Iran has one of the oldest histories in the world, extending more than 5000 years, and throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia. Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran as a major regional power occupies an important position in the world economy due to its substantial reserves of petroleum and natural gas, and has considerable regional influence in Western Asia. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans." (Full article...)
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Baháʼu'lláh in 1868
Baháʼu'lláh (Persian:[bæhɒːʔolːɒːh], born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Iran and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianicBábism. In 1863, in Ottoman Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God. He spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance.
Baháʼu'lláh was raised with no formal education but was well-read and devoutly religious. His family was considerably wealthy, and at the age of 22 he turned down a position in the government, instead managing family properties and donating time and money to charities. At the age of 27 he accepted the claim of the Báb and became one of the most outspoken supporters of the new religious movement which advocated, among other things, abrogation of Islamic law, which attracted heavy opposition. At the age of 33, during a governmental attempt to exterminate the movement, Baháʼu'lláh narrowly escaped death, his properties were confiscated, and he was banished from Iran. Just before leaving, while imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál dungeon, Baháʼu'lláh claimed to receive revelations from God marking the beginning of his divine mission. After settling in Ottoman Iraq, Baháʼu'lláh again attracted the ire of Iranian authorities, and they requested that the Ottoman government move him farther away. He spent months in Constantinople where the authorities became hostile to his religious claims and put him under house arrest in Edirne for four years, followed by two years of harsh confinement in the prison-city of Acre. His restrictions were gradually eased until his final years were spent in relative freedom in the area surrounding Acre. (Full article...)
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Family recorded in England
The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water, or stalking its prey through the shallows.
Standing up to 1 metre (3ft 3in) tall, adults weigh from 1 to 2kg (2 to 4lb). They have a white head and neck with a broad black stripe that extends from the eye to the black crest. The body and wings are grey above and the underparts are greyish-white, with some black on the flanks. The long, sharply pointed beak is pinkish-yellow and the legs are brown. (Full article...)
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The 2008 Qeshm earthquake occurred on 10 September in the Hormozgān Province of southern Iran, 850 kilometres (528mi) south of Tehran. Its epicenter was near the port city of Bandar Abbas, where an earthquake two years prior had caused damage. The earthquake measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale and 6 on the surface wave scale, killing seven people and injuring up to 45. Causing both catastrophic and minor damage, the earthquake devastated up to 200 villages throughout southern Iran, but left the port city of Bandar Abbas almost unscathed. Citizens reportedly panicked when the earthquake hit, emptying into the parks of the city and other open areas. (Full article...)
Phraates IV (also spelled Frahad IV; Parthian: 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕Frahāt) was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 37 to 2 BC. He was the son and successor of Orodes II (r.57–37BC), and was given the throne after the death of his brother Pacorus I. Phraates IV soon murdered all his brothers, and also possibly his father. His actions alienated the Armenians and also some of his nobles, including the distinguished Monaeses, who fled to the RomantriumvirMark Antony, but shortly returned and reconciled with Phraates IV.
Phraates IV was attacked in 36 BC by Mark Antony, who marched through Armenia into Media Atropatene, and was defeated and lost the greater part of his army. Antony, believing himself betrayed by Artavasdes II, king of Armenia, invaded his kingdom in 34 BC, took him prisoner, and concluded a treaty with Artavasdes I, king of Media Atropatene. But when the war with Octavian broke out, Antony could not maintain his conquests; Phraates IV recovered Media Atropatene and made Artaxias, the son of Artavasdes II, king of Armenia. (Full article...)
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Plate of Peroz I
Peroz I (Middle Persian: 𐭯𐭩𐭫𐭥𐭰, romanized:Pērōz) was the SasanianKing of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran from 459 to 484. A son of Yazdegerd II (r.438–457), he rejected the rule of his elder brother and incumbent king Hormizd III (r.457–459), eventually seizing the throne after a two-year struggle. His reign was marked by war and famine. Early in his reign, he successfully quelled a rebellion in Caucasian Albania in the west, and put an end to the Kidarites in the east, briefly expanding Sasanian rule into Tokharistan, where he issued gold coins with his likeness in Balkh. At the same time Iran was suffering from a seven-year famine. He soon clashed with the former subjects of the Kidarites: the Hephthalites, who possibly would have helped him gain the throne initially. He was defeated and captured twice by the Hephthalites and as a result lost his recently acquired gains.
In 482, revolts broke out in the western provinces of Armenia and Iberia, led by Vahan Mamikonian and Vakhtang I respectively. Before Peroz could quell the unrest there, he was defeated and killed in his third war with the Hephthalites in 484, who seized the main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of Khorasan−Nishapur, Herat and Marw. Taking advantage of the weakened Sasanian position in the east, the Nezak Huns subsequently seized the region of Zabulistan. Peroz was the last shahanshah to mint unique gold coins in the Indian region of Sindh, which indicates that the region was lost around the same period. Albeit a devout Zoroastrian, Peroz supported the newly established Christian sect of Nestorianism, and just before his death, it was declared the official doctrine of the Iranian church. (Full article...)
