Where is Iran?

About Map: The map shows where Iran is located on the world map. Iran is in Western Asia, bordered by the Caspian Sea to the north, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south, and surrounded by several neighbouring countries including Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Where is Tehran Located

Where is Iran Located?

As Iran location map shows that Iran is located in western Asia. Country’s name Iran is quite old and has been in use since the Sassanian era natively. However, the country was known to world by the name of Persia until 1935; but from the year 1935 the name Iran has internationally recognized. This is the reason that even in this modern era both names are used interchangeably.

Geographically, Iran is part of the Middle East and occupies a strategic position in Western Asia. As shown on the map, it shares borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan to the north; Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east; Turkey to the northwest; and Iraq to the west. The country is bordered by the Caspian Sea to the north and the Persian Gulf to the southwest, giving it an important coastline. Due to its varied terrain, Iran’s climate ranges from arid and semi-arid to subtropical in some regions.

Iran is a founding member of many international organizations including the UN, OPEC, NAM, and OIC. Iran is always remains in news because of regional power that she holds and hence it has an important position in international energy security and world. Above all, it has huge reserves of petroleum and natural gas.

The government type of Iran is Islamic Republic and it is based upon the 1979 constitution it consists of several intricately inter-related governing bodies. However, the highest state authority is the Supreme Leader. Country’s official religion is Shia Islam and Persian is the official language.

Provinces of Iran

Iran has been divided into 31 provinces. This is list of provinces Iran with their capitals, population and area in square kilometers.

Province	Capital	Population	Pop. density (/km2)	Area (km2)
Alborz	Karaj	2,712,400	465.01	5,833
Ardabil	Ardabil	1,270,420	71.37	17,800
Azerbaijan, East	Tabriz	3,909,652	85.64	45,650
Azerbaijan, West	Urmia	3,265,219	87.22	37,437
Bushehr	Bushehr	1,163,400	51.15	22,743
Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari	Shahrekord	947,763	58.03	16,332
Fars	Shiraz	4,851,274	39.57	122,608
Gilan	Rasht	2,530,696	180.22	14,042
Golestan	Gorgan	1,868,819	92.53	20,195
Hamadan	Hamadan	1,738,234	90.78	19,368
Hormozgan	Bandar Abbas	1,776,415	25.14	70,669
Ilam	Ilam	580,158	28.82	20,133
Isfahan	Isfahan	5,120,850	47.85	107,029
Kerman	Kerman	3,164,718	17.27	183,285
Kermanshah	Kermanshah	1,952,434	78.1	24,998
Khorasan, North	Bojnourd	863,092	30.35	28,434
Khorasan, Razavi	Mashhad	6,434,501	54.12	118,884
Khorasan, South	Birjand	768,898	5.06	151,913
Khuzestan	Ahvaz	4,710,509	73.54	64,055
Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad	Yasuj	713,052	45.99	15,504
Kurdistan	Sanandaj	1,603,011	55.02	29,137
Lorestan	Khorramabad	1,760,649	62.23	28,294
Markazi	Arak	1,429,475	49.07	29,130
Mazandaran	Sari	3,283,582	138.54	23,701
Qazvin	Qazvin	1,273,761	81.92	15,549
Qom	Qom	1,292,283	112.12	11,526
Semnan	Semnan	702,360	7.2	97,491
Sistan and Baluchestan	Zahedan	2,775,014	15.35	180,726
Tehran	Tehran	13,267,637	705.2	18,814
Yazd	Yazd	1,138,533	14.89	76,469
Zanjan	Zanjan	1,057,461	48.57	21,773

Iran Country Facts

Continent	Asia (Western Asia)
Coordinates	32.4279° N, 53.6880° E
Capital	Tehran
Largest City	Tehran
Administrative Divisions	31 Provinces
Official Language	Persian (Farsi)
Recognized Regional Languages	Azeri, Kurdish, Arabic, Balochi, Turkmen and others
Major Ethnic Groups	Persian, Azeri, Kurdish, Lur, Arab, Baloch, Turkmen
Official Religion	Shia Islam
Demonym	Iranian
Government	Unitary Islamic Republic
Total Area	1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi) - 17th Largest Country
Water Area (%)	1.63%
Population (2024)	90,608,707 (United Nations World Population Prospects 2024)
Population Density	Approximately 55 per km2
GDP (PPP, 2023 est.)	Approx. $1.72 trillion
GDP (Nominal, 2023 est.)	Approx. $404 billion
HDI (2022)	0.780 - High Human Development
Currency	Iranian Rial (IRR)
Time Zone	UTC+3:30 (Iran Standard Time)
Calling Code	+98
ISO Code	IR
Primary International Airport	Imam Khomeini International Airport (Tehran)
Major Rivers	Karun River, Karkheh River
Highest Point	Mount Damavand - 5,610 m
Internet TLD	.ir
Official Website	https://irangov.ir/en

List of 20 Largest Cities in Iran

Rank	Name	Province	Pop. (2016 Census)
1	Tehran	Tehran	8,693,706
2	Mashhad	Razavi Khorasan	3,001,184
3	Isfahan	Isfahan	1,961,260
4	Karaj	Alborz	1,592,492
5	Shiraz	Fars	1,565,572
6	Tabriz	East Azarbaijan	1,558,693
7	Qom	Qom	1,201,158
8	Ahvaz	Khuzestan	1,184,788
9	Kermanshah	Kermanshah	946,651
10	Urmia	West Azarbaijan	736,224
11	Rasht	Gilan	679,995
12	Zahedan	Sistan and Baluchestan	587,730
13	Hamadan	Hamadan	554,406
14	Kerman	Kerman	537,718
15	Yazd	Yazd	529,673
16	Ardabil	Ardabil	529,374
17	Bandar Abbas	Hormozgan	526,648
18	Arak	Markazi	520,944
19	Eslamshahr	Tehran	448,129
20	Zanjan	Zanjan	430,871

Distance from Tehran to Major Cities in the Middle East

The following list shows approximate straight-line (air) distances from Tehran to important cities across the Middle East region.

• Abu Dhabi, UAE – 1,250 km (776 miles)
• Amman, Jordan – 1,600 km (994 miles)
• Ankara, Turkey – 1,700 km (1,056 miles)
• Baghdad, Iraq – 695 km (432 miles)
• Baku, Azerbaijan – 537 km (334 miles)
• Beirut, Lebanon – 1,450 km (901 miles)
• Basra, Iraq – 865 km (537 miles)
• Damascus, Syria – 1,350 km (839 miles)
• Doha, Qatar – 1,120 km (696 miles)
• Dubai, UAE – 1,200 km (746 miles)
• Istanbul, Turkey – 2,040 km (1,267 miles)
• Jerusalem, Israel – 1,580 km (982 miles)
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – 1,950 km (1,212 miles)
• Kuwait City, Kuwait – 780 km (485 miles)
• Manama, Bahrain – 1,050 km (652 miles)
• Muscat, Oman – 1,460 km (907 miles)
• Nicosia, Cyprus – 1,600 km (994 miles)
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – 1,300 km (808 miles)
• Sana’a, Yemen – 2,200 km (1,367 miles)
• Tbilisi, Georgia – 890 km (553 miles)
• Yerevan, Armenia – 790 km (491 miles)