The West Asian Games (abbreviated as the WAG ) is a multi-sport event held among the athletes from West Asia .
75-650: The West Asian Games was first organised in Tehran , Iran and was considered as the first of its kind. The success of the Games led to the creation of the West Asian Games Federation (WAGF) and the intention of hosting the Games every four years. At present, the WAGF comprises 12 member countries, namely Bahrain , Iraq , Jordan , Kuwait , Lebanon , Oman , Palestine , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Syria ,
150-458: A neutral country , but Britain insisted that German engineers and technicians in Iran were spies with missions to sabotage British oil facilities in southwestern Iran. Britain demanded that Iran expel all German citizens, but Rezā Shāh refused, claiming this would adversely affect his development projects. Iran claimed to be a neutral country during the opening years of World War II. In April 1941,
225-624: A parliamentary constitutional monarchy where the Shah served as the head of state and the prime minister as its head of government. The National Consultative Assembly was the nation's unicameral parliament, from 1949 it became the lower house when the Senate was established as its upper house of the parliament. Under the Qajar dynasty the Persian character of Iran was not very explicit. Although
300-544: A crisis and the dissolution of parliament . Ahmad Shah Qajar and his entourage decided to leave Tehran and move the capital to another place, sparking fears of rebellion in other cities. During the Battle of Robat Karim , Iranian forces led by Heydar Latifiyan prevented the Russians from taking Tehran, despite the latter winning the battle. This also allowed government functions to be moved to Qom and then to Isfahan, while
375-692: A guest of Anwar Sadat . On his death, his son Reza Pahlavi , who was formally invested as Crown Prince on 26 October 1967, succeeded him as head of the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Pahlavi and his wife live in the United States in Potomac, Maryland , with three daughters. As of 2013, Reza Pahlavi established the National Council of Iran in Paris, which serves as a government in exile to reclaim
450-425: A substantial urban structure as a blessing, because it minimized the chances of resistance to his rule by the notables and by the general public. Moreover, he had to remain within close reach of Azerbaijan and Iran's integral northern and southern Caucasian territories —at that time not yet irrevocably lost per the treaties of Golestan and Turkmenchay to the neighboring Russian Empire —which would follow in
525-680: A vote of 79–12, who shortly after nationalized the British-owned oil industry (see Abadan Crisis ). Mossadegh was opposed by the Shah who feared a resulting oil embargo imposed by the West would leave Iran in economic ruin. The Shah fled Iran but returned when the United Kingdom and the United States staged a coup against Mossadegh in August 1953 (see 1953 Iranian coup d'état ). Mossadegh was then arrested by pro-Shah army forces. Following
600-611: A week of fighting. The invasion's strategic purpose was to secure a supply line to the USSR (later named the Persian Corridor ), secure the oil fields and Abadan Refinery (of the UK-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company ), and limit German influence in Iran. Following the invasion, on 16 September 1941 Reza Shah abdicated and was replaced by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , his 21-year-old son. During
675-731: Is home to diverse ethnic and linguistic groups from all over the country. The present-day dominant language of Tehran is the Tehrani variety of the Persian language , and the majority of people in Tehran identify themselves as Persians . However, before, the native language of the Tehran–Ray region was not Persian, which is linguistically Southwest Iranian and originates in Fars , but a now extinct Northwestern Iranian language . Iranian Azeris form
750-403: Is the capital and largest city of Iran. In addition to serving as the capital of Tehran province , the city is the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District . With a population of around 9.4 million in the city as of 2018, and 16.8 million in the metropolitan area, Tehran is the most populous city in Iran and Western Asia , the second-largest metropolitan area in
825-577: The Alborz mountains. In English, it is also spelt " Teheran ", with both variants being used in books since at least 1800, and "Teheran" being the dominant form from after WWII until shortly before the Islamic Revolution. Archaeological remains from the ancient city of Ray suggest that settlement in Tehran dates back over 6,000 years. Tehran is in the historical Media region of ( Old Persian : 𐎶𐎠𐎭 Māda ) in northwestern Iran. By
