughtered. Over the following decades, further conquests followed, culminating in the fall of Baghdad and end of the Abbasid Caliphate's rule in 1258.

After the death of Möngke Khan, the Mongol Empire was fractured by civil war, both over the succession of the next Great Khan and between nomadic traditionalists and the new settled princes of China and the Middle East. Kublai Khan was eventually universally recognized, but the empire was irreversibly fragmented. In much of the southwest of the empire, including Iran, power fell to Hulegu Khan, who had been made a deputy there under Möngke Khan. Hulegu was accepted as a legitimate ruler in Iran and was legitimized through a fatwa issued by the Shia scholar Ali ibn Tawus al-Hilli. Iran experienced a cultural renaissance under Ilkhanid rule. Ghazan Khan converted to Islam in the late 13th century, turning the state further away from the other Mongol realms.

After Ghazan's nephew Abu Said died in 1335, the Ilkhanate lapsed into civil war and was divided between several petty dynasties – most prominently the Jalayirids, Muzaffarids, Sarbadars and Kartids. The mid-14th-century Black Death killed about 30% of the country's population.

Iran remained divided until the establishment of the Persianate Timurid dynasty in 1370. Its founder, Timur (r. 1370–1405), hailed from a Turkified tribe of Mongols. After establishing a power base in Transoxiana, Timur invaded Iran in 1381 and eventually conquered most of it. Timur's campaigns were known for their brutality; many people were slaughtered and several cities were destroyed.

In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, killing 70,000 people. The Timurids maintained control of most of Iran until 1452, when they lost the bulk of it to the Qara Qoyunlu, who were conquered by the Aq Qoyunlu in 1468. Uzun Hasan and his successors were the masters of Iran until the rise of the Safavids.

Early modern period

The Safavid Empire, founded by Ismail I (r. 1505–1524), is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. While Safavid Iran predated the concept of the nation-state as such, it established the basis for the modern state of Iran. The Safavid dynastic period was one of the most significant in Iranian history, as it reunified Iran as a cohesive entity under native rule and established Shia Islam as the official religion. The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722, and experienced a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736.

The Safavid state had a complex bureaucratic system of checks and balances, which ensured transparency and prevented fraud. This system was not intended to equalize power between branches of government, but to ensure total power of the shah. Legitimized by his bloodline as a sayyid, or descendant of Muhammad, the shah monitored the actions of government officials through reports provided by the superintendent of each department. Jean Chardin, French merchant and eventual ambassador to Iran, wrote that the Safavid shahs ruled their land with an iron fist and often in a despotic manner.

Complex rivalries in the region of Khorasan led to the Afghan Hotak dynasty invading Iran. In 1722, this conflict led to the collapse of the Safavid Empire after the siege of Isfahan. The brief interlude between 1722 and the rise of the Qajar dynasty in 1789–1796 was marked by widespread political turmoil in Iran and several rival attempts to establish power over the country. The Safavids failed to regain power and the Hotaks failed to establish control. The rival Afsharid and Zand dynasties were established by Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747) and Karim Khan (r. 1751–1779), respectively.

Nader Shah has been described as "the last great Asiatic military conqueror", and compared by some historians to Napoleon and Alexander the Great. His numerous campaigns created a great empire that, at its maximum extent, briefly encompassed all or part of modern-day Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Oman, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the North Caucasus, and the Persian Gulf. However, his military spending had a ruinous effect on the Iranian economy.

Nader Shah's death was followed by a period of anarchy in Iran as rival army commanders fought for power. Nader's own family, the Afsharids, lost all but a small domain in Khorasan. The Zand family seized control of much of Iran in the 1750s. The Zand rulers never proclaimed themselves to be shahs, but ruled as regents of Iran. They first staked their claim to power on behalf of the Safavid puppet Ismail III (r. 1750–1773) and then on behalf of the Iranian people.

