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COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) Dashboard: Iran

Facts about Iran: Iran, also known as Persia and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), is a country located at the crossroads of West, Central and South Asia. It is bordered by Iraq to the west and Turkey to the northwest, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. With almost 90 million people in an area of 1.648 million square kilometres (0.64 million square miles), Iran ranks 17th in the world in both geographic size and population. The country is divided into five regions with 31 provinces. Its capital and largest city is Tehran, with around 16 million people in its metropolitan area; other major urban centres include Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, and Shiraz. Iran is one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the Elamites in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes in the seventh century BC and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire, one of the largest empires in antiquity. Alexander the Great conquered the empire in the fourth century BC, and it was subsequently divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the... ()

Last updated: Thursday, 03/09/2023toggle page width