Iran is a country in the Middle East located between Iraq and Pakistan. The capital is Tehran. Iran is slightly larger than Alaska with a total area of 1.648 million square kilometers. The natural resources are petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, and sulfur. Iran also has an important location along the maritime pathways for oil transport. The region is subject to droughts, floods, dust storms, sandstorms, and earth quakes.
Iran was formerly known as Persia until 1935 and became an Islamic republic in 1979 after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was exiled and the monarchy was overthrown. US Iranian relations have been rough since Iranian students took over the US embassy and held hostages in a standoff lasting 1 year and 3 months (November 4, 1979 until January 20, 1981). Iran faces economic sanctions and export controls from the United States, United Nations, and European Union for being a state sponsor of terrorism and continuing with research into nuclear weapons. The United Nations Security Council has passed many resolutions asking Iran to stop its uranium enrichment and reprocessing work. Iran is also under United States Executive Orders 13382 and 13224 for designations for proliferation activities and designations for support of terrorism, respectively.
Iran is a theocratic republic and is divided into 30 provinces. The constitution was written on December 2-3, 1979 and revised in 1989 to give more power to the president. The legal system is based on Sharia law and there is universal suffrage for everyone over 18 years old. There are three branches of government. The Executive branch incorporates the Supreme Leader, Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, who is the chief of state and is appointed, for life, by the Assembly of Experts. The branch also includes head of the government, President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad, who was democratically elected on June 17, 2005 for a four-year term; Pariz Davudi is his Vice President. The Legislative Branch consists of a unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly with 290 seats. Members are elected for four-year terms by a popular vote. The Judicial Branch has a Supreme Court and a four-member High Council of the Judiciary. The branch’s job is to supervise enforcement of the laws and establish legal policy.
The Iranian economy is weak. It has an inefficient state sector and is reliant on the oil sector. The state sector is weak because the economy is weighed down by price controls and subsidies. This undermines potential for private sector-led growth. Informal market activity flourishes, resulting in widespread corruption and shortages of goods. President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad has tried to propose reforms such as fuel rationing (June 2007) and the imposition of the Value-Added Tax (October 2008) but both reforms caused violent protests. High oil prices in recent years allowed the oil market to flourish, but with oil prices falling off the Iranian government is facing some problems. Double digit unemployment (at 12.5%, according to the Iranian government, in 2008) and inflation (at 28% as of 2008) has caused the educated youth to consider moving out of the country for better economic opportunity. The major industries are petroleum, petrochemicals, fertilizers, caustic soda, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and production of vegetable oil), ferrous and non-ferrous metal fabrication, and armaments.
All Iranian men must serve at least 18 months in the military. At age 15 men can serve in the Basij Forces and at 17 the can work in Law Enforcement. At 16 years of age a man can volunteer for the army. If by 19 you haven’t started your obligatory service you will be called for compulsory military service.
Internationally, Iran faces problems with human and illicit drug trafficking. Iran serves as a source, transit and destination for such atrocities. Women are sold for sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude while children are sold into marriage or slavery. Iran has yet to ratify the 2000 UN TIP Protocol to prevent human trafficking. Meanwhile, Iran remains one of the primary shipment routes for Southwest Asian heroin to Europe despite efforts to share counter-drug intelligence with neighboring countries. The area has one of the highest opiate addiction rates and an increasing problem with synthetic drugs.
Iran’s international disputes often involve water boundaries and the sharing of resources. Iran wants Afghanistan to share the water from the dammed tributaries to the Helmand River in periods of drought. Iraq’s lack of maritime boundary with Iran starts arguments over jurisdiction beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf. Iran also insists upon a division of the Caspian Sea into five equal sectors.
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