Tehran

This article is about the Iranian capital city. For other uses, see Tehran (disambiguation).

Tehran
تهران
Capital city
Official seal of Tehran
Seal
Map
Tehran is located in Iran
Tehran
Tehran
Location in Iran and Asia
Tehran is located in Asia
Tehran
Tehran
Tehran (Asia)
Coordinates: 35°41′21″N 51°23′20″E / 35.68917°N 51.38889°E / 35.68917; 51.38889
CountryIran
ProvinceTehran
CountyTehran
Rey
Shemiranat
DistrictCentral
Government
 • MayorAlireza Zakani
 • City Council ChairmanMehdi Chamran
Area
[1]
 • Urban
615 km2 (237 sq mi)
 • Metro
2,235 km2 (863 sq mi)
Elevation
[2]
900 to 1,830 m (2,952 to 6,003 ft)
Population
[5]
 • Estimate 
(2018)
9,400,000
 • Density11,800/km2 (31,000/sq mi)
 • Urban
9,039,000[3]
 • Metro
15,800,000[4]
 • Population rank in Iran
1st
DemonymTehrani (en)
Time zoneUTC+03:30 (Iran Time)
 • Summer (DST)(Not Observed)
Area codes+98 21
ClimateBSk
Websitetehran.ir
This article contains Persian text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Tehran[6] (/tɛəˈræn, -ˈrɑːn, ˌteɪ-/; Persian: تهران Persian pronunciation: [tehˈɾɒːn] Tehrânⓘ) is the capital[7] 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.[8] 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,[9] the second-largest metropolitan area in 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[10] almost entirely destroyed in the medieval Arab, Turkic, and Mongol invasions. Modern Ray 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 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.[11]

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 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.[12]

Most of the population are Persian,[13][14] with roughly 99% of them speaking the Persian language, alongside other ethnolinguistic groups in the city which became Persianized and assimilated.[15]

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 the globe by Mercer ranked Tehran 203rd for quality of life.[16] According to the Global Destinations Cities Index in 2016, Tehran is among the top ten fastest growing destinations.[17] 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.[18]

  1. ^ "City of Tehran Statisticalyearbook" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  2. ^ Tehran, Environment & Geography Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine. Tehran.ir.
  3. ^ "Population of Tehran". Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Major Agglomerations of the World - Population Statistics and Maps". citypopulation.de. 13 September 2018.
  5. ^ Urban population: Data for Tehran County. ~97.5% of county population live in Tehran city
    Metro population: Estimate on base of census data, includes central part of Tehran province and Karaj County and Fardis from Alborz province
  6. ^ "Mourners in Tehran for Iran President Raisi's funeral procession". Al Jazeera English. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  7. ^ Marsi, Federica (31 July 2024). "Israel war on Gaza updates: Fears of escalation grow after Haniyeh killing". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 17 August 2024. Hamas says its political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in an Israeli missile attack in Iran's capital, Tehran.
  8. ^ Habibi, Hassan (10 December 2014) [Approved 21 June 1369]. Approval of the organization and chain of citizenship of the elements and units of the national divisions of Tehran province centered on the city of Tehran. rc.majlis.ir (Report) (in Persian). Ministry of the Interior, Defense Political Commission of the Government Board. Notification 8416/T133K. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via Islamic Parliament Research Center.
  9. ^ SI ee List of metropolitan areas in Asia.
  10. ^ Erdösy, George. (1995). The Indo-Aryans of ancient South Asia: Language, material culture and ethnicity. Walter de Gruyter. p. 165. Possible western place names are the following: Raya-, which is also the ancient name of Median Raga in the Achaemenid inscriptions (Darius, Bisotun 2.13: a land in Media called Raga) and modern Rey south of Tehran
  11. ^ "Tehran (Iran) : Introduction – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge / Diba Tensile Architecture". ArchDaily. 17 November 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference tabnak was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad Jalal; McDonald, Peter; Hosseini-Chavoshi, Meimanat (30 September 2009). "Region of Residence". The Fertility Transition in Iran: Revolution and Reproduction. Springer. pp. 100–101.
  15. ^ Schuppe, Mareike. (2008). Coping with Growth in Tehran: Strategies of Development Regulation. GRIN Verlag. p. 13. Besides Persian, there are Azari, Armenian, and Jewish communities in Tehran. The vast majority of Tehran's residents are Persian-speaking (98.3%).
  16. ^ Barbaglia, Pamela. (29 March 2016). "Iranian expats hard to woo as Western firms seek a foothold in Iran". Reuters. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  17. ^ Erenhouse, Ryan. (22 September 2016). "Bangkok Takes Title in 2016 Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index". MasterCard's newsroom. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Citizens of Capital Mark Tehran Day on October 6". 6 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2018.