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#1732757580889900-673: The Allies reassured the Iranians that all foreign troops would leave by 2 March 1946. At the time, the Tudeh Party of Iran , a communist party that was already influential and had parliamentary representation, was becoming increasingly militant, especially in the North. This promoted actions from the side of the government, including attempts of the Iranian armed forces to restore order in
975-709: The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran . After Reza Shah was deposed, he was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , who became the last Shah of Iran . By 1953, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's rule became more autocratic and firmly aligned with the Western Bloc during the Cold War in the aftermath of the 1953 Iranian coup d'état , which was engineered by the United Kingdom and the United States . In correspondence with this reorientation of Iran's foreign policy,
1050-706: The Azadi Tower , a memorial built under the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1971 to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire , the Milad Tower , the world's sixth-tallest self-supporting tower , completed in 2007, another famous landmark in Tehran is the Tabiat Bridge , completed in 2014. Most of the population are Persian , with roughly 99% of them speaking
1125-546: The Golestan Palace , Tekye Dowlat , and Tupkhane Square , were replaced with modern buildings influenced by classical Iranian architecture, particularly the buildings of the National Bank , the police headquarters, the telegraph office, and the military academy. Changes to the urban fabric began with the street-widening act of 1933, which served as a framework for changes in all other cities. The Grand Bazaar
1200-538: The Imperial State of Persia until 1935, and commonly referred to as Pahlavi Iran , was the Iranian state under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty . The Pahlavi dynasty was created in 1925 and lasted until 1979, when it was ousted as part of the Islamic Revolution , which ended Iran's continuous monarchy and established the current Islamic Republic of Iran . The Pahlavis came to power in 1925 with
1275-517: The Middle East after Cairo , and the 24th most populous metropolitan area in the world. Greater Tehran includes several municipalities, including, Karaj , Andisheh , Eslamshahr , Pakdasht , Qods , and Shahriar . In the classical antiquity , part of the territory of present-day Tehran was occupied by Rhages (now Ray ), a prominent Median city almost entirely destroyed in the medieval Arab , Turkic , and Mongol invasions. Modern Ray
1350-779: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and invaded the Soviet Union , Iran's northern neighbor. The Soviets quickly allied themselves with the Allied countries and in July and August 1941 the British demanded that the Iranian government expel all Germans from Iran. Reza Shah refused to expel the Germans and on 25 August 1941, the British and Soviets launched a surprise invasion and Reza Shah's government quickly surrendered after less than
1425-615: The Mongol invasion . In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded Rhages, laid the city to ruins, and massacred many of its inhabitants. Others escaped to Tehran. In July 1404, Castilian ambassador Ruy González de Clavijo visited Tehran on a journey to Samarkand , the capital of Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur , the ruler of Iran at the time. He described it in his diary as an unwalled region. Italian traveler Pietro della Valle passed through Tehran overnight in 1618, and in his memoirs called
1500-514: The Persian language , alongside other ethnolinguistic groups in the city which became Persianized and assimilated. Tehran is served by Imam Khomeini International Airport , alongside the domestic Mehrabad Airport , a central railway station , Tehran Metro , a bus rapid transit system, trolleybuses , and a large network of highways . Plans to relocate the capital from Tehran to another area due to air pollution and earthquakes have not been approved so far. A 2016 survey of 230 cities across
1575-1233: The United Arab Emirates and Yemen . The West Asian Games is one of the five subregional Games of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The others are the Central Asian Games , the East Asian Youth Games , the South Asian Games , and the Southeast Asian Games . The fourth edition of the West Asian Games was scheduled to take place in Iran in 2014, but was then postponed to 2016. It was eventually cancelled after Iran moved its athletics region from West Asia to Central Asia in September 2015. Tehran Tehran ( / t ɛəˈr æ n , - ˈ r ɑː n , ˌ t eɪ -/ ; Persian : تهران Persian pronunciation: [tehˈɾɒːn] Tehrân )
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#17327575808891650-460: The University of Tehran , in many districts of Tehran across various socio-economic classes in proportion to population sizes of each district and socio-economic class, 63% of the people were born in Tehran, 98% knew Persian, 75% identified themselves as ethnic Persian, and 13% had some degree of proficiency in a European language. Tehran saw a drastic change in its ethnic-social composition in
