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Iran

Iran
Editorial visualThe Front

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country of roughly 92 million people in West Asia, with Tehran as its capital. A Twelver Shia Islamic theocracy since the 1979 revolution, it is Israel's principal state adversary and the patron of the regional "Axis of Resistance."

Iran is a major West Asian state of about 92 million people, with Tehran as its capital and largest city. Heir to the ancient Persian empires, it was a monarchy until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which established the present clerical system.

Iran is governed as an Islamic republic combining elected institutions—a president and parliament (Majlis)—with unelected clerical bodies headed by a Supreme Leader, the state's ultimate authority. The official religion is Twelver Shia Islam.

Iran has been Israel's foremost declared adversary for decades. It funds and arms the regional "Axis of Resistance," including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Iraqi and Syrian militias. The United States has designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is designated a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and others; Iran rejects these designations.

In June 2025 Iran and Israel fought the Twelve-Day War. A wider conflict erupted on 28 February 2026, when US and Israeli strikes reportedly killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; Mojtaba Khamenei was subsequently named his successor. A ceasefire was reached in early April 2026.

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