Geography and People of Iran

Iran, the 18th largest country in the world, is the size of Great Britain, France, Spain and Germany combined. It shares borders with Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Pakistan, as well as the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Its capital and largest city is Tehran. Iran's climate is primarily arid, though it becomes subtropical along the coasts.

Iran is also the 18th largest country in the world in terms of population, according to the CIA Factbook. Its median age is 26 years old, making it a very youthful nation. It is still in the process of rapidly converting from an agricultural country to one where the vast majority of the population lives in cities. A little over half the population is Persian by ethnicity, though there are sizeable minorities of Azeris (the people of Azerbaijan), Gilakis, Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.

98% of Iranians are Muslims. 89% are Shia Muslims, and only 9% are Sunni. The distinction between Sunni and Shia Islam is crucial for understanding many of the disagreements between Iran and neighboring countries where Sunni Islam is dominant, such as Saudi Arabia.

Sunni Muslims, who comprise approximately 80% of the Muslim world, believe that the first four caliphs were the rightful successors to the prophet Muhammad. A caliph is an Islamic head of state. Shia Muslims, who make up most of the remaining 20% of Muslims, believe the imams, specifically Muhammad's son-in-law Ali, are the rightful heirs to the faith. An imam is a spiritual leader.

This is important in the context of contemporary Iran, in which not only the religious power but the political power is wielded by the clergy. In previous Islamic societies ruled by Sunnis, such as the Ottoman Empire, there were clear distinctions between the caliphs, who governed, and the imams, who led religious services. In Iran, those distinctions are blurred.

There are also tiny minorities that follow other religious faiths: Jews, Christians, Baha'i and Zoroastrians. The Baha'i faith was established by the religious leader Bahá'u'lláh in Tehran in the 19th century. It is an inclusive faith, which holds that all the world's religions, including Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism, are fundamentally the same, and that the people of the world should unite to combat religious intolerance.

However, Baha'i never became as widespread as any of the other religions that it seeks to include. Zoroastrianism, by contrast, is a much older religion, once dominant in Persia, that was superseded by Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries.