Meet Iran

Mountains, beaches, deserts, and history stretching back thousands of years.

From snowy mountains to rainbow islands, Iran’s landscapes and culture may surprise many Americans. The image that usually comes to mind for Iran is a vast desert — hot, dry, and barren.

And it’s true that Iran is home to one of the most extreme deserts on Earth. The Lut Desert, in southeastern Iran, has recorded some of the highest surface temperatures ever measured on the planet. But that’s just a small fraction of the country, about 10% of Iran’s land mass. While it’s certainly an arid place overall, it’s geography is impressively diverse.

Iran is a vast country with four distinct seasons, snow-covered mountains, lush forests, warm beaches, and a history stretching back thousands of years. In winter, skiers carve down slopes in the Alborz Mountains, where peaks rise more than 16,000 feet above sea level. Just a short flight away, the islands of the Persian Gulf offer warm water, fishing, diving, and sandy beaches.

In the north, a narrow band of fertile land along the Caspian Sea supports forests and farmland that feel worlds away from the country’s deserts. Through the center of the country stretches a high plateau ringed by mountain ranges — landscapes that have shaped travel, trade, and settlement for millennia.

The First World Empire

Iran’s cultural history runs just as deep. Long before modern nations took shape, this region was the heart of the Persian Empire, which once stretched from Greece to India. Founded by Cyrus the Great around 550 BCE, its ceremonial capital, Persepolis, was famously burned to the ground by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. Today, the stone columns and carved reliefs of its ruins offer a glimpse into one of the world’s earliest global civilizations.

Centuries later, cities like Isfahan became renowned for their architecture and public spaces. At the center of the city lies Naqsh-e-Jahan Square, one of the largest public squares in the world, surrounded by mosques famous for their intricate blue tilework.

Visitors and travelers often remark on something else as well: the warmth of Iranian hospitality. Persian culture places a strong emphasis on family life, generosity toward guests, and gathering around shared meals — traditions that have endured for centuries.

For many Americans, Iran remains a place we know mostly through headlines. But beyond the politics of any moment lies a country of dramatic landscapes, ancient cities, and everyday traditions that have connected people for thousands of years.

Fun Facts About Iran

1. The Lut Desert is one of the hottest places on Earth; NASA has recorded some of the highest surface temperatures on the planet, reaching over 158°F.
2. Iran holds the 10th-highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world.
3. Iran is the undisputed global leader in the production of saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, supplying 90% of the world market.
4. Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf is famous for its multi-colored soil, the result of mineral compounds that create landscapes of vivid reds, yellows, oranges, and purples. A geological wonder known as “Rainbow Valley.”
5. Iran’s population is close to 80 million people, making it the 18^th most populous countries in the world (somewhere between Vietnam and Turkey.
6. The people of Iran are not Arabs, they are Persian and their language, Farsi, belongs to the Indo-European branch, more closely related to English than Arabic (a Semitic language).
7. In Iranian culture, a thumbs-up gesture can be considered offensive — similar to giving someone the middle finger.
8. Persian engineers were building underground water systems 500 years before Rome existed.
9. Persian astronomers built advanced observatories and star charts while much of medieval Europe still relied on ancient Greek astronomy.
10. The Persian Empire created one of the world’s first postal systems more than 2,500 years ago.
11.  The large seedless limes most Americans buy at the grocery store today are called Persian limes, a nod to the region’s long history of cultivating citrus fruits.
12. The name Iran means “Land of the Aryans” which was an indigenous term from ancient sacred writings.

Roots in the Region

The Iranian community has a surprisingly long history in this area. The first Persian immigrants were merchants, diplomats, and intellectuals who began arriving in the late 1800s, though their numbers were small.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Iranian students became one of the largest international groups at American universities, and many studied at Philadelphia institutions such as Penn, Drexel, and Temple. Some returned home after completing their degrees, but many stayed.

Over the decades, those students and their families helped strengthen Philadelphia’s reputation as a center for medicine, engineering, research, and business, while also sharing Persian traditions, cuisine, and celebrations like Nowruz, the Persian New Year that arrives with the spring equinox.

Today, online groups like the Philadelphia Persian Society seek to promote a greater sense of culture among Persian-Americans in the Delaware Valley, while a non-partisan, multi-faith coalition of Iranians and allies advocate for peace and human rights through PhillyIranians.org. Learn more about the Persian culture via the Iranian Cultural Society of America at shabahang.org.

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