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Iran

Islamic republic in West Asia

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Profile

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in West Asia with Tehran as its capital and largest city. It is a unitary presidential Islamic republic with theocratic features. Masoud Pezeshkian is President.

It covers 1,648,195 square kilometres, the 17th largest country by area, and had an estimated 92,417,681 people in 2025. Persian is the official language, the currency is the rial, and about 99 per cent of the population is Muslim, mostly Shia. Persians form the largest ethnic group at 61 per cent, followed by Azerbaijanis at 16 per cent and Kurds at 10 per cent.

The legislature is the 290 member Islamic Consultative Assembly, or Majles. Iran is a founding member of the United Nations and has 30 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and its highest point is Mount Damavand at 5,610 metres. Its Human Development Index for 2023 was 0.799, ranked 75th. Iran features in Nation in Shorts coverage of West Asia diplomacy, oil and security.

Sources: Wikipedia, Iran.

Timeline

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11 November 2026 Treasury Secretary Bessent moved to military base after Iranian threats, New York Times reports The Treasury said Bessent will not be deterred, while Reuters said the severity of the threats was not immediately clear. 7

9 November 2026 G7 foreign ministers meet in Paris as Ukraine talks and Iran risk dominate agenda Europeans want a fair Ukraine settlement and restraint on Iran as Marco Rubio joins two days of talks. 6

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Iran war and global inflation 2 updates · latest 1d ago

Connections

World 2 Scott Bessent 1 Washington, D.C 1 US Department of the Treasury 1 The New York Times 1 G7 1