1725-529: The " White Revolution ". But his socioeconomic advances increasingly irritated the clergy. Islamic leaders, particularly the exiled cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , were able to focus this discontent with an ideology tied to Islamic principles that called for the overthrow of the Shah and the return to Islamic traditions, called the Islamic revolution . The Pahlavi regime collapsed following widespread uprisings in 1978 and 1979. The Islamic Revolution dissolved
1800-1392: The 22 municipal districts, 20 are located in Tehran County 's Central District , while districts 1 and 20 are respectively located in the counties of Shemiranat and Ray . North : District 1: • Farmaniyeh • Evin • Darakeh • Zaferaniyeh • Mahmoodiyeh • Velenjak • Darband • Golabdarreh • Jamaran • Dezashib • Niavaran • Darabad • Tajrish • Gheytariyeh • Chizar • Ozgol • Aghdasiyeh • Elahieh • Jamshidiyeh • Saadabad • Kamraniyeh District 2: • Farahzad • Shahrara • Gisha • Punak-e Bahtari • Saadat Abad • Sadeghieh • Shahrak-e Gharb • Tarasht • Tohid District 3: • Darus • Davoodiyeh • Ekhtiariyeh • Golhak • Vanak • Jordan District 5: • Bolvar-e Ferdowsi • Jannat Abad • Ekbatan • Punak District 6: • Amir Abad • Arjantin • Yousef Abad • Park-e Laleh Imperial State of Iran The Imperial State of Iran , officially known in English as
1875-400: The 32nd capital of Persia . Large-scale construction works began in the 1920s, and Tehran became a destination for mass migrations from all over Iran since the 20th century. Tehran is home to many historical sites, including the royal complexes of Golestan , Sa'dabad , and Niavaran , where the last two dynasties of the former Imperial State of Iran were seated. Tehran's landmarks include
1950-463: The Iraqi air offensives on the capital. With most major powers backing Iraq at the time, economic isolation gave yet more reason for many inhabitants to leave the city (and the country). Having left all they had and having struggled to adapt to a new country and build a life, most of them never came back when the war was over. During the war, Tehran also received a great number of migrants from the west and
2025-645: The Northern provinces. While the Tudeh headquarters in Tehran were occupied and the Isfahan branch crushed, the Soviet troops present in the Northern parts of the country prevented the Iranian forces from entering. Thus, by November 1945 Azerbaijan had become an autonomous state helped by the Tudeh party. This pro-Soviet nominal-government fell by November 1946, after support from the United States for Iran to reclaim
2100-762: The SAVAK and replaced it with the SAVAMA . It was run after the revolution, according to U.S. sources and Iranian exile sources in the US and in Paris, by Gen. Hossein Fardoust , who was deputy chief of SAVAK under Mohammad Reza's reign, and a friend from boyhood of the deposed monarch. Mohammad Reza fled the country, seeking medical treatment in Egypt , Mexico, the United States, and Panama, and finally resettled with his family in Egypt as
2175-562: The Shah faced growing public discontent that culminated into a full-fledged popular revolutionary movement led by religious cleric Ruhollah Khomeini . Mohammed Reza Pahlavi went into exile with his family in January 1979, sparking a series of events that quickly led to the end of monarchy, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic on 31 March 1979. Following Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's death in 1980, his son, Reza Pahlavi , now leads
2250-922: The UK and the Soviet Union . Though many of his development projects required foreign technical expertise, he avoided awarding contracts to British and Soviet companies because of dissatisfaction during the Qajar Dynasty between Persia, the UK, and the Soviets. Although the UK, through its ownership of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company , controlled all of Iran's oil resources, Rezā Shāh preferred to obtain technical assistance from Germany, France, Italy and other European countries. This created problems for Iran after 1939, when Germany and Britain became enemies in World War II . Reza Shah proclaimed Iran as
2325-522: The ancient history of Iranian languages such as "Tirgan" theory and "Tahran" theory folk etymology . Another theory is that "Tehran" derives from Tiran/Tirgan, "the abode of Tir ", the Zoroastrian equivalent of Hermes . The ancient Parthian town of Tiran had a neighbour, Mehran ("abode of Mehr/Mithra", the Zoroastrian sun/justice angel). Both of these were mere villages in the suburbs of
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2400-571: The ascension to the throne of Reza Shah , a former brigadier-general of the Persian Cossack Brigade , and the overthrow of Ahmad Shah Qajar , the last Iranian ruler under the Qajar dynasty . Iran's Majlis , convening as a constituent assembly on 12 December 1925, deposed the young Ahmad Shah Qajar and declared Reza Shah as the new shah of the Imperial State of Persia. In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use