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A map depicting the major areas of conflict during the Battle of Salamis
The Asiatic cheetah survives in protected areas in the eastern-central arid region of Iran. Between December 2011 and November 2013, 84 individuals were sighted in 14 different protected areas, and 82 individuals were identified from camera trap photographs. In December 2017, fewer than 50 individuals were thought to be remaining in three subpopulations that are scattered over 140,000km2 (54,000sqmi) in Iran's central plateau. (Full article...)
It is unclear if there was a formally established constitution dictating the laws, organization, and divisions of power in ancient Macedonia's government, although some tangential evidence suggests this. The king (basileus) served as the head of state and was assisted by his noble companions and royal pages. Kings served as the chief judges of the kingdom, although little is known about Macedonia's judiciary. The kings were also expected to serve as high priests of the nation, using their wealth to sponsor various religious cults. The Macedonian kings had command over certain natural resources such as gold from mining and timber from logging. The right to mint gold, silver, and bronze coins was shared by the central and local governments. (Full article...)
As governor, Ali Mirza restored Shah Cheragh, following its devastation in a 1795 earthquake. He opened the tombs of the Achaemenid shahs to obtain gold, but found them empty. During his rule, the city of Shiraz was subjected to high taxation and low security. Ali Mirza gained independence from the government of Hajji Mohammad Hossein Isfahani, rented Bushehr ports to the British and stopped paying taxes after 1828, thus going 200,000 tomans in tax arrears to the crown. (Full article...)
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Map showing major incidents of the second Persian invasion of Greece
Movements of the Persian and Greek armies in 480–479BC.
The Persian invasion was a delayed response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. King Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian general Themistocles proposed that the Allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae and simultaneously block the Persian navy at the Straits of Artemisium. An Allied naval force of 271 triremes was thus dispatched to await the arrival of the Persians. (Full article...)
...that the Iran-Pakistan barrier is currently being constructed by Iran along its border with Pakistan to stop illegal migration and thwart terror attacks?
Iran map of Köppen climate classification zones Geographically, the country of Iran is predominantly located on the Iranian plateau at the crossroads of West Asia and South Asia. Topographically, it borders the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman. Its mountains have impacted both the political and the economic history of the country for several centuries. The mountains enclose several broad basins, on which major agricultural and urban settlements are located. Until the 20th century, when major highways and railroads were constructed through the mountains to connect the population centers, these basins tended to be relatively isolated from one another. Typically, one major town has dominated each basin, and there were complex economic relationships between the town and the hundreds of villages that surrounded it. In the higher elevations of the mountains rimming the basins, tribally organized groups practiced transhumance, moving with their herds of sheep and goats between traditionally established summer and winter pastures. There are no major river systems in the country, and historically transportation was by means of caravans that followed routes traversing gaps and passes in the mountains. The mountains also impeded easy access to the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. (Full article...)
Abbas I (Persian: عباس یکم, romanized:Abbâs-e Yekom; 27 January 1571 – 19 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (Persian: عباس بزرگ, romanized:Abbâs-e Bozorg), was the fifth Safavidshah of Iran from 1588 to 1629. The third son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he is generally considered one of the most important rulers in Iranian history and the greatest ruler of the Safavid dynasty.
Although Abbas would reign over Safavid Iran at its military, political and economic height, he came to the throne during a period of instability in the empire. Under the ineffective rule of his father, the country was riven with discord between the different factions of the Qizilbash army, who killed Abbas' mother and elder brother. Meanwhile, Iran's main enemies, its archrival, the Ottoman Empire, and the Uzbeks, exploited this political chaos to seize territory for themselves. In 1588, one of the Qizilbash leaders, Murshid Quli Khan, overthrew Shah Mohammed in a coup and placed the 16-year-old Abbas on the throne. However, Abbas soon seized power for himself. (Full article...)
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The Assembly of Experts (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, romanized:Majles-e Khobregān-e Rahbarī, lit.'Assembly of Experts for Leadership') is the deliberative body of Iran empowered to appoint, supervise, and discharge the Supreme Leader of Iran. The assembly consists of 88 members who are directly elected by the public to serve eight-year terms, and all candidates must be vetted by the Guardian Council.
The assembly consists of 88 Mujtahids that are elected from lists of thoroughly vetted candidates (in 2016, 166 candidates were approved by the Guardians out of 801 who applied to run for the office), by direct public vote for eight-year terms. The number of members has ranged from 82 elected in 1982 to 88 elected in 2016. Current laws require the assembly to meet at least twice every six months. Half of the Guardian Council members are appointed by the Supreme Leader; this model has led to controversy as many reformist or opposition candidates are excluded, limiting voter choice. (Full article...)
Ismail I (Persian: اسماعیل یکم, romanized:Ismāʿīl; 17 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is one of the most vital in the history of Iran, and the Safavid era is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history. Under Ismail, Iran was unified under native rule for the first time since the Islamic conquest of the country eight-and-a-half centuries earlier.
