IRAN Climate Iran is an arid or dry land with little rain although it is more humid along the northern and southern coasts In the Zagros and Alborz mountains the winters are bitterly cold with temperatures often below 32ºF 0ºC and frequent snow on the higher slopes By high summer the snow has melted leaving the bare rock peaks exposed In central Iran summer temperatures can rise from the high 90s to 120ºF high 30s and 40s ºC Much of the country receives less than 10 inches 25 cm of rain each year falling to less than 4 inches 10 cm in the deserts In the hotter parts of Iran the streams and rivers are often seasonal 8 CASE STUDY IRAN’S SHRINKING LAKE Over 87 mi 140 km long and 40 mi 55 km wide Lake Urmia is Iran’s largest lake Although filled by snowmelt each spring Urmia has been shrinking for years because of evaporation in the summer heat Owing to the high salt levels in its water fish cannot live in the lake but humans have collected the salt and used it as a medicine for centuries A causeway across Urmia’s narrowest point was opened in 2008 and depend on snowmelt and spring rains from the mountains In summer these riverbeds often lie dry for months Iran’s largest permanent rivers such as the Karun the Karkeh and the Zayeandeh mostly flow through the western and southern regions of the country The wettest parts of Iran lie along the Caspian shore in the north Farm laborers separate grain from the chaff using traditional methods that have changed little in thousands of years Scenes like this have become rarer as farming in Iran has become more mechanized
ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN TURKEY Urmia Ardab l Tabr z M aneh Zanjan Qazv n Tehran Sanandaj Kermanshah Khorramabad Ilam IRAQ Dezful CASPIAN SEA Rasht Chalus TURKMENISTAN Bojnurd Gorgan Mashhad Arnol Key Capital city Cities over 1,000,000 people Cities between 100,000 and 1,000,000 people Cities under 100,000 people IRAN Esfahan Qa'en B rjand AFGHANISTAN Masjed-e Soleyman Yazd Zabol Ahvaz Yasuj Rafsanjan Kerman Zahedan KUWAIT SAUDI ARABIA Shiraz Sirjan Jahrom J roft Bandar-e Abbas PAKISTAN PERSIAN GULF QATAR UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OMAN 0 0 miles 200 kilometres 200 Above Ranges of mountains and hills define much of Iran’s border with its seven neighbors Most of the larger cities lie close to these ranges In the middle of the country lies the high and arid central plateau Land use in Iran Cultivated arable land 12 What animals are farmed in Iran Well suited to Iran’s mountainous landscapes sheep are by far the most important animal for Iranian farmers Nearer to the cities cattle play a part in Iran’s large dairy industry In rural areas goats are an important source of protein while donkeys buffaloes and even camels are bred to be worked as beasts of burden This pie chart shows that very little of Iran’s territory is suitable for growing crops Three-quarters of Iran is either unsuitable for farming or at best provides rough grazing for goats and sheep Other land use for settlement or unfit for farming 43 Grassland and rough grazing 32 Woodland and forest 13 Source Statistical Center of Iran 2007 9
IRAN Many peoples Many different peoples live in Iran and many different languages are spoken there About half of the population speak Persian known as Farsi in Iran Farsi is the official language spoken in the capital city of Tehran However in northwestern Iran most people speak a very different language called Azeri which is closer to Turkish than Farsi A number of other languages are also spoken in Iran including ancient tongues such as Gilaki Mazandarani Luri and Balochi as well as modern Arabic and Kurdish A growing population In recent decades Iran has experienced very fast population growth About 81 million people live in Iran today more than double the number of 1978 Owing to a long population boom since 1980 the Iranian population is young by Western standards with almost two-thirds of Iranians age 30 or less Although the rate of growth in Iran’s population is now slowing the population is still expected to rise to between 90 and 100 million by 2050 Employment in Iran Industry 34 Services 49 Agriculture 17 Source CIA World Factbook 2014 10 FOCUS CHANGING WAYS OF WORK Since 1980 increasing numbers of Iranians have moved from the countryside to live in the rapidly growing cities About a third of Iranians still work in agriculture but most now earn their living in the manufacturing and service industries About two-thirds of Iranians now live in urban areas more than 12 million of them in Tehran alone Many faiths Almost all Iranians are Muslim Most belong to the Shia branch of Islam which is the state religion while fewer than 10 percent follow the Sunni Islamic tradition There are also small communities of other believers Christianity Judaism and Zoroastrianism are recognized as official religions and are tolerated to some extent About 25,000 Iranian Jews live in Iran mostly in Tehran where there are 11 synagogues A similar number keep the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism alive There are about 300,000 Christians in Iran mostly belonging to the historic Armenian Church There are also over 150,000 members of the Baha’i faith but although this religion was founded in Persia it is not recognized by the Iranian state Refugees and emigrants In recent decades large numbers of refugees have fled to Iran from troubled neighboring states Because of wars in their own country there are over a million Afghan refugees in Iran mostly living in the poorest neighborhoods in the cities There are smaller groups of refugees from Iraq as well as Tajiks Somalis Bangladeshis and Pakistanis Political and religious changes inside Iran have also encouraged many Iranians to move overseas More than 80 percent of Iranians work in industry or the service sector a statistic that reflects the move by many people from rural to urban areas
The Zoroastrian fire temple of Pir-e Sabz at Chak Chak in central Iran lies within a mountain grotto shrine Believers also visit the ever-dripping spring well inside the mountain Each summer several thousand Parsees or Zoroastrian believers mostly from India make a pilgrimage here 11
