Iran

Iran is one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations, and the people within present-day Iran are the descendants of many of the world's oldest known civilizations. The history of people in Iran covers over six thousand years, and throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia. Iran is a founding member of the United Nations, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran is significant in international politics on account of its large supply of petroleum and regional influence.

Capital City:  Tehran

Official Language: Persian

Religion: Shī‘a Islam, also Shi‘ite Islam or Shi‘ism is the second largest denomination of the Islamic faith after Sunni Islam.

Currency: Rial

Population: 70,049,2623  2006 Census

Food: The cuisine of Iran is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, as well as culinary traditions and styles, distinct to their regions. It includes a wide variety of foods ranging from chelow kabab (barg, koobideh, joojeh, shishleek, soltani, chenjeh), khoresht (stew that is served with white Basmati or Persian rice: ghormeh sabzi, gheimeh, and others), aash (a thick soup), kookoo (meat and/or vegetable pies), polow (white rice alone or with addition of meat and/or vegetables and herbs, including loobia polow, albaloo polow, zereshk polow, and others), and a diverse variety of salads, pastries, and drinks specific to different parts of Iran. The list of Persian recipes, appetizers and desserts is extensive.
Herbs are used a lot, as is fruit from plums and pomegranates to quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. The main Persian cuisines are combinations of rice with meat, chicken or fish and plenty of garlic, onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, unique Persian spices such as saffron, diced limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.
Iranian cuisine, apart from its antiquity in the region, has also been a very influential and standard set of fare throughout neighboring countries. Afghanistan, the south-Central Asian states, and the cuisines of North India and Pakistan derive heavily in part from the cuisine of Iran.

Sport:  With two thirds of Iran's population under the age of 25, sports constitutes a highly active portion of Iran's society, both traditional and modern. Iran hence was the birthplace of sports such as Polo, Backgammon, .  Tehran was futhermore the first city in the Middle East to host the Asian Games in 1974.

Clothes/Dress:  Iran does not have an official national dress