Ismail inherited leadership of the SafavidSufi order from his brother as a child. His predecessors had transformed the religious order into a military movement supported by the Qizilbash (mainly TurkomanShiite groups). The Safavids took control of northwestern Iran, with Tabriz as the capital. In 1501, Ismail was crowned as shah (king). In the following years, Ismail conquered the rest of Iran and other neighbouring territories. His expansion into Eastern Anatolia brought him into conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In 1514, the Ottomans decisively defeated the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran, which brought an end to Ismail's conquests. Ismail fell into depression and heavy drinking after this defeat and died in 1524. He was succeeded by his eldest son Tahmasp I. (Full article...)
The Persians are descended from ancient Iranian peoples who migrated to Persis (also called "Persia proper" and corresponding with Iran's Fars Province) by the 9th century BC. Although Persians, Kurds, and other Iranian tribes originally migrated from Central Asia to Iran in the second millennium BCE, genetic evidence suggests that modern Iranians are mostly descended from the ancient indigenous populations of the Iranian Plateau, rather than being primarily descended from only Central Asian migrants, depending on the ethnic group. Alongside the various ethnicities and cultures that they were contemporaries with, they established and ruled some of the world's most powerful empires, which are widely recognized for their massive cultural, political, and social influence in the ancient Near East and beyond. Persians have contributed greatly to art and science, and Persian literature is one of the world's most prominent literary traditions both inside and outside of Iran. The regional prestige of their civilization was the basis for the development of many noteworthy Persianate societies, especially among the Turkic peoples, throughout Central Asia and South Asia. (Full article...)
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Saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, with its vivid crimson stigmas and styles
Saffron's taste and iodoform-like or hay-like fragrance result from the phytochemicalspicrocrocin and safranal. It also contains a carotenoid pigment, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles. Saffron quality is objectively measured under the ISO 3632 standard, which evaluates the concentration of active phytochemicals—specifically crocin (color), picrocrocin (taste), and safranal (aroma) via spectrophotometric laboratory analysis. The grading depends largely on the ratio of dark red stigmas to yellow styles, with higher concentrations of red parts yielding premium-grade products. Although market prices fluctuate, premium saffron regularly exceeds US$5,000 per kilogram, sustained by its labor-intensive hand-harvesting process. (Full article...)
In classical antiquity, part of the territory of present-day Tehran was occupied by Rhages, a prominent Iranian city that was not destroyed in the medieval Arab and Mongol invasions. Rey is absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran. Tehran was first chosen as the capital of Iran in 1786 by Agha Mohammad Khan of the Qajar dynasty, because of its proximity to Iran's territories in the Caucasus—which were contested in the Russo-Iranian Wars—and to avoid the vying factions of prior ruling Iranian dynasties; the capital of Iran had been moved several times throughout its long history, with Tehran becoming the 51st. Under Reza Shah Tehran witnessed Iran's first institute of higher learning, bank, railway line, and museum. Large-scale construction works began in the 1920s, and Tehran became a destination for mass migrations from all over Iran especially in the 20th century. Tehran was at the center of the Iranian Revolution, and experienced major bombing damage during the Iran–Iraq War, the Twelve-Day War, and the 2026 Iran war. (Full article...)
National consciousness or collective awareness among people arises when a shared pain or common aspiration emerges within a group. This shared pain is identified as stemming from oppression, aggression, and colonialism, while the shared aspiration is the pursuit of justice and freedom. The unifying factor in the struggles and ideals that have created nations worldwide is the rejection of tyranny and the demand for justice. Consequently, movements born from this collective pain and shared demand consistently advocate for truth, justice, liberty, and self-determination. These values are deeply rooted in a nation's religion and worldview.
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![Image 1 Baháʼu'lláh in 1868Baháʼu'lláh (Persian: [bæhɒːʔolːɒːh], born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Iran and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábism. In 1863, in Ottoman Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God. He spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance.Baháʼu'lláh was raised with no formal education but was well-read and devoutly religious. His family was considerably wealthy, and at the age of 22 he turned down a position in the government, instead managing family properties and donating time and money to charities. At the age of 27 he accepted the claim of the Báb and became one of the most outspoken supporters of the new religious movement which advocated, among other things, abrogation of Islamic law, which attracted heavy opposition. At the age of 33, during a governmental attempt to exterminate the movement, Baháʼu'lláh narrowly escaped death, his properties were confiscated, and he was banished from Iran. Just before leaving, while imprisoned in the Síyáh-Chál dungeon, Baháʼu'lláh claimed to receive revelations from God marking the beginning of his divine mission. After settling in Ottoman Iraq, Baháʼu'lláh again attracted the ire of Iranian authorities, and they requested that the Ottoman government move him farther away. He spent months in Constantinople where the authorities became hostile to his religious claims and put him under house arrest in Edirne for four years, followed by two years of harsh confinement in the prison-city of Acre. His restrictions were gradually eased until his final years were spent in relative freedom in the area surrounding Acre. (Full article...)](/location/wiki/File:Blank.png)
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