About 1250, Persia was overrun by the Mongols. Later, Persia was conquered by the Arabs in the expansion of Islam in the centuries immediately after the time of Muhammad Persian and other languages of the region are still written with the Arabic alphabet. A few centuries later, Alexander the Great, conquered (among other things) the entire Persian Empire. In ancient times, Persia controlled most of what we now call the Middle East, and came close to conquering Greece. Throughout history, Persia has generally been an empire, one whose fortunes varied enormously. Persepolis, Shiraz, The Gate of all Nations There are also two substantial communities of people of Iranian descent in India and Pakistan - Parsis who have been there for over 1,000 years, and Iranians who arrived in the 19th and 20th centuries - both Zoroastrians who fled religious persecution in Iran. Some locals practise wedleasing (temporary marriage) locally known as nikah mut'ah or sigheh. While there are also a significant number of Baha'is in Iran, they are not recognized by the constitution and are instead branded as heretics of Islam, meaning that they continue to be persecuted to this day in spite of being Iran's numerically largest non-Muslim religion. Iran also has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside Israel. Most Iranian Christians follow Eastern Orthodoxy, and are of Armenian or Georgian ethnicity. As such, despite being an Islamic republic, fire temples, churches and synagogues continue to operate legally in the country. Other non-Islamic faiths also exist in smaller numbers, the most notable being Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism, all three of which are recognized as minority religions by the Iranian constitution, and each of these are guaranteed representation in the Iranian parliament (locally known as Majles). Sunni Islam in Iran is mainly practiced by ethnic minorities such as the Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. While Shia Islam is without a doubt the dominant religion in Iran, there also exists several religious minorities as well. People wearing Iran's flag marching in a rally They are ethnically and linguistically unrelated to Arabs. Persians are the major ethnic group of Iran and make up 60% of the Iranian population. Persian (natively known as Farsi) is an Indo-European language ancient Persian was related to Sanskrit, ancient Greek, and all the others in that family. The name Iran is from the same root as 'Aryan' which, until Hitler perverted it, was just an ancient name for those arriving peoples. The ancient Persians arrived about 1500В BC, one branch of the great movement of people that also brought northern India and most of Europe their modern populations. Humans have inhabited the area that makes up modern Iran since the Stone Age. It is a predominately Muslim country with the majority of the population being Shia Muslim. Inflation and unemployment (particularly among youth) are major economic challenges. Key current issues affecting the country include the pace of accepting outside modernising influences, reconciliation between clerical control of the regime and popular participation in government, and widespread demands for reform. Conservative clerical forces subsequently crushed Westernisation and also any liberal or left-wing influences. Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling Shah was forced into exile. Known as Persia until 1935 in the western world, whereas the indigenous name has been Iran forever. Understand ' a traveller without knowledge is a bird without wings' - Muslih Al-Din Sa'di Iran has an ancient, storied history, being the center of the Persian empire, and has a varied landscape from deserts to mountains. It is bordered by Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan's Naxcivan enclave, Armenia, and Azerbaijan to the northwest, Turkmenistan to the northeast, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east. Iran (Persian: Ш§ЩЉШ±Ш§Щ†) is a country within the Greater Middle East between the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea. Muslim 95% (Shi'a 85%, Sunni 10%), other (includes Zoroastrian, Jewish,Christian, Bahai, Mandai and other) 5% Persian and Persian dialects more than 60%, Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Turkic dialects 20%, Kurdish 10%, Luri 5%, Balochi 2%, Arabic 2%, other about 1% 9.1 Desert trekking and desert excursions.

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