Foundation Islamic Union
Iran
Official Name: Islamic Republic of Iran (IR)
Capital city; : Tehran
Important Cities: Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, Ahvaz, Abadân, Hemedan,
Kirmanshāh, Qom, Khurremshahr, Urumiyeh, Kerej, B. Abbas.
Area: 1.628.195 km2
Population : 84,981,000 (2021)[1] 58% of the population lives in cities.
Number of People Per Km2: 37 People.
Average Human Lifespan: 67
Ethnicity: 66% Persian, 20% Turkish, 9.1% Kurdish, 3% Arab, 0.3% Armenian, 0.3
Jewish. The remaining population is made up of various ethnic groups.
Language: The official language is Persian. Minority languages are also spoken.
Religion: The official religion of Iran is Islam. 98.8% of the people are Muslims. 0.7% are Christians, 0.3% are Jews, 0.1% are Zoroastrians and 0.1% are members of other religions. Ten per cent of Muslims are Sunni. The majority of the others are Shiite Jafari. The remaining Christians are Orthodox, Gregorian Armenians, Catholic Armenians, Nestorians and Protestants.
Friday, the feast day of all Muslims, is an official holiday in Iran and Friday prayers are performed collectively in a single centre in each city.
Iran has been acquainted with the religion of Islam since the period of Khuleafa Rashidin and was honoured with it in the first Hijri century. During the month of Muharram, the month in which Hz. Hussein (r.a.), the grandson of the Prophet (s.a.s.), was martyred in Karbala, especially on the 9th and 10th days, great commemoration and mourning ceremonies are organised.
7.7% of the population belonging to the Ahl al-Sunnah sect live mostly in Kurdistan, Sistan and Baluchistan regions. The Ahl al-Sunnah followers freely fulfil their religious beliefs and obligations according to their own fiqh. Four Sunni sects are officially recognised in the Constitution.
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran officially recognises the religions of Christianity and Judaism along with Islam. Each of these three religions has one or more representatives in the Islamic Shura Council.
Geographical Situation: Iran, a country of Asia Minor (Middle East), is surrounded by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, the Persian and Oman gulfs to the south, and Iraq and Turkey to the west. Its coast on the Caspian Sea provides a maritime connection with the Central Asian countries and Russia. Some islands in the Persian Gulf belong to Iran. In the north and south of Iran, there are mountain ranges surrounding the country. Considered a mountainous country, 9% of Iran's territory is agricultural land, 27% is grassland, and 11% is forested and shrubland. The remaining lands are desert or mountainous areas with no forests. Iran's climate varies according to regions. This is due to the fact that its territory is divided by mountain ranges.
Mode of Government: After the popular revolution against the Shah's regime in 1979, an Islamic Republic based on Jafari principles was established in Iran. Accordingly, velayati faqih, the representative of the Twelve Imams, is the supreme religious leader and has the final say in all executive and legislative affairs. The legislative body is the Islamic Shura Council with 270 members. The members of this assembly are elected every four years. The laws enacted by this assembly must be approved by the supervising jurists and the velayat faqih in order to enter into force. The president is also elected in a general election and takes office after the approval of the velayat faqih. The prime minister is appointed by the president and approved by the Islamic Shura Council. The Islamic Shura Assembly can open a censure motion against the president and the prime minister. Accordingly, it is possible to dismiss the president or prime minister from office if the majority of the said assembly does not wish to do so.