2475-544: The assistance of the UNHCR , but there are still sizable groups of Afghan and Iraqi refugees in Tehran who are reluctant to leave, being pessimistic about the situation in their own countries. Afghan refugees are mostly Dari -speaking Tajik and Hazara , speaking a variety of Persian, and Iraqi refugees are mainly Mesopotamian Arabic -speakers who are often of Iranian and Persian ethnic heritage. The majority of Tehranis are officially Twelver Shia Muslims , which has also been
2550-459: The capital of Iran in 1786. Agha Mohammad Khan's choice of his capital was based on a similar concern for the control of both northern and southern Iran. He was aware of the loyalties of the inhabitants of former capitals Isfahan and Shiraz to the Safavid and Zand dynasties respectively, and was wary of the power of the local notables in these cities. Thus, he probably viewed Tehran's lack of
2625-482: The city Taheran . English traveler Thomas Herbert entered Tehran in 1627, and mentioned it as Tyroan . Herbert stated that the city had about 3,000 houses. In the early 18th century, Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty ordered a palace and a government office built in Tehran, possibly to declare the city his capital; but he later moved his government to Shiraz . Eventually, Qajar king Agha Mohammad Khan chose Tehran as
2700-476: The city, from old to newly built centres, including mosques , churches , synagogues , and Zoroastrian fire temples . The city also has a very small third-generation Indian Sikh community with a local gurdwara that was visited by the Indian Prime Minister , Manmohan Singh in 2012. The metropolis of Tehran is divided into 22 municipal districts, each with its own administrative center. Of
2775-512: The clergy, who opposed his reforms, but the middle and upper-middle class of Iran liked what Rezā Shāh did. In 1935, Rezā Shāh issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term Iran in formal correspondence, in accordance with the fact that " Persia " was a term used by Western people for the country called "Iran" in Persian. His successor, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, announced in 1959 that both Persia and Iran were acceptable and could be used interchangeably. Reza Shah tried to avoid involvement with
2850-498: The country became an ally of the United States in order to act as a bulwark against Soviet ideological expansionism , and this gave the Shah the political capital to enact a hitherto unprecedented socio-economic program that would transform all aspects of Iranian life through the White Revolution . Consequently, Iran experienced prodigious success in all indicators, including literacy, health, and standard of living. By 1978,
2925-435: The country was referred to as Persia by westerners, and the dominant language in court and administration was Persian , the dichotomy between pure Persian and Turkic elements had remained obvious until 1925. The Pahlavi rule was instrumental in Iran's nationalisation in line with Persian culture and language which, among other ways, was achieved through the official ban on the use of minority languages such as Azerbaijani and
3000-629: The course of the 19th century. After 50 years of Qajar rule, the city still barely had more than 80,000 inhabitants. Up until the 1870s, Tehran consisted of a walled citadel, a roofed bazaar , and the three main neighborhoods of Udlajan , Chale-Meydan, and Sangelaj, where the majority resided. During the long reign of Naser al-Din Shah (1848-1896), Tehran witnessed Iran's first institute of higher learning , bank , railway line and museum. The city expanded rapidly through multiple development plans The first development plan of Tehran in 1855 emphasized traditional spatial structure. The second, under
3075-463: The early 1980s. After the political, social, and economic consequences of the 1979 Revolution and the years that followed, a number of Iranian citizens, mostly Tehranis, left Iran. The majority of Iranian emigrations have left for the United States , Germany , Sweden , and Canada . With the start of the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), the second wave of inhabitants fled the city, especially during
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3150-519: The endonym Iran instead of the exonym Persia when addressing the country in formal correspondence. Reza Shah, who proved unable to stop encroachments on Iranian sovereignty by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union , the Allies of World War II , had his position extremely weakened by a military coup, and was formally removed from power in 1941 by parliament while he was in France following
