He said “we do not yet know what we liked more: the Iranian people or the Iranian cultural heritage. ”

INFORMATION &HISTORY

Since 1935, “Persia” and “Iran” have been used interchangeably in cultural context, however, Iran is the name used officially in political context. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan, and means “Land of the Aryans’’

Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations with historical and urban settlements dating back to 7000 BC.

Iran is a southwest Asian country of mountains and deserts. Eastern Iran is dominated by a high plateau, with large salt flats and vast sand deserts. The plateau is surrounded by even higher mountains, including the Zagros to the west and the Elburz to the north. Farming and settlement are largely concentrated in the narrow plains or valleys in the west or north, where there is more rainfall. Iran’s huge oil reserves lie in the southwest, along the Persian Gulf.