Geography

Area–1,648,000km²

Half of Iran is covered in mountains and the rest is desert. There are two great deserts; Dasht-é Kavir in the east and Dasht-é Lut to the north-east. The highest mountain, Kuh-é Damavand (5171m), is found in the Elburz range in the north, the other major mountain range is the Zagros in the south. The mountains formed because the Arabian tectonic plate collided with the Eurasian plate.

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Weather

Summer
Winter

Iran is very dry. It has hot, dry summers and cold, dry winters. The lack of rain means that it doesn't feel so hot. The far north and north-west are the coolest arts of the country and have the most rain because of the mountains.

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People

Population

People (Ethnic Groups)

Religion

Most people live in the main cities (61% of the population) because most of the jobs are there.

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Local Traditions

In Iran thumps up is rude

You must be careful with your hands in Iran – presents are only given with the right hand.

A lot of people in Jordan are Muslim and so there are a lot of Muslim traditions, for example

• People do not eat pork
  
• People do not drink alcohol. If you are caught drinking alcohol you will be fined a lot of money and punished with 30 lashes.
  
• During Ramadan, a big Muslim festival, Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke between sunrise and sunset
  
• Muslims worship in a mosque, they do not wear shoes in the mosque

• Women wear a long dress and cover their hair
• Women sometimes go to school and work but usually only in the cities

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Language

The main language is Persian (Farsi). It looks and sounds very different to English.

= hello

= bicycle

=cat

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Food

The national dish of Iran is a thick soup called an Ash. There are lots of different types of Ash made of lots of different things, for example,

Ash-e Anar – pomegranate soup
Ash-e Mast – hot yogurt soup
Ash-e Reshteh – noodle soup
Ash-e Tarsh – dried fruit sour soup
Ash-e Gandam – Wheat Soup

Ash can be very simple to make but with some spices is delicious.

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Politics

President – Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD

Supreme religious leader – Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei

Iran has a government called the Majlis.

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