Climate

Iran has a variable climate. In the northwest, winters are cold with heavy snowfall and subfreezing temperatures during December and January. Spring and fall are relatively mild, while summers are dry and hot. In the south, winters are mild and the summers are very hot, having average daily temperatures in July exceeding 38 °C (100 °F). On the Khuzestan Plain, summer heat is accompanied by high humidity.

In general, Iran has an arid climate in which most of the relatively scant annual precipitation falls from October through April. In most of the country, yearly precipitation averages 25 centimeters or less. The major exceptions are the higher mountain valleys of the Zagros and the Caspian coastal plain, where precipitation averages at least 50 centimeters annually. In the western part of the Caspian, rainfall exceeds 100 centimeters annually and is distributed relatively evenly throughout the year. This contrasts with some basins of the Central Plateau that receive ten centimeters or less of precipitation annually.

Rug

Rug is the most important Non-oil export product of Iran. Tabriz is the number one center for production of the famous Iranian Rugs. Nowaday Tabrizian carpets are the most wanted in world markets, having many customers in western countries from Europe to California. Tabrizian rugs and carpets usually have ivory backgrounds with blue, rose, and indigo motifs. Rugs and carpets often have very symmetrical and balanced designs. They usually have a single medallion that is surrounded with vines and palmettos and are of excellent quality. Tabrizian modern rugs are in many different designs and colors.

One of the main quality characteristics of Tabriz Rugs are the way of weaving, using special ties that guaranties the durability of the rug in comparison for example with Kashan Rugs.

Iran or Persia?

The first version of the name “Iran” appears in Aweście, where he talks about Aryan – [country] Ariów. Her średnioperską form was used by Sasanidów determination Ērānšahr – the country Ariów. Nevertheless, in European languages up to the twentieth century to describe Iran’s commonly used name Persia, and not Iran. The name Persia comes from the name of the people forming part of the peoples of Iran arrived in the territory of today’s Iran as the second millennium BC Persians for the first time were these inscriptions from Assyria in 843 BC Used in the name Parsuaš, which is equivalent to staroperskiego Pārsva-. The names of Persia was used initially in relation to the resident by the Persians, which is a relatively small country rządzonego by subordinates Medii Achemenidów, when the latter, however, mastered the empire created by the Medes, the Greeks began to be used in relation to the whole country created by the Medes and Persians. From the name of Persia entered the European languages. Meanwhile, the Iranians have still used the expression Persia only in the narrowest sense – hence today ostane Fars, whose name derives from the ancient. In 1935 Reza Szah Pahlawi asked to use the name of Iran and the diplomacy of foreign states. Initially, in the West for his new country adopted the name of that with some surprise, but today it is increasingly used worldwide, though the determination of Persia is still used as a synonym convenient, especially for earlier periods of the history of Iran.

Today

In June 2005 presidential elections showed that the influence of religious fundamentalists in the society are still high, a liberal environment can enjoy popular only in narrow elitach some cities. For the majority of the important than the role of religion in public life and civil liberties has to address issues of general interest, as promised fundamentalists.

The main challenges faced by Iran, is the solution to economic problems, the fight against unemployment, and foreign-policy solution to the problem of nuclear energy, which the survey conducted by Iran raises the most controversy. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran aims to build nuclear weapons and already has a sufficient quantity of rozczepialnych to create an atomic cargo [1]. Iranian authorities deny that doniesieniom and argue that it is a peaceful use of nuclear energy. The scandal in the world, and even Iran have raised in the speech of President Ahmadinejad, questioning the Holocaust, possibly by suggesting the transfer of the State of Israel to Europe, as compensation for crimes perpetrated on the Jews. You can see a reference to the famous slogan “the Holocaust industry” and for President Ahmadinejad is incomprehensible that the crimes with which the Germans and Austrians are supposedly offset the expense of Muslim Palestinians.

In recent months we have given to the characters disputes in the camp of Islamic fundamentalists. Despite that, as it seemed, the president and parliamentary majority will come from one policy option, during a parliamentary vote of confidence in the votum for Madżles government refused to approve three ministers.

Kitchen

In each city you will find Kababis, especially one that is different kebabs in supply. Kebabs are served as a skewer, there is a portion of rice. Also found in many cities, restaurants, an Iranian version of pizza in the offer, and many of booths, which sell sandwiches or hamburgers. In the teahouses can be next to tea and hookah also often a Dizi order, a kind of soup with vegetables, along with the bread is eaten. To know each other dishes, you must usually be someone at home are invited. The breakfast often consists of bread with cheese, honey or jam. The bread can be divided into different types divide. For example, one of the best Sangak, which is crisp, fresh and very warm is consumed.