3225-585: The epics as the homeland of the protoplast Keyumars , the birthplace of King Manuchehr , the place where King Fereydun bound the dragon fiend Aždahāk (Bivarasp), and the place where Arash shot his arrow. In 641, during the reign of the Sasanian Empire , Yazdgerd III issued his last appeal to the nation from Rhages, before fleeing to Khorasan. Rhages was dominated by the Parthian House of Mihran , and Siyavakhsh —the son of Mehran ,
3300-457: The exiled family throne. In 1925, Reza Khan, a former Brigadier-General of the Persian Cossack Brigade , deposed the Qajar dynasty and declared himself king ( shah ), adopting the dynastic name of Pahlavi , which recalls the Middle Persian language of the Sasanian Empire . He had chosen the last name Pahlavi for himself in November 1919. By the mid-1930s, Reza Shah's strong secular rule caused dissatisfaction among some groups, particularly
3375-473: The face of Tehran and ambitious projects were planned for the following decades. To resolve the problem of social exclusion , the first comprehensive plan was approved in 1968. The consortium of Iranian architect Abd-ol-Aziz Farmanfarmaian and the American firm of Victor Gruen Associates identified the main problems blighting the city as high-density suburbs, air and water pollution, inefficient infrastructure, unemployment, and rural-urban migration. Eventually,
3450-406: The former throne after a potential overthrow of the current Islamic Republic government. However, in February 2019, Pahlavi launched an initiative called the Phoenix Project of Iran. According to the National Interest, this is "designed to bring the various strains of the opposition closer to a common vision for a post-clerical Iran." The political system of the Imperial State of Iran took place in
3525-409: The founding of the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great . The Shah's government suppressed its opponents with the help of Iran's security and intelligence secret police, SAVAK . Such opponents included leftists and Islamists. By the mid-1970s, relying on increased oil revenues, Mohammad Reza began a series of even more ambitious and bolder plans for the progress of his country and the march toward
3600-601: The globe by Mercer ranked Tehran 203rd for quality of life . According to the Global Destinations Cities Index in 2016, Tehran is among the top ten fastest growing destinations . In 2016, the Tehran City Council declared 6 October to be Tehran Day, celebrating the date in 1907 when the city officially became the capital of Iran. Various theories on the origin of the name Tehran have been put forward. Iranian linguist Ahmad Kasravi , in an article "Shemiran-Tehran", suggested that Tehran and Kehran mean "the warm place", and "Shemiran" means "the cool place". He listed cities with
3675-407: The great city of Ray/Rhages. Mehran still exists as a residential district in Greater Tehran, as well as Ray, which forms the southern suburbs of Tehran. The official City of Tehran website says that "Tehran" comes from the Persian words "Tah" meaning "end", or "bottom", and "Ran" meaning "[mountain] slope"—literally, the bottom of the mountain (ته کوه), referring to Tehran's position at the foot of
3750-402: The interest that Arabian Baghdad displayed in Rhages, the number of Arabs in the city remained insignificant and the population mainly consisted of Iranians of all classes. The Oghuz Turks invaded Rhages in 1035, and again in 1042, but the city was recovered under the Seljuks and the Khwarezmians . Medieval writer Najm od Din Razi declared the population of Rhages about 500,000 before
3825-463: The monarchy remained in Tehran. After World War I , the constituent assembly elected Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty as the new monarch, who immediately suspended the Baladie law of 1907, replacing the decentralized and autonomous city councils with centralist approaches to governance and planning. From the 1920s to the 1930s, under the rule of Reza Shah, the city was essentially rebuilt from scratch. Several old buildings, including parts of
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#17327575808893900-430: The oil concessions were later revoked. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi replaced his father on the throne on 16 September 1941. He wanted to continue the reform policies of his father, but a contest for control of the government soon erupted between him and an older professional politician, the nationalistic Mohammad Mosaddegh . In 1951, the Majlis (the Parliament of Iran ) named Mohammad Mossadegh as new prime minister by
3975-441: The overthrow of Mossadegh, Iran became steadfastly geopolitically aligned with the United States. During the presidential term of John F. Kennedy , the United States saw Iran as an important ally in the region due to perceiving it as a rare source of stability in the Middle East. On 12–16 October 1971, an elaborate set of celebrations and festivities for the 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire occurred in commemoration of
