Bog 3: Iran Information

Blog 3: Iran General Information

Size: Iran is much bigger than I realized, even though much of its original land had been carved away during its 2000 year history of raids, massacres and destruction by Shah after Shah as well as German, Russian and British competition and lust for expanding and protecting their empires.  Iran currently is three times the size of France and has frontiers with Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbarjan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Caspian Sea.  Iran used to comprise most of the Middle East including Turkey, Syria, Israel, Oman and Saudia Arabia.  It now is surrounded by mountain ranges with a mostly desert plateau in the middle.  To my surprise in Tehran there is even an area not far away where you can ski!  On the last day of our trip we travel with our Iranian friends to this mountain side ski resort (Shemshrak) that looks like Whistler with its many condominiums. However, the donkeys carrying produce up the mountain side assure me I am not in British Columbia.

Population Language and Religion: The population is 78 million people. Its language is Farsi and its alphabet is based on Arabic script, reading from right to left, but is pronounced and read differently than Arabic.  Farsi has interacted and borrowed from other languages and ethnic groups such as Dravidian, Medes, Persians, Arabs, and Turks to become its own modified specialized language. To say someone is “Iranian” means people who live in Iran just like we use the term “American” for those who live in America. Like America this term means it consists of subgroups of people such as Persians, Turkmen, Arabs, Kurds with different faiths. 

Zoroastrian Lady

The dominant group is called Persians.  Its religion is 98% Shiite Muslims, with some Sunnis, Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews. Shia Islamic religion stemming from Zoroastrian has deeply influenced Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Family Dynamics: Current family size in Iran is 1-2 children, but our guide tells us that in the past year the Ayatollah has said they need to increase their birth rate. Apparently he is worried there will be too many old people and not enough people to care for them. Now people are required to pay for birth control whereas previously it was free.  Roughly 65-70% of Iranian people are under 35 years and of those, 35-40% are educated. Literacy has dramatically improved since the 1970s. Iran leads the world in the study of theological studies at universities.

Amin tells us there are more women in universities now than men and consequently there are now some efforts to curtail the enrollment of women. 



We read in the English version of the Financial Tribune that even though Iran educates women to much higher university levels than before, when they complete education their economic potential is often squandered.  Female participation in the labor force is at 13.3% while it is over 63.2% for men as of 2015-16. Figures by the  Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Affairs show more than 65.5% of educated Iranian women are jobless.  Wile gender inequality is a problem, the article I read indicates that more women believe men should be the main bread winners of the family while they should be the nurturers. I have talked about this with Amin who has only been married for 2 years. While he is very supportive of his wife’s career as either working in a tourist agency or polishing nails and selling beauty treatments he is convinced that women should not work when they have children as they are needed to provide the best parenting for children, as his mother has done.

According to the current constitution, The President is bound by the Ayatollah (Supreme Leader) until the re-emergence of the 12^th imam, or Mahdi,  The Supreme Leader is chosen for life by the Assembly of Theological Experts (whose members have been chosen for 7 year terms).  This is somewhat similar to the US President being bound by the Supreme Court (who also have life appointments) although the US constitution is not driven by religion or waiting for the 12^th imam.  The Council of Guardians of the Constitution is headed by the Supreme Leader who selects 6 voting members.  All members are from clerical backgrounds and there are no women.  This council undertakes to safeguard the Islamic state, the constitution and approve all parliamentary resolutions. The President of the republic is directly elected by all resident Iranians for a 4-year term, but stands for office only with the approval of the Council of Guardians.  After two successive terms in office he cannot offer himself for a third term, again similar to United States.

In June 2013, in a relatively smooth election (compared with Iran’s prior 2009 election) Iranians elected Hassan Rouhani as the new President of Islamic Republic who replaced Ahmadinejad. 


He is a cleric and supporter of working with the West but is challenged by the conservative-minded Parliament (majles). For the past few parliaments there have been several women elected and there are two Zoroastrian MPS, and 9 Iranian Christians. The current power lever now in Iranian politics is Ayatollah Khamenei who has the backing of the conservative  Revolutionary Guard.