Iran's Diverse Landscape: Discover the Majestic Mountains, Vast Deserts, and Unique Climate of the Second Largest Country in the Middle East!

According to SAEDNEWS, Geography of Iranarticle The territory of Iran comprises 1. 648 million square kilometres – double the size of Turkey and three times the size of France – of which 1. 636 million square kilometres is land and 12,000 square kilometres water.

Climate

Iran has a variable climate. In the northwest, winters are cold with heavy snowfall and subfreezing temperatures during December and January. Spring and fall are relatively mild, while summers are dry and hot. In the south, winters are mild and the summers are very hot, having average daily temperatures in July exceeding 38 °C.

On the Khuzestan Plain, summer heat is accompanied by high humidity. In general, Iran has an arid climate in which most of the relatively scant annual precipitation falls from October through April. In most of the country, yearly precipitation averages 250 milimetres or less. The major exceptions are the higher mountain valleys of the Zagros and the Caspian coastal plain, where precipitation averages at least 500 milimetres annually.

In the western part of the Caspian, rainfall exceeds 1,000 milimetres annually and is distributed relatively evenly throughout the year. This contrasts with some basins of the Central Plateau that receive ten centimeters or less of precipitation.

Land fertility

Mountain ranges, deserts, and wasteland cover about half of Iran’s total land area. An estimated one-third of the country’s total surface area is suited for agricultural production. Almost 12 percent of Iran’s territory is under cultivation (arable land, orchards, and vineyards), but less than one-third of the cultivated land is irrigated, and the rest is cultivated by dry farming.