Iran officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south.
Iran has an area of 1,648,195 km2, It is the fourth-largest country entirely in Asia and the second-largest country in Western Asia behind Saudi Arabia

Iran’s population is 86 million people and it is the 17th most populous country in the world and the second largest country in the Middle East.

The majority of the population speaks Persian, which is also the official language of the country. Others include speakers of several other Iranian languages within the greater Indo-European family and languages belonging to some other ethnicities living in Iran.

Before 1357, English and French and to a small extent German and Russian were used by the educated class. European languages are less used now, but they are still taught in Iranian schools and universities.

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has declared Shia Islam as the official religion of Iran. At least 90% of Iranians are Shia Muslims and about 8% of Iranians are Sunni Muslims. Christianity with more than 300,000 followers, Bahaism with at least 250,000 followers, Zoroastrian religion with about 32,000 followers and Judaism with about 30,000 followers are other religions in Iran. Iran’s constitution recognizes Christianity, Mazdaism and Judaism.

The earliest attested cultures in Iran date back to the Lower Paleolithic. Owing to its geopolitical position, Iran has influenced cultures as far as Greece and Italy to the west, Russia to the north, the Arabian Peninsula to the south, and south and east Asia to the east. Iran’s historical cultural heritage is rare in the world. 

The art of Iran encompasses many disciplines, including architecture, stonemasonry, metalworking, weaving, pottery, painting, and calligraphy. Iranian works of art show a great variety in style, in different regions and periods.During the Middle Ages, Sasanian art played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art,[77] which carried forward to the Islamic world, and much of what later became known as Islamic learning—including medicine, architecture, philosophy, philology, and literature—were of Sasanian basis.

The Safavid era is known as the Golden Age of Iranian art,[450] and Safavid works of art show a far more unitary development than in any other period,[451] as part of a political evolution that reunified Iran as a cultural entity.[451] Safavid art exerted noticeable influences upon the neighboring Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Deccans, and was also influential through its fashion and garden architecture on 11th–17th-century Europe.

The number of museums in Iran is small, and the beginnings of those that exist are from the recent era. Although there are exceptional cases such as Golestan Palace. Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, which was opened in 1356, is the only large exclusive art gallery in Iran. The Pars Museum in Shiraz and the National Museum of Iran in Tehran are well-known Iranian museums.

The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for developing and maintaining the Iranian rial, which serves as the country’s currency.

Iran’s climate is diverse, ranging from arid and semi-arid, to subtropical along the Caspian coast and the northern forests.[200] On the northern edge of the country (the Caspian coastal plain), temperatures rarely fall below freezing and the area remains humid for the rest of the year. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 29 °C (84.2 °F). Annual precipitation is 680 mm (26.8 in) in the eastern part of the plain and more than 1,700 mm (66.9 in) in the western part.

To the west, settlements in the Zagros basin experience lower temperatures, severe winters with below zero average daily temperatures and heavy snowfall. The eastern and central basins are arid, with less than 200 mm (7.9 in) of rain, and have occasional deserts.Average summer temperatures rarely exceed 38 °C (100.4 °F).The coastal plains of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern Iran have mild winters, and very humid and hot summers. The annual precipitation ranges from 135 to 355 mm