- published: 14 Apr 2011
- views: 4368
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
Little ditty 'bout Iraq & Iran
Two very ancient kingdoms growin' up near the Holy Land
Iraq it used to be a superpower
Known as Babylon, that's the scene of that big tower
Babylon was really strong but over time would taste defeat
Iran sittin' on the Iraqis' map
They had the Persians and the Medes
Iraqis they hated Iran but they were cut off in 539 B.C.
Babylon had fallen but what would Persia do about Greece
Say, uh
Oh, yeah, life goes on
Long after the threats of little nations
Oh, yeah, life goes on
Long after the best of civilizations
Are all gone
After this happened, the Greeks would fall to the Romans
Back in a hundred and forty-six B.C.
Well, then those Romans, they had a run of sitting pretty
That ended, badly, in the 5th Century
And as we said now
CHORUS
So when they talk about control
Look at Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome
No longer sitting as strong as they can
Change can come around real soon, make us little again
CHORUS
Little ditty 'bout Iraq & Iran
You American kids do your best to understand
Revelation 11:15