The Qajar dynasty gradually increased in power as they clashed with the Afsharids and the Zands for control of the land, culminating in Agha Mohammad Shah proclaiming himself ruler in 1789. Agha Mohammad defeated the Zand dynasty in 1794 and was officially crowned in 1796. Shortly thereafter, he captured and deposed the Afsharid Shahrokh Shah, reunifying Iran under a single ruler.

In the 19th century, Iran lost significant territories in the Caucasus to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Persian Wars. Meanwhile, Britain became involved in southern Iran to counter Russia's presence in the north, which posed a threat to British India. Amid this struggle for power, drought, shifting agricultural priorities, and poor governance culminated in the Great Persian Famine of 1870–1871. While the death toll is unknown, the famine killed a significant portion of Iran's population; between several hundred thousand and four million Iranians are believed to have died as a result.

20th century up to the Iranian Revolution

The Persian Constitutional Revolution between 1905 and 1911 led to the establishment of an Iranian parliament. After the 1921 coup d'état, the Qajar dynasty was replaced with the Pahlavi dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah, who established an authoritarian government that valued nationalism, militarism, secularism and anti-communism combined with strict censorship and state propaganda. Reza Shah introduced many socio-economic reforms, reorganizing the army, government administration, and finances. Reza Shah ruled for almost 16 years until 1941, when he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.

To his supporters, his reign brought "law and order, discipline, central authority, and modern amenities – schools, trains, buses, radios, cinemas, and telephones." However, his reign has been characterized as a corrupt police state which provided only surface level modernization.

Due in part to Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, the Iranian government expected Germany to win the war and establish a powerful force on the Russian-Iranian border. Iran rejected British and Soviet demands to expel German residents from its borders. In response, the two Allies invaded in August 1941 and easily overwhelmed the weak Iranian army in Operation Countenance.

Iran became the major conduit of Allied Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union. The purpose was to secure Iranian oil fields and ensure Allied supply lines through the Persian Corridor. Iran remained officially neutral. Reza Shah was deposed during the subsequent occupation and replaced with his young son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. At the 1943 Tehran Conference, the Allied "Big Three"—Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill—issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran.

In 1951, under Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize the British-owned oil industry, leading to the Abadan Crisis. Despite British pressure, including an economic blockade, nationalization continued. Mosaddegh was removed from power in 1952 but was quickly re-appointed by the Shah, due to a popular uprising in support of the premier. He forced the Shah into a brief exile in August 1953 after a failed military coup by Imperial Guard Colonel Nematollah Nassiri.

On 19 August, a successful coup was headed by retired army general Fazlollah Zahedi, aided by the US (CIA) and the British (MI6), known as Operation Ajax and Operation Boot to the respective agencies. The coup—with a black propaganda campaign against Mosaddegh—forced Mosaddegh from office. Mosaddegh was arrested and tried for treason. Found guilty, Mosaddegh had his sentence reduced to house arrest on his family estate while his foreign minister, Hossein Fatemi, was executed. Zahedi succeeded him as prime minister and suppressed opposition to the Shah, specifically from the National Front and the communist Tudeh Party.

From that time until the revolution, Iran was ruled as an autocracy under the Shah, with strong American support. Iran initiated economic, social, agrarian, and administrative reforms to modernize the country, which became known as the White Revolution. Many Islamic leaders criticized these initiatives, and the land reform had mixed results. By 1978, the Shah had become wildly unpopular among the Iranian people. Daily demonstrations destabilized the region, and the Shah established martial law to curb opposition. When hundreds of thousands of protestors persisted, security forces opened fire on the crowds in an incident that became known as Black Friday.

Islamic Revolution

The protests against the Shah grew to include more than 10% of the country; it is rare for revolutions to involve even 1% of a country's population. Frustration with the Shah was so great that even secular and leftist groups supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, despite sharing none of his political positions. Under increasing pressure, the Shah eventually fled Iran, charging the interim Regency Council with his duties until a new government was formed. Shapour Bakhtiar, the head of the council, invited Khomeini to return from exile. However, upon return, Khomeini pledged to defeat the interim government led by Bakhtiar and claimed to support free democratic elections. Violence broke out between the two factions, ultimately leading Bakhtiar to flee Iran in disguise.

