Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly known internationally as Persia, is a Southwest Asian country located in the geographical territories of the Middle East and Southern Asia.

Iran as a land and a nation has one of the oldest histories in the world, extending nearly 6,000 years,[citation needed] and throughout history, Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia. Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran is a regional power in Southwest Asia and occupies an important position in the world economy due to its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans".

Area
1,648,043 sq km (636,313 sq miles).

Population
66,479,838 (official estimate 2003).

Population Density
40.3 per sq km.

Capital
Tehran. Population: 7,038,000 (UN estimate, including suburbs, 2001).

Geography
Iran is located in the Middle East, bordered to the north by Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea, the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and the west by Iraq and Turkey. The centre and east of the country are largely barren undulating desert, punctured by qanats (irrigation canals) and green oases, but there are mountainous regions in the west along the Turkish and Iraqi borders and in the north where the Elburz Mountains rise steeply from a fertile belt around the Caspian Sea.