Country Analysis: Iran

Kate Sherd

Daniel Coffman

Geography

3/16/18 Country Analysis Paper: Iran

Introduction/ History:

Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations, with historical urban settlements dating back to 4000 BC. Iran used to be known as Persia until 1935 when it became known as the Islamic republic. Iran won its independence in April of 1979 following the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, led by Ayatollah Khomeini who was the founder of Iran as an Islamic Republic. He was an Iranian Shia Muslim (religious leader and politician). Following the revolution, he became the Supreme leader which he held until his death in 1989. More recently there has been tension over Iran’s nuclear plans.

With a GDP of $427.4 billion and a GDP per capita of $20,000. Iran is very dependent on their oil and gas exports, but possesses significant agricultural, industrial, and service sectors. They mainly export to Taiwan, China, South Korea, and India. They import a lot of stuff including: machinery, cereals, iron, steel, and chemicals. Iran founded the Economic Cooperation Organization(ECO) in 1985 in Tehran. The objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union. Iran has a 10 billion debt thought. With revenues of 77 billion. This graph shows the GDP growth rate of

The U.S. Defense Department’s annual review said, “Iran’s military doctrine is defensive. It is designed to defer an attack survive an initial attack, retaliate against an aggressor, and force a diplomatic solution to hostilities while avoiding any concessions that challenge its core interests.” Iran has about 500,000 people in its military, including many conscripts with limited training and some elite forces. Iran is developing more lethal systems such as more advanced naval mines, submarines, coastal defense and anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles and attack craft. The armed forces of Iran include the army (Artesh), the Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah) and law Enforcement Force (Police). All branches of the armed forces fall under the command of General Staff of Armed Forces. The Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics is responsible for planning logistics and funding of the armed