History: Iranian lands passed into the hands of Muslims during the reign of Hz. Ömer (r.a.), after the Qadisiyya and Nihavend wars in 636-637 and 642 respectively. After the period of the Rashid Caliphs, the Umayyads, Abbasids, Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Buwayhids, Ali Mukhtaj, Ferigunids, Seljuks, Mongols, Khwarezmshahs, Ilkhanids, Timurids, Turkmen, Safavids, Zandids, Qajars and Pahlavi Dynasty ruled in Iran. When Reza Khan became the Shah of Iran in 1925 with the help of the British under the title of 'Reza Pahlavi', the occupation forces left this country. Reza Pahlavi not only undertook the task of protecting British interests in Iran, but also tried to erase all traces of Islam from the country. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled the country in 1953 after a civil unrest broke out. For a short time, he was able to return to the throne with the support of the USA. This event was instrumental in increasing US influence over Iran. It was also with this event that Khomeini started to gain support among the people and began to move towards leadership. The struggle between the regime and the people, which started after all these developments, did not stop until the revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. On 1 April 1979, the Islamic Republic was declared in the country on the basis of the referendum held. After the declaration of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini became the country's religious leader. After his death in 1989, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei became the religious leader. In the election held on 19 June 2021, Ibrahim Reisi was elected as the president of the republic.
Iran - Iraq War: Iran and Iraq issued a joint declaration based on the principle of respect for each other's territorial integrity and non-interference in their internal affairs at an OPEC summit in Algeria in 1975, before the 1979 revolution. In this declaration, it was announced that the Istanbul Protocol of 1913 and the minutes of the 1914 Boundary Delimitation Commission would be taken as basis for determining the borders. After this event, the necessary documents were collected and an agreement was made at the Baghdad summit on 12-13 June 1975, which resolved the border issue between the two countries. Despite this agreement, Iraq brought the border issue back to the agenda after the 1979 revolution. When the debates intensified, Iraq took military action against Iranian territory on 22 September 1980. This war continued until the ceasefire agreement signed on 20 August 1988.
Internal Problems: The People's Mojahedin Organisation, supported by the West, has been challenging the Iranian government for years with its armed actions and attacks. Iranian military units attacked the organisation's military bases in Iraq in late May 1993.
Another internal issue in Iran is the struggle for the independence of the Kurdish region. However, this struggle, which is generally organised by the Kurdistan Democratic Party, is not as serious a problem as in Iraq and Turkey.
External Problems: Although Iran has signed a ceasefire with Iraq, this ceasefire agreement has not completely resolved the border issue. Iran also has a dispute with the United Arab Emirates over the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb.
Iran's other external problem is the suspicion of Western countries that Iran will produce nuclear weapons because it has established facilities to produce nuclear energy. For this reason, Iran is subjected to embargo sanctions by the West, no oil is purchased, sanctions are imposed even on companies and countries that trade with Iran, and even armed intervention is discussed.
Islamism in the country: Ayatollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran, was born on 25 September 1902. During his childhood and youth, Khomeini took lessons from prominent Jafari scholars of Iran. Later, when his teacher Ayatollah Hairi settled in Qom in 1922, he moved to this city and continued his education there. In 1962, he took part in the opposition against the Shah's regime. In 1964, he was exiled first to Turkey and then to Iraq. From this date onwards, he lived in exile until the 1979 revolution. On 9 February 1979, Khomeini returned to his homeland and died on 3 June 1989.
Ahmed Muftizadeh: Ahmed Muftiizadeh was born in 1933 in Iranian Kurdistan to a Sunni family. He took his place in the Islamic movement. On the one hand, he endeavoured to learn Islamic sciences and on the other hand, he gathered young people around him and tried to make them aware of Islam. Together with the people he gathered around him, Muftizadeh participated in the struggle to overthrow the Shah regime. After the change of government, he started to endeavour to improve the situation of Sunnis in Iran. However, the new administration, disturbed by his efforts, accused Muftiizadeh of creating discord in the country and imprisoned him in 1981. Muftiizade died in prison on 8 July 1992.
Economy: Iran's economy is based on oil revenues. Natural gas also makes a significant contribution to the country's economy. The share of oil and natural gas in the gross domestic product is 5%. Agriculture and animal husbandry also have an important place in the Iranian economy. The share of agricultural income in gross domestic product is 18%. Approximately 25% of the total labour force is employed in the agricultural sector. Nearly one third of the arable land is irrigated. The main agricultural products are cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, cotton, tobacco, dates, rice, corn, tea, hemp, poppy, citrus, sugar cane, sugar beet and olives. In the same year, 6 million 800 thousand m3 of logs were produced. Starting on 22 September 1980 and lasting for eight years, the Iran-Iraq war and the US-led efforts to isolate Iran and embargoes negatively affected the country's economy.