On 31 March 1979, a referendum was held on whether to transition from a government of monarchy to an Islamic republic. The referendum was approved by a massive margin of 99.31%. It mandated the creation of an assembly to draft the new theocratic constitution, whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader in December 1979. Iran's modernizing, capitalist economy was replaced by populist Islamic economic and cultural policies. Industries were nationalized, laws and schools Islamized, and Western influence restricted.

The shah, now out of power, went to the US to seek cancer treatment after other countries denied him entry. Supporters of the revolution feared that this was a step toward a coup to reinstate the Shah's reign. On 4 November 1979, Iranian students seized US embassy personnel, labeling the embassy a "den of spies". 52 hostages were held for 444 days until January 1981. During the Cultural Revolution in Iran from 1980 to 1983, opposition to Islamic values was purged including through the 1981–1982 Iran massacres.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attempted to take advantage of the disorder of the revolution, the weakness of the Iranian military and the revolution's antagonism against Western governments. On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran–Iraq War. The attack took revolutionary Iran by surprise. Although Hussein's forces made early advances, Iranian forces pushed the Iraqi army back into Iraq by 1982.

Khomeini sought to export the revolution westward into Iraq, especially to Iraq's Shi'a Arab majority. The war continued until 1988, when Khomeini "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the UN. The war, which ended in a stalemate in 1988, killed approximately 500,000 people. During the war, Saddam extensively used chemical weapons against Iranians.

On his deathbed in 1989, Khomeini appointed a 25-man Constitutional Reform Council, which named Ali Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader, and made changes to Iran's constitution. While Khamenei lacked Khomeini's "charisma and clerical standing", he developed a network of supporters within the armed forces and its economically powerful religious foundations.

President Akbar Rafsanjani concentrated on a pro-business policy of rebuilding the economy, without breaking with the ideology of the revolution. He supported a free market, favoring privatization of state industries and a moderate position internationally. In 1997, Rafsanjani was succeeded by moderate reformist Mohammad Khatami, whose government advocated freedom of expression, constructive diplomatic relations with Asia and the EU, and policy that supported a free market and foreign investment.

The 2005 presidential election brought conservative populist and nationalist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. He was known for his hardline views, nuclearization, and hostility towards Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK, US and other states. He was the first president to be summoned by the parliament to answer questions regarding his presidency. In 2013, centrist and reformist Hassan Rouhani was elected president. He encouraged personal freedom, access to information, and improved women's rights. He improved diplomatic relations through exchanging conciliatory letters.

In 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was reached in Vienna, between Iran, the P5+1 (UN Security Council + Germany) and the EU. The negotiations centered around ending the economic sanctions in exchange for Iran's restriction in producing enriched uranium. In 2018, the US under President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and new sanctions were imposed. This nulled the economic provisions and brought Iran to nuclear threshold status.

In 2020, IRGC general Qasem Soleimani, the 2nd-most powerful person in Iran, was assassinated by the US, heightening tensions between them. Iran retaliated against US airbases in Iraq, the largest ballistic missile attack ever on Americans; 110 sustained brain injuries. On 8 January, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, killing 176 civilians and leading to nation-wide protests. An international investigation led to the government admitting to the shootdown by a surface-to-air missile.

Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi lost a presidential bid in 2017, but ran again in 2021, succeeding Rouhani. During Raisi's term, Iran intensified uranium enrichment, hindered international inspections, joined SCO and BRICS, supported the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and restored relations with Saudi Arabia. In April 2024, an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus killed an IRGC commander. Iran retaliated with UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles; 9 hit Israel. It was the largest drone strike in history, biggest missile attack in Iranian history, its first ever direct attack on Israel and the first time since 1991 that Israel was directly attacked by a state.

In May 2024, Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash, and Iran held a presidential election, when reformist and former Minister of Health, Masoud Pezeshkian, was elected. In October, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Abbas Nilforoushan. Israel struck Iranian military sites. In May 2025, Iran's government ordered a mass deportation of an estimated four million Afghan migrants and refugees living in Iran.

The weakening of Iran's key allies and proxies since 2023 left Iran's government weakened and isolated. In early 2025, Iran was rapidly advancing its nuclear program. Analysts warned such activity exceeded any plausible civilian justification. Iran and the United States entered negotiations for a new nuclear agreement, but progress stalled. In June, IAEA found Iran non-compliant with its nuclear obligations; in response, Iran announced activation of a new enrichment facility.

On 13 June 2025, Israel launched strikes across Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and killing top members of Iran's military leadership. Iran retaliated with missile strikes, and hostilities resulted in direct conflict between them. On 22 June, the United States struck the Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran then attacked US bases in Qatar, having given the US and Qatar advance notice hours before the strikes. Qatar said its air defences successfully intercepted the missiles, and no casualties were reported.

On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire after insistence from the US.

Since December 2025, Iran has had mass demonstrations across cities calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, sparked by frustration over the economic crisis. As of 13 January 2026, Iran International estimated that at least 12,000 protesters had been killed amidst the internet blackout, as government security forces escalated their use of lethal force against demonstrators. As of 17 January 2026, estimates suggested that at least 16,500 people had been killed and approximately 330,000 injured in the 2026 Iran massacres.

On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel conducted coordinated military strikes against multiple targets in the Islamic Republic of Iran, marking a significant escalation in long-standing tensions between Tehran and the U.S.–Israel alliance. That same day, Ali Khamenei was assassinated as part of a series of Israeli airstrikes aimed at high-ranking Iranian officials. Khamenei's death was confirmed by the Iranian government on 1 March. On 8 March, the 88-person Assembly of Experts announced that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei, was elected Supreme Leader in a "unanimous vote".

Supreme Leader

The Supreme Leader, the Rahbar, the Leader of the Revolution or Supreme Leadership Authority, is the head of state and is responsible for supervision of policy. The president has limited power compared to the Rahbar. Key ministers are selected with the Rahbar's agreement, who has the ultimate say on foreign policy. The Rahbar is directly involved in ministerial appointments for defense, intelligence and foreign affairs, and other top ministries after submission of candidates from the president.

The Rahbar directly controls regional policy, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tasks limited to protocol and ceremonial occasions. Ambassadors to Arab countries, for example, are chosen by the Quds Force, which reports to the Rahbar. The Rahbar can order laws to be amended. The Setad, a state-owned enterprise under the Rahbar, was valued at $95 billion in 2013, accounts of which are secret even to the parliament.

The Rahbar is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, controls military intelligence and security operations, and has the sole power to declare war or peace. The Rahbar also appoints the heads of the judiciary, state radio and television networks, commanders of the police and military, and members of the Guardian Council.

The Assembly of Experts is responsible for electing the Rahbar and has the power to dismiss him on the basis of qualifications and popular esteem. To date, the Assembly of Experts has not challenged any of the Rahbar's decisions nor attempted to dismiss him. The previous head of the judicial system, Sadiq Larijani, appointed by the Rahbar, said that it is illegal for the Assembly of Experts to supervise the Rahbar. Many believe the Assembly of Experts has become a ceremonial body without any real power. In February 2025, The New York Times reported that according to Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, there exist in the Islamic Republic of Iran two parallel systems. One system is ruled by the military and intelligence forces, who report to the Rahbar, and "who oversee the nuclear programme and regional proxies and are tasked with repression, hostage taking and assassinations". The other system is ruled by diplomats and politicians, "who are authorized to speak to Western media and officials" and have minimal knowledge of Iran's nuclear programme.

