GEOGRAPHY

Location: Iran is located in the Middle East, between Turkey and Iraq on the west and Afghanistan and Pakistan on the east; it borders the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in the south and Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea, and Turkmenistan in the north.
Education and Training: The Government embarked on a comprehensive program to develop its human-resources capabilities, 15 years ago, which enabled Iran to increase enrollment ratios, extend educational opportunities to the poorest regions of the country, and reduce gender gaps in all levels of education. Also youth literacy rates increased from 86% to 94% over the same period, rising significantly for girls. Currently, women outnumber men at university (undergraduate) level by a factor of 2. Efforts are under way to reform the Technical and Vocational Training System. Quantitative improvements however outpaced improvements in quality of education which is currently the main item on the education policy concerns.

Religion: Shia Islam is the official religion of Iran (by the Constitution). At least 90% of Iranians are Shia Muslims, and about 8% are Sunni Muslims.

Other religions present in Iran are:

• Christianity (mainly Armenians and Assyrians, more than 300,000 followers),
• Baha’i faith (at least 250,000)
• Zoroastrianism (about 32,000)
• Judaism (about 30,000)

The constitution recognizes Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism as legitimate minority religions. The Baha’i faith is not recognized as a legitimate minority religion, and since 1979 Baha’is have experienced periodic bouts of persecution. Individuals of all religions are required to observe Islamic codes on dress and gender segregation in public. Individuals of minority religions are prohibited from serving in senior administrative positions in many government ministries.

Education:

• Primary education (between ages six and 10): compulsory.
• Secondary school attendance: not compulsory. Hence, enrollment rates are lower.

Primary, secondary, and higher education is free, although private schools and universities charge tuition. Minority religions except the Baha’i faith maintain private schools, but supervisors must be Muslim, and one hour per week of Islam is a required subject.

Largest and most prestigious public university: University of Tehran.
Largest private university: Islamic Free University.

POLITICS

Political System: The Islamic Repulic of Iran is a republic with nominal separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches.The senior figue in the system is the supreme leader. Leaders are elected by a majority vote of the Assembly of Experts, a body of senior clerygymen who are elected in national elections. The President is elected by the Assembly. The legal system is based on Islamic law.

Today, the Iran Goverment system combines elements elements of a modern Islamic theocracy with democracy. A network of unelected institutions controlled by the highly powerful conservative Supreme Leader is countered by a president and parliament elected by the people. For much of the last decade, Iranian politics has been characterised by continued wrangling between these elected and unelected institutions. But now all the organs of government are dominated by conservatives.

Periodic tension between the office of the Leader and the office of the president has often been the source of political instability. There are also deeper tensions between religious rule and the democratic aspirations of many Iranians.


Structure of Power in Iran


Source: BBC news

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Executive Branch: The leader, is elected by a majority vote of the Assembly of Experts, who evaluates the work of the leader in annual meetings, it can also dismiss the leader. Who is responsible for:

• choosing the commanders of the military services and the head of the judiciary;
• setting general state policy;
• declaring war and peace;
• commanding the armed forces (including control of intelligence and security agencies);
• initiating and supervising amendments to the constitution;
• supervising a variety of influential parastatal foundations and organizations;

The executive branch is headed by the president, who in practice is the second-highest government official. He is elected in national elections every four years and is limited to two consecutive terms. The constitution specifies that the president must be a Shia Muslim. The president selects several vice presidents (10 listed in 2008) and the 21 ministers who constitute his cabinet. Ministers but not vice presidents are subject to approval by parliament. The leader can dismiss a president if two-thirds of parliament votes to impeach him.

The relationship between the president and the leader, not well defined by the constitution, has varied with the individuals in power. The strong personality of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (president, 1989–97) made him the most authoritative person in the political system, and as leader Khamenei acquiesced to his policies. By contrast, the reluctance of Rafsanjani’s successor, Mohammad Khatami, to engage in confrontational politics enabled Khatami’s conservative opponents to advance the authority of the leader as superior to that of the president. In his early presidency, Ahmadinejad, whom Khamenei did not back in the first round of the 2005 presidential election, presented himself as a restorer of the revolutionary ideals of Ayatollah Khomeini, implicitly criticizing Khamenei and the other religious leaders of recent years.


Legislative Branch: The legislative branch consists of a parliament, or Majlis, and the Guardians Council. The Majlis comprises 290 deputies who are elected to four-year terms on the basis of universal suffrage. Five of these seats are reserved for special representatives of officially recognized religious minorities: two for Armenian Christians and one each for Assyrian Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

The Majlis may both propose and pass legislation, and the executive branch cannot dissolve it. Ministers of the cabinet can also present bills. All bills passed by the Majlis must be reviewed by the 12-member Guardians Council for consistency with the constitution and with Islamic principles.

Members of the Guardians Council must be lawyers, the leader and the Majlis each appoint six members. If the Guardians Council finds a bill compatible with the constitution and Islam, the bill becomes law.
In 1987, Khomeini resolved tension that had developed between the Majlis and the Guardians Council by establishing the Expediency Council to resolve disputes between the two. In practice, the Expediency Council has upheld some Guardians Council vetoes, overridden others, and sent back some vetoed legislation with instructions that the Majlis and Guardians Council work out acceptable compromises. This pattern continued in both the Rafsanjani and Khatami administrations.

Formal Name	Islamic Republic of Iran (Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran)
Short Name	Iran
Capital	Tehran
Major Cities	Mashhad, Esfahan, Tabriz, Karaj, Shiraz, Qom, and Ahvaz.

The flag, adopted after the 1978–79 Revolution, features three horizontal bars, green (on top), white, and red, representing, respectively, Islam, peace, and courage. The bars are divided by stylized script. The white bar features a centered, red, abstract representation of the name Allah in the shape of a tulip.










































SUPREME LEADER
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.



At the top of Iran's power structure is the Supreme Leader


PRESIDENT
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad



















The Constitution defines the President as the highest state authority after the Supreme Leader. The President is responsible for the implementation of the Constitution and for the exercise of executive powers, except for matters directly related to the Supreme Leader.