See also: List of Iran-related topics, Aryans.
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. It is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz. The Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline.
The history of Iran, which was commonly known until the mid-20th century as Persia in the Western world, is intertwined with the history of a larger region, also to an extent known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Steppe in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in the south.
Home to one of the Cradles of Civilization, the Middle East—interchangeable with the Near East—has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations. This history started from the earliest human settlements, continuing through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires through to the nation-states of the Middle East today.
Ajam is an Arabic word meaning mute, which today refers to someone whose mother tongue is not Arabic. During the Arab conquest of Persia, the term became a racial pejorative. In many languages — including Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Hindi, Kurdish, Gujarati, Malay, Punjabi, and Swahili — Ajam and Ajami refer to Iran and Iranians respectively.
A Persianate society is a society that is based on or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art and/or identity.
The culture of Iran or culture of Persia is among the most influential in the world. Iran, also known as Persia, is widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization. Due to its dominant geopolitical position in the world, it has heavily influenced peoples and cultures situated as far away as Southern Europe and Eastern Europe to the west; Central Asia to the north; the Arabian Peninsula to the south; and South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia to the east. Iranian history has had a significant impact on the world through art, architecture, poetry, science and technology, medicine, philosophy, and engineering.
The Persian Gulf naming dispute is concerned with the name of the body of water known historically and internationally as the Persian Gulf, after Persia. This name has become contested by some Arab countries since the 1960s in connection with the emergence of pan-Arabism and Arab nationalism, resulting in the invention of the toponym "Arabian Gulf" as well as the "Gulf", which are terms used in some Arab countries.
Derafsh Kaviani was the royal standard (vexilloid) of Iran (Persia) used since ancient times until the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The banner was also sometimes called the "Standard of Jamshid", the "Standard of Fereydun" and the "Royal Standard".
The Persian Corridor was a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II. Of the 17.5 million long tons of U.S. Lend-Lease aid provided to Russia, 7.9 million long tons (45%) were sent through Iran.
In the Western world, Persia was historically the common name used for Iran. On the Nowruz of 1935, Reza Shah officially asked foreign delegates to use the Persian term Iran, the endonym of the country, in formal correspondence. Subsequently, the common adjective for citizens of Iran changed from Persian to Iranian. In 1959, the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Reza Shah's son, announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" can be used interchangeably, in formal correspondence. However, the issue is still debated among Iranians.
Greater Iran refers to a region covering parts of Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Xinjiang, and the Caucasus, where both Iranian culture and Iranian languages have had a significant presence and impact. Historically, this was a region long-ruled by the dynasties of various Iranian empires, under whose rule the local populace incorporated considerable aspects of Persian culture through extensive inter-contact, or alternatively where sufficient Iranian peoples settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures; it roughly corresponds geographically to the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains. The Encyclopædia Iranica uses the term Iranian Cultural Continent to describe this region.
The military history of Iran has been relatively well-documented, with thousands of years' worth of recorded history. Largely credited to its historically unchanged geographical and geopolitical condition, the modern-day Islamic Republic of Iran has had a long and checkered military culture and history; ranging from triumphant and unchallenged ancient military supremacy, affording effective superpower status for its time; to a series of near-catastrophic defeats at the hands of previously subdued and conquered peripheral nations, most notably including the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon as well as the Asiatic nomadic tribes at the northeastern boundary of the lands traditionally home to the Iranian peoples.
Anti-Iranian sentiment, also known as Anti-Persian sentiment, Persophobia, or Iranophobia, is feelings and expression of hostility, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice towards Iran and its culture and towards persons based on their association with Iran and Iranian culture. Its opposite is Persophilia.
The Persian Gulf Command was a United States Army service command established in December 1943 to facilitate the supply of US lend-lease war material to the Soviet Union, through the "Persian Corridor".
Persia and Georgia have had relations for thousands of years. Eastern and Southern Georgia had been under intermittent Persian suzerainty for many centuries up to the early course of the 19th century, while western Georgia had been under its suzerainty for much shorter periods of time throughout history. Georgia especially rose to importance from the time of the Persian Safavids.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Iran:
Iran–Iraq relations are the diplomatic and foreign relations between the two sovereign states of Iran and Iraq.
The Ottoman–Persian Wars or Ottoman–Iranian Wars were a series a wars between Ottoman Empire and the Safavid, Afsharid, Zand, and Qajar dynasties of Iran (Persia) through the 16th–19th centuries. The Ottomans consolidated their control of what is today Turkey in the 15th century, and gradually came into conflict with the emerging neighboring Iranian state, led by Ismail I of the Safavid dynasty. The two states were arch rivals, and were also divided by religious grounds, the Ottomans being staunchly Sunni and the Safavids being Shia. A series of military conflicts ensued for centuries during which the two empires competed for control over eastern Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Iraq.
The Imperial State of Iran was the official name of Iran under rule of the Pahlavi dynasty.