The political system is based on the country's constitution. According to International IDEA's Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices and Democracy Tracker, Iran performs in the low range on overall democratic measures, with particular weaknesses in gender equality, freedom of association and assembly, and freedom of expression. Furthermore, Iran was ranked 158th in electoral democracy for year 2024 according to V-Dem Democracy Indices and was an electoral autocracy in the Regimes of the World classification. Juan José Linz wrote in 2000 that "the Iranian regime combines the ideological bent of totalitarianism with the limited pluralism of authoritarianism".

Foreign relations

Iran maintains diplomatic relations with 165 countries, but not the United States and Israel—a state which Iran derecognized in 1979. Iran has an adversarial relationship with Saudi Arabia due to different political ideologies. Iran and Turkey have been involved in modern proxy conflicts such as in Syria, Libya, and the South Caucasus. However, they have shared common interests, such as the issue of Kurdish separatism and the Qatar diplomatic crisis. Iran has a close and strong relationship with Tajikistan. Iran also has a strong relationship with Pakistan sharing common interests, such as the issue of Baloch separatism.

Iran formed the Axis of Resistance, a coalition of actors committed to countering the influence of the United States and Israel in the region. It most notably includes the Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Resistance and Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, and the Houthi movement in Yemen. It sometimes includes Hamas and a variety of other Palestinian militant groups. Iran has deep economic relations and alliance with Iraq, Lebanon, and did with Syria, which was described as Iran's "closest ally". In December 2024, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, a close ally of Iran, was a severe setback for the political influence of Iran in the region.

Russia is a key trading partner, especially in regard to its excess oil reserves. Both share a close economic and military alliance and are subject to heavy sanctions by Western nations. Iran is the only country in Western Asia that has been invited to join the CSTO, the Russia-based international treaty organization that parallels NATO.

Relations between Iran and China are strong economically; they have developed a friendly, economic and strategic relationship. In 2021, Iran and China signed a 25-year cooperation agreement that will strengthen the relations between the two countries and would include "political, strategic and economic" components. Iran-China relations dates back to at least 200 BC and possibly earlier. Iran is one of the few countries in the world that has a good relationship with both North and South Korea. Iran is a member of dozens of international organizations, including the G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, IDA, NAM, IDB, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, OIC, OPEC, WHO, and the UN, and currently has observer status at the WTO.

Military

The military is organized under a unified structure, the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, which includes the Ground Forces, Air Defence Force, Air Force, and Navy; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which consists of the Ground Forces, Aerospace Force, Navy, Quds Force, and Basij; and the Police Command (Faraja), which serves an analogous function to a gendarme. While the IRIAF protects the country's sovereignty in a traditional capacity, the IRGC is mandated to ensure the integrity of the Republic against foreign interference, coups, and internal riots. In 2019, the United States under President Donald Trump officially labeled the Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization. It is the first time that an element of a foreign state was designated as a terrorist organization. Since 1925, all male citizens aged 18 must serve around 14 months in the IRIAF or IRGC.

Iran has over 610,000 active troops and around 350,000 reservists, which is at least over one million military personnel, one of the world's highest percentage of citizens with military training. The Basij, a paramilitary volunteer militia within the IRGC, has over 20 million members, 600,000 available for immediate call-up, 300,000 reservists, and one million that could be mobilized when necessary. Faraja, the Iranian uniformed police force, has over 260,000 active personnel. Most statistical organizations do not include the Basij and Faraja in their rating reports.

Iran ranks 7th in the number of active military personnel and 9th in size of both its ground force and armoured force. Iran's armed forces are the largest in West Asia and comprise the greatest Army Aviation fleet in the Middle East. Iran is among the top 15 countries in terms of military budget. In 2021, its military spending increased for the first time in four years, to $24.6 billion, 2.3% of the national GDP. Funding for the IRGC accounted for 34% of Iran's total military spending in 2021.

