Iran

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Iran fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇮🇶 Neo-Assyrian Empire700 BC to 612 BC

   Assyria raids the Zagros and wars with Elam, sacking Susa around 647 BC. The Medes, allied with Babylon, take revenge: they storm Ashur in 614 BC and Nineveh in 612 BC, destroying the Assyrian empire.

2. 🇬🇷 Greek city-states499 BC to 449 BC

   The Ionian Greeks revolt against Persia in 499 BC with help from Athens. Darius is beaten at Marathon in 490 BC, and Xerxes at Salamis and Plataea in 480 and 479 BC. Fighting in the Aegean goes on for decades.

3. Macedonian Empire334 BC to 330 BC

   Alexander the Great invades in 334 BC, beats Darius III at Issus and Gaugamela and burns Persepolis in 330 BC. Darius is killed by his own men while fleeing, and the Achaemenid Empire ends.

4. Rome and Byzantium53 BC to 628

   For almost seven centuries Iran's empires fight Rome over Mesopotamia and Armenia. The Parthians crush Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC, Shapur I captures Emperor Valerian in 260, and the last great war ends with Heraclius' victory and peace in 628.

5. Rashidun Caliphate633 to 651

   Arab Muslim armies defeat the Sasanians at Qadisiyyah around 636 and at Nahavand in 642. The last king, Yazdegerd III, is killed near Merv in 651, and Iran becomes part of the caliphate.

6. 🇲🇳 Mongol Empire1219 to 1258

   Genghis Khan's armies destroy the Khwarazmian empire in 1219 to 1221, ravaging cities such as Nishapur and Merv. Hulagu returns in the 1250s, destroys the castles of the Assassins in 1256 and goes on to take Baghdad in 1258.

7. 🇹🇷 Ottoman Empire1514 to 1639

   Sunni Ottomans and Shia Safavids fight for eastern Anatolia, the Caucasus and Iraq. Selim I wins at Chaldiran in 1514 and briefly takes Tabriz. After a century of wars the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 fixes a frontier that still largely holds.

8. 🇦🇫 Hotaki Afghans1709 to 1729

   Ghilzai Afghans rebel against Safavid rule in Kandahar in 1709. Mahmud Hotaki defeats the Persian army at Gulnabad in 1722 and takes Isfahan after a long siege. Nader drives the Afghans out of Iran in 1729.

9. 🇷🇺 Russian Empire1804 to 1828

   Russia pushes south into the Caucasus. Two wars, from 1804 to 1813 and 1826 to 1828, end with the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, which confirm Russia's hold on Georgia and give it the lands of today's Armenia and Azerbaijan.

10. 🇬🇧 British Empire1856 to 1857

    When Persia takes Herat in 1856, Britain, guarding the approaches to India, declares war and lands troops on the Gulf coast. The 1857 Treaty of Paris forces Persia to give up its claims to Herat and Afghanistan.

11. 🇦🇪 United Arab EmiratesSince 1971Still open

    Iran takes Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands in November 1971, just before the UAE is founded. The UAE, backed by the Arab League, still claims them, and Iran rejects any negotiation over sovereignty.

12. 🇺🇸 United StatesSince 1979Still open

    Relations break after the 1979 revolution and the 444 day hostage crisis, and decades of sanctions follow. A 2015 nuclear deal brings brief relief, but the US leaves it in 2018 and kills General Qasem Soleimani in a January 2020 strike in Baghdad.

13. 🇮🇱 IsraelSince 1979Still open

    Once a discreet partner of the shah, Israel becomes the Islamic Republic's sworn enemy. Iran arms Hezbollah and Hamas, Israel targets Iran's nuclear programme, and in April and October 2024 the two exchange direct missile and drone strikes.

14. 🇮🇶 Iraq1980 to 1988

    Saddam Hussein invades in September 1980, hoping to seize the Shatt al-Arab and Khuzestan. Iran recovers its land by 1982 and invades Iraq in turn. A ceasefire in 1988 leaves the border unchanged after eight years of trench warfare and chemical attacks.

Today

Iran now

Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979 after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and Shah Mohammad Reza PAHLAVI was forced into exile. Conservative clerical forces led by Ayatollah Ruhollah KHOMEINI established a theocratic system of government with ultimate political authority vested in a religious scholar known as the Supreme Leader, who is accountable only to the Assembly of Experts -- an elected 88-member body of clerics.

Capital

Tehran

Government

theocratic republic

Area

1,745,150 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population90.6 million2023 · 16.5 million in 1950
• Life expectancy77.7 years2023 · 38.2 years in 1950
• GDP per person$18,4732022 · $2,742 in 1950
• Living in cities77%2025 · 28% in 1950
• Literacy89%2023 · 13% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending2.1% of GDP2025
• War deaths1.3 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.