Early history (3200 BC–625 BC)

Dozens of pre-historic sites across the Iranian plateau point to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the fourth millennium BC, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia. Proto-Iranians first emerged following the separation of Indo-Iranians, and are traced to the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex.Aryan, (Proto-Iranian) tribes arrived in the Iranian plateau in the third and second millennium BC, probably in more than one wave of emigration, and settled as nomads. Further separation of Proto-Iranians into “Eastern” and “Western” groups occurred due to migration. By the first millennium BC, Medes, Persians, Bactrians and Parthians populated the western part, while Cimmerians, Sarmatians and Alans populated the steppes north of the Black Sea.

Other tribes began to settle on the eastern edge, as far as on the mountainous frontier of north-western Indian subcontinent and into the area which is now Balochistan. Others, such as the Scythian tribes spread as far west as the Balkans and as far east as Xinjiang. Avestan is an eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta in c. 1000 BC.

Etymology

The term Iran (ایران) in modern Persian derives from the Proto-Iranian term Aryānām first attested in Zoroastrianism’s Avesta tradition.^[18] Ariya- and Airiia- are also attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions. The term Ērān from Middle Persian Ērān, Pahlavi ʼyrʼn, is found at the inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rustam.^[19] In this inscription, the king’s appellation in Middle Persian contains the term ērān (Pahlavi: ʼryʼn), while in the Parthian language inscription that accompanies it, Iran is mentioned as aryān. In Ardashir’s time ērān retained this meaning, denoting the people rather than the state.

Notwithstanding this inscriptional use of ērān to refer to the Iranian peoples, the use of ērān to refer to the geographical empire is also attested in the early Sassanid period. An inscription of Shapur I, Ardashir’s son and immediate successor, apparently “includes in Ērān regions such as Armenia and the Caucasus which were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians.”^[20] In Kartir’s inscriptions the high priest includes the same regions in his list of provinces of the antonymic Anērān.^[20] Both ērān and aryān comes from the Proto-Iranian term Aryānām, (Land) of the (Iranian) Aryas. The word and concept of Airyanem Vaejah is present in the name of the country Iran (Lit. Land of the Aryans) inasmuch as Iran (Ērān) is the modern Persian form of the word Aryānā.

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the official name of the country has been the “Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In the outside world the official name of Iran from 6th century BC until 1935 was Persia or similar names (La Perse, Das Persien, Perzie, etc.). In that year Reza Shah asked the international community to call the country by the name “Iran”. A few years later some Persian scholars protested to the government that changing the name had separated the country from its past, so in 1959 Mohammad Reza Shah announced that both terms could officially be used interchangeably. Now both terms are common, but “Iran” is used mostly in the modern political context and “Persia” in a cultural and historical context.

When to Go

Generally the best times to visit Iran are mid-April to early June, and late September to early November – these times avoid the long, cold northern winter, the Iranian New Year (late March) and the summer, which can be unpleasantly hot in much of the country. And if the heat doesn’t keep you away, take note that prices along the Caspian coast can quadruple during summer whereas great bargains can be found come wintertime. Many people prefer not to visit Iran during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, but apart from most restaurants closing between dawn and dusk, Ramadan is not that bad for travelling.

Tehran

Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province.

Most Iranian industries are headquartered in Tehran. The industries include the manufacturing of automobiles, electronics and electrical equipment, military weaponry, textiles, sugar, cement, and chemical products. It is also a leading center for the sale of carpets and furniture. There is also an oil refinery located in south of the city.^[3]

Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Alborz mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia. It is also the hub of the country’s railway network. Although a relatively new city that does not evoke the history of other Iranian cities such as Isfahan, Shiraz, or Tabriz, Tehran has numerous large museums, art centers, palace complexes and cultural centers.

In the 20th century, Tehran faced a large migration of people from all around Iran. Today, the city contains a mix of various ethnic and religious minorities, and is filled with many historic mosques, churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian fire temples.

Iran

Iran, , formerly known internationally as Persia until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia. Iran is bounded by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south and the Caspian Sea to its north. Shi’a Islam is the official religion, and Persian is the official language.^[4] The 18th largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km², Iran has a population of over seventy million. Iran borders Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and Turkey and Iraq to the west. Being a littoral state of the Caspian sea (an internal sea and condominium), also Kazakhstan and Russia are Iran’s direct neighbors.

Persia/Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical and urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC.^[5][6][7] Throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and is a regional power.^[8][9] Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC, and OPEC. The political system of Iran, based on the 1979 Constitution, comprises several intricately connected governing bodies. The highest state authority is the Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran occupies an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan, and means “Land of the Aryans“.