Since the Islamic revolution, to overcome foreign embargoes, Iran has developed a domestic military industry capable of producing indigenous tanks, armoured personnel carriers, missiles, submarines, missile destroyer, radar systems, helicopters, naval vessels, and fighter planes. Official announcements have highlighted the development of advanced weaponry, particularly in rocketry. Consequently, Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East and is only the 5th country in the world with hypersonic missile technology. Iran designs and produces a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles. It is one of the world's five countries with cyberwarfare capabilities and is identified as "one of the most active players in the international cyber arena".

Following Russia's purchase of Iranian drones during the Russo-Ukrainian war, in November 2023, the IRIAF finalized arrangements to acquire Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, Mil Mi-28 attack helicopters, air defense and missile systems. The Iranian Navy has had joint exercises with Russia and China.

Regional influence

Iran's significant influence and foothold was sometimes characterized as the "Dawn of A New Persian Empire". Some analysts associated the Iranian influence to the nation's proud national legacy, empire and history.

After the revolution, Iran grew its influence across and beyond the region. It built military forces with a wide network of state and none-state actors, starting with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982. The IRGC was key to Iranian influence, through its Quds Force. The instability in Lebanon (from the 1980s), Iraq (from 2003) and Yemen (from 2014) allowed Iran to build strong alliances and footholds beyond its borders. Iran had a prominent influence in the social services, education, economy and politics of Lebanon, and Lebanon provides Iran access to the Mediterranean Sea. Hezbollah's strategic successes against Israel, such as its symbolic victory during the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War, elevated Iran's influence in the Levant and strengthened its appeal across the Muslim world.

After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the arrival of ISIS in the mid-2010s, Iran financed and trained militia groups in Iraq. After the Iran-Iraq war and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iran shaped Iraq's politics. Following Iraq's struggle against ISIS in 2014, companies linked to the IRGC such as Khatam al-Anbiya, started to build roads, power plants, hotels and businesses in Iraq, creating an economic corridor worth around $9 billion before COVID-19.

During Yemen's civil war Iran provided military support to the Houthis, a Zaydi Shia movement fighting Yemen's Sunni government since 2004, which gained significant power. Iran has considerable influence in Afghanistan through militant groups such as Fatemiyoun Division and Hezbollah Afghanistan and also in Pakistan through militant groups such as Zainabiyoun Brigade and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan.

In Syria, Iran supported President Bashar al-Assad; the two countries were long-standing allies. Iran provided significant military and economic support to Assad's government, so had a considerable foothold in Syria. Iran has long supported organizations in North Africa in countries like Algeria and Tunisia. Iran embraced Hamas in part to help undermine the popularity of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Iran's support of Hamas emerged more clearly in later years. According to US intelligence, Iran does not have full control over these state and non-state groups.

Economy

As of 2024, Iran has the world's 19th largest economy by PPP-adjusted GDP. It is a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures. Services contribute the largest percentage of GDP, followed by industry (mining and manufacturing) and agriculture. The economy is characterized by its hydrocarbon sector, manufacturing and financial services. With 10% of the world's oil reserves and 15% of gas reserves, Iran is an energy superpower. Over 40 industries are directly involved in the Tehran Stock Exchange.

Tehran is the economic powerhouse of Iran. About 30% of Iran's public-sector workforce and 45% of its large industrial firms are located there, and half those firms' employees work for government. The Central Bank of Iran is responsible for developing and maintaining the currency: the Iranian rial. The government does not recognise trade unions other than the Islamic labour councils, which are subject to the approval of employers and the security services. Iran was the first country to introduce a national basic income in Autumn 2010. Unemployment was 9% in 2022.