4050-452: The parliament passed a law on local governance known as the Baladie ( municipal law ), providing a detailed outline of issues such as the role of councils within the city, the members' qualifications, the election process, and the requirements to be entitled to vote. The then-Qajar monarch Mohammad Ali Shah abolished the constitution and bombarded the parliament with the help of the Russian-controlled Cossack Brigade on June 23, 1908. That
4125-468: The planning organization of Iran in 1948 resulted in the first socioeconomic development plan to cover from 1949 to 1955. These plans not only failed to slow the unbalanced growth of Tehran but with the 1962 land reforms that Reza Shah's son and successor Mohammad Reza Shah named the White Revolution , Tehran's chaotic growth was further accentuated. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Tehran developed rapidly under Mohammad Reza Shah. Modern buildings altered
4200-493: The regions that declared themselves autonomous. At the end of the war, Soviet troops remained in Iran and established two puppet states in north-western Iran, namely the People's Government of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Mahabad . This led to the Iran crisis of 1946 , one of the first confrontations of the Cold War , which ended after oil concessions were promised to the USSR and Soviet forces withdrew from Iran proper in May 1946. The two puppet states were soon overthrown and
4275-457: The rest of World War II, Iran became a major conduit for British and American aid to the Soviet Union and an avenue through which over 120,000 Polish refugees and Polish Armed Forces fled the Axis advance. At the 1943 Tehran Conference , the Allied "Big Three"— Joseph Stalin , Franklin D. Roosevelt , and Winston Churchill —issued the Tehran Declaration to guarantee the post-war independence and boundaries of Iran. On 13 September 1943
4350-428: The same base and suffix and studied the components of the word in ancient Iranian languages , and came to the conclusion that Tehran and Kehran meant the same thing in different Iranian language families, as the constant "t" and "k" are close to each other in such languages. He also provided evidence that cities named "Shemiran" were colder than those named "Tehran" or "Kehran". He considered other theories not considering
4425-423: The second-largest ethnic group of the city, comprising about 10-15% of the total population, while ethnic Mazanderanis are the third-largest, comprising about 5% of the total population. Tehran's other ethnic communities include Kurds , Armenians , Georgians , Bakhtyaris , Talysh , Baloch , Assyrians , Arabs , Jews , and Circassians . According to a 2010 census conducted by the Sociology Department of
4500-424: The son of Bahram Chobin —who resisted the seventh-century Muslim invasion of Iran . Because of this resistance, when the Arabs captured Rhages, they ordered the town destroyed and rebuilt anew by traitor aristocrat Farrukhzad . In the ninth century, Tehran was a well-known village, but less so than the city of Rhages, flourishing nearby. Rhages was described in detail by tenth-century Muslim geographers. Despite
4575-414: The southwest of the country bordering Iraq . The unstable situation and the war in neighbouring Afghanistan and Iraq prompted a rush of refugees into the country who arrived in millions, with Tehran being a magnet for many seeking work, who subsequently helped the city to recover from war wounds, working for a far lower pay than local construction workers. Many of these refugees are being repatriated with
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#17327575808894650-584: The state religion since the 16th-century Safavid conversion . Other religious communities in the city include followers of the Sunni and Mystic branches of Islam, various Christian denominations, Judaism , Zoroastrianism , and the Baháʼí Faith . In the 2016 "Tehran Survey", when residents of Tehran were asked about the importance of religion in their life, 53.5% considered it to be "very important / important", 31.1% to be "rather important", 10.5% to be "not very important" and 4.8% to be "not at all important." There are many religious centres scattered around
4725-499: The successful suppression of separatist movements. Reza Shah is credited for the reunification of Iran under a powerful central government. The use of minority languages in schools and newspapers was not tolerated. The succeeding regime – the Islamic Republic of Iran – has adopted a more inclusive approach in relation to the use of ethnic minorities and their language, however the issues as to Azeris , Iran's largest ethnic minority, remain and pose considerable challenges for
4800-402: The supervision of Dar ol Fonun in 1878, included new city walls, in the form of a perfect octagon with an area of 19 square kilometers, mimicking the Renaissance cities of Europe. Tehran was 19.79 square kilometers, and had expanded more than fourfold. Growing awareness of civil rights resulted in the Constitutional Revolution and the first constitution of Iran in 1906. On June 2, 1907,