In terms of resources, Iran is a rich and abundant country. More than 110 years have passed since the first oil well was drilled in Iran (1908). Today, 9.2% of the world's estimated oil reserves (93 billion barrels) are located in Iran. If 14.5% of the world's natural gas reserves are added to this amount, Iran's distinguished position in the world energy market will be clearly seen. Iran will be able to produce crude oil for the next seventy years and natural gas for the next 250 years at the current capacity.
Iran is also one of the countries with copper mine reserves. Copper reserves in Iran are estimated at 900 million tonnes. This figure represents 15% of the world's copper reserves. In addition, Iran's underground resources include 2,200 million tonnes of ironstone, 5351 million tonnes of hard coal, 60 million tonnes of zinc and lead mines, as well as mines of stones used in the construction industry.
The Iranian economy has a highly trained labour force. 34 per cent of the employees work in the state and 65 per cent in the private sector.
Trained and cheap labour force, relatively large domestic market and fast access to regional markets are other advantages of Iranian economy. In recent years, many free trade zones have been established in regions such as Kish, Kism, Chabahar and Xinjiang in order to attract foreign capital to the country. One of them, Kism Free Trade Zone, has attracted a large amount of foreign capital due to its proximity to oil and natural gas resources and its favourable geographical location.
Currency: Iranian Rial (popularly known as Division).
National Income per Capita: USD 8,034.
Foreign Trade: Petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas, hand-woven carpets, silk carpets, cotton, leather, precious stones, caviar, cumin, medicine, fish, clothing, sulphur, gum, herbs used in industry and some industrial products. The main imported goods are defence equipment, machinery and spare parts, electrical and electronic equipment, mechanical equipment, transport equipment and spare parts, iron, steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, cement, building materials, paper, cardboard and foodstuffs. Foreign trade is mostly with Germany, Japan, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, the United Arab Emirates and the Far East.
Industry: Iran's most important industrial facilities are oil refining plants. There are oil refining plants in Abadan, Isfahan, Shiraz, Lavan, Tehran and Tabriz. Isfahan iron and steel plants are the leading heavy industry facilities. There are also petrochemical plants in some places. In some industrial facilities, automobiles, tractors and electrical household appliances are produced by importing spare parts from abroad. However, most of the industrial establishments in the country are based on light industry. The most widespread industries are weaving, knitting, canning, bottling and glass, matches, paper, housing materials, timber, ceramics, mosaics and monopoly products. The share of the manufacturing industry in the gross domestic product is 9 per cent. About 12.5% of the working population is employed in the industrial sector.
Energy: In 1991, Iran produced 56 billion 900 million kw/h of electricity. Electricity consumption in the same year is equal to this figure. 88 per cent of the electrical energy is obtained from thermal power plants and 12 per cent from hydroelectric power plants.
Transportation: Tehran has an airport open to international traffic. There are 18 other airports used for domestic transport. Iran has many international ports that provide sea connection with the countries of the world. These are Imam Khomeini, Hark, Khorremshahr, Bushehr, Abadan, Bandar Abbas and Chabehar ports. It has 405 ships capable of carrying cargo over 100 gross tons. Iran has a total of 151.500 km of roads, 490 km of which are motorways, 51.500 km of which are asphalted, and 5.800 km of railways. There is one motorised transport vehicle for 26 people on average in Iran.
Health: There are nearly 600 hospitals, 22.650 doctors, 4800 dentists, 44.000 nurses in Iran. There is one doctor for 2.683 people. Another issue to be mentioned is health insurance. Currently, 57.5 million Iranians benefit from general health insurance.
Education:
[1] www.ticaret.gov.tr(October-2021 Access)
[2] oic-oci.org