Budget deficits have been a chronic problem, mostly due to large state subsidies, that include foodstuffs and especially petrol, totaling $100 billion in 2022 for energy alone. In 2010, the economic reform plan was to cut subsidies gradually and replace them with targeted social assistance. The objective is to move towards free market prices and increase productivity and social justice. The administration continues reform, and indicates it will diversify the oil-reliant economy. Iran has developed a biotechnology, nanotechnology, and pharmaceutical industry. The government is privatising industries.

Iran has leading manufacturing industries in automobile manufacture, transportation, construction materials, home appliances, food and agricultural goods, armaments, pharmaceuticals, information technology, and petrochemicals in the Middle East. It is among the world's top five producers of apricots, cherries, cucumbers and gherkins, dates, figs, pistachios, quinces, walnuts, Kiwifruit and watermelons. International sanctions against Iran have damaged the economy. Iran is one of three countries that has not ratified the Paris Agreement to limit climate change, although academics say it would be good for the country.

Iran suffers from high inflation and especially surging food prices. A major contributing factor is the involvement of the IRGC in the economy, particularly in the agriculture and food sectors but also due to significant spending on the Axis of Resistance which increase the public deficit.

Science and technology

Iran has made considerable advances in science and technology, despite international sanctions. In the biomedical sciences, the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics has a UNESCO chair in biology. In 2006, Iranian scientists successfully cloned a sheep at the Royan Research Centre in Tehran. Stem cell research is among the top 10 in the world. Iran ranks 15th in the world in nanotechnologies. Iranian scientists outside Iran have made major scientific contributions. In 1960, Ali Javan co-invented the first gas laser, and fuzzy set theory was introduced by Lotfi A. Zadeh.

Cardiologist Tofy Mussivand invented and developed the first artificial cardiac pump, the precursor of the artificial heart. Furthering research in diabetes, the HbA1c was discovered by Samuel Rahbar. Many papers in string theory are published in Iran. In 2014, Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman, and Iranian, to receive the Fields Medal, the highest prize in mathematics.

Iran increased its publication output nearly tenfold from 1996 through 2004, and ranked first in output growth rate, followed by China. According to a study by SCImago in 2012, Iran would rank fourth in research output by 2018, if the trend persisted. The Iranian humanoid robot Sorena 2, which was designed by engineers at the University of Tehran, was unveiled in 2010. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has placed the name of Surena among the five most prominent robots, after analysing its performance.

According to a 2019 study by Isabel Campos-Varela et al., Iran recorded the highest proportion of retracted publications globally, with 15.52 retractions per 10,000 publications. Media reports from 2023 indicate that Iran continues to rank among the countries with the highest retraction rates. Common types of misconduct include fraudulent peer review processes, plagiarism, and data fabrication. Data from the Retraction Watch Leaderboard further highlights that two of the 32 individuals with the highest number of retracted articles worldwide are based in Iran. Iran was ranked 70th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025.

The Iranian Space Agency was established in 2004. Iran became an orbital-launch-capable nation in 2009 and is a founding member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Iran placed its domestically built satellite Omid into orbit on the 30th anniversary of the revolution, in 2009, through its first expendable launch vehicle Safir. It became the 9th country capable of both producing a satellite and sending it into space from a domestically made launcher. Simorgh's launch in 2016, is the successor of Safir.

In January 2024, Iran launched the Soraya satellite into its highest orbit yet (750 km), a space launch milestone for the country. It was launched by Qaem 100 rocket. Iran also successfully launched 3 indigenous satellites, The Mahda, Kayan and Hatef, into orbit using the Simorgh carrier rocket. It was the first time in the country's history that it simultaneously sent three satellites into space. The three satellites are designed for testing advanced satellite subsystems, space-based positioning technology, and narrowband communication.

In February 2024, Iran launched its domestically developed imaging satellite, Pars 1, from Russia into orbit. This was the second time since August 2022, when Russia launched another Iranian remote-sensing, Khayyam satellite, into orbit from Kazakhstan, reflecting deep scientific cooperation between the countries.