4875-412: The time of the Median Empire , part of present-day Tehran was a suburb of the prominent Median city of Rhages ( Old Persian : 𐎼𐎥𐎠 Ragā ). In the Avesta 's Videvdat (i, 15), Rhages is mentioned as the 12th sacred place created by Ohrmazd . In Old Persian inscriptions, Rhages appears as a province ( Bistun 2, 10–18). From Rhages, Darius I sent reinforcements to his father Hystaspes , who
4950-563: The unity and territorial integrity of Iran . The rulers of the Imperial State of Iran – Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – employed secret police, torture, and executions to stifle political dissent. The Pahlavi dynasty has sometimes been described as an "Imperial dictatorship" or "one-man rule". . Additionally, the country enjoyed a brief interlude of democracy from 1941 to 1953. Manouchehr Ganji led an anti-corruption study group which submitted at least 30 reports in 13 years detailing corruption of high-ranking officials and
5025-421: The urban fabric. The new city map of Tehran in 1937 was heavily influenced by modernist planning patterns of zoning and gridiron networks. During World War II , Soviet and British troops entered the city. In 1943, Tehran was the site of the Tehran Conference , attended by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin , and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill . The establishment of
5100-432: The war reached Iran's borders when Rashid Ali , with assistance from Germany and Italy , launched the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état , sparking the Anglo-Iraqi War of May 1941. Germany and Italy quickly sent the pro-Axis forces in Iraq military aid from Syria but during the period from May to July the British and their allies defeated the pro-Axis forces in Iraq and later Syria and Lebanon . In June 1941, Nazi Germany broke
5175-410: The whole plan was marginalized by the 1979 Revolution and the subsequent Iran–Iraq War . Tehran's most famous landmark, the Azadi Tower, was built by the order of the Shah in 1971. It was designed by Hossein Amanat , an architect whose design won a competition, combining elements of classical Sassanian architecture with post-classical Iranian architecture. Formerly known as the Shahyad Tower , it
5250-443: Was absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran. Tehran was first chosen as the capital of Iran by Agha Mohammad Khan of the Qajar dynasty in 1786, because of its proximity to Iran's territories in the Caucasus , then separated from Iran in the Russo-Iranian Wars , to avoid the vying factions of the previously ruling Iranian dynasties. The capital has been moved several times throughout history, however, and Tehran became
5325-425: Was built to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the Imperial State of Iran . During the Iran–Iraq War in 1980 to 1988, Tehran was repeatedly targeted by airstrikes and Scud missile attacks. The 435-meter-high Milad Tower, one of the proposed development projects of pre-revolutionary Iran, was completed in 2007, and has become a famous landmark of Tehran. Tabiat Bridge, a 270-meter pedestrian overpass that
5400-418: Was designed by award-winning architect Leila Araghian , was completed in 2014. The city of Tehran had a population of 7,711,230 in 2,286,787 households at the time of the 2006 National Census. The following census in 2011 counted 8,154,051 people in 2,624,511 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 8,693,706 people in 2,911,065 households. With its cosmopolitan atmosphere, Tehran
5475-440: Was divided in half and many historic buildings were demolished and replaced by wide straight avenues, and the traditional texture of the city was replaced with intersecting cruciform streets that created large roundabouts in major public spaces such as the bazaar. As an attempt to create a network for easy transportation within the city, the old citadel and city walls were demolished in 1937, replaced by wide streets cutting through
5550-424: Was followed by the capture of the city by the revolutionary forces of Ali-Qoli Khan (Sardar Asad II) and Mohammad Vali Khan (Sepahsalar e Tonekaboni) on July 13, 1909. As a result, the monarch was exiled and replaced by his son Ahmad , and the parliament was re-established. During the Persian campaign , Russian forces that were occupying the northwest of Iran marched around Qazvin and approached Tehran, caused
5625-609: Was putting down a rebellion in Parthia (Bistun 3, 1–10). Some Middle Persian texts give Rhages as the birthplace of Zoroaster , although modern historians generally place the birth of Zoroaster in Khorasan Province . Mount Damavand , the highest peak of Iran, which is located near Tehran, is an important location in Ferdowsi 's Šāhnāme , an Iranian epic poem based on the ancient legends of Iran . It appears in
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