Art

Iran has one of the richest art heritages in history and been strong in many media including architecture, painting, literature, music, metalworking, stonemasonry, weaving, calligraphy and sculpture. At different times, influences from neighboring civilizations have been important, and latterly Persian art gave and received major influences as part of the wider styles of Islamic art.

From the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), the courts of successive dynasties led the style of Persian art, and court-sponsored art left many of the most impressive pieces that remain. The Islamic style of dense decoration, geometrically laid out, developed in Iran into an elegant and harmonious style, combining motifs derived from plants with Chinese motifs such as the cloud-band, and often animals represented at a smaller scale. During the Safavid Empire in the 16th century, this style was used across a variety of media, and diffused from the court artists of the king, most being painters.

By the time of the Sasanians, Iranian art had a renaissance. During the Middle Ages, Sasanian art played a prominent role in the formation of European and Asian mediaeval art. The Safavid era is known as the Golden Age of Iranian art. Safavid art exerted noticeable influences upon the Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Deccans, and was influential through its fashion and garden architecture on 11th–17th-century Europe.

Iran's contemporary art traces its origins to Kamal-ol-molk, a prominent realist painter at the Qajar court who affected the norms of painting and adopted a naturalistic style that would compete with photographic works. A new Iranian school of fine art was established by him in 1928, and was followed by the so-called "coffeehouse" style of painting. Iran's avant-garde modernists emerged by the arrival of new western influences during World War II. The contemporary art scene originates in the late 1940s, and Tehran's first modern art gallery, Apadana, was opened in 1949 by Mahmud Javadipur, Hosein Kazemi, and Hushang Ajudani. The new movements received official encouragement by the 1950s, which led to the emergence of artists such as Marcos Grigorian.

Music and dance

Iran is the apparent birthplace of the earliest complex instruments, dating to the 3rd millennium BC. The use of angular harps have been documented at Madaktu and Kul-e Farah, with the largest collection of Elamite instruments documented at Kul-e Farah. Xenophon's Cyropaedia mentions singing women at the court of the Achaemenid Empire. Under the Parthian Empire, the gōsān (Parthian for 'minstrel') had a prominent role.

The history of Sasanian music is better documented than earlier periods and is especially more evident in Avestan texts. By the time of Khosrow II, the Sasanian royal court hosted prominent musicians, namely Azad, Bamshad, Barbad, Nagisa, Ramtin, and Sarkash. Iranian traditional musical instruments include string instruments such as chang (harp), qanun, santur, rud (oud, barbat), tar, dotar, setar, tanbur, and kamanche, wind instruments such as sorna (zurna, karna) and ney, and percussion instruments such as tompak, kus, daf (dayere), and naqare.

The Tehran Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1933. By the late 1940s, Ruhollah Khaleqi founded the country's first national music society and established the School of National Music in 1949. Iranian pop music has its origins in the Qajar era. It was significantly developed since the 1950s, using indigenous instruments and forms accompanied by electric guitar and other imported characteristics. Iranian rock emerged in the 1960s and hip hop in the 2000s.

Iran has known dance in the forms of music, play, drama or religious rituals since at least the 6th millennium BC. Artifacts with pictures of dancers were found in archaeological prehistoric sites. Genres of dance vary depending on the area, culture, and language of the local people, and can range from sophisticated reconstructions of refined court dances to energetic folk dances. Each group, region, and historical epoch has specific dance styles associated with it. The earliest researched dance from historic Iran is a dance worshipping Mithra. Ancient Persian dance was significantly researched by Greek historian Herodotus. Iran was occupied by foreign powers, causing a slow disappearance of heritage dance traditions.

The Qajar era had an important influence on Persian dance. In this period, a style of dance began to be called "classical Persian dance". Dancers performed artistic dances in court for entertainment purposes such as coronations, marriage celebrations, and Norouz celebrations. In the 20th century, the music came to be orchestrated and dance movement and costuming gained a modernistic orientation to the West.

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