Iran
Country in SW Asia, bounded N by Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian
Sea, and Turkmenistan; E by Afghanistan and Pakistan; S and SW
by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf; W by Iraq; and NW by
Turkey.
Government
The constitution, which came into effect on the overthrow of the shah
in 1979, provides for a president elected by universal suffrage
and a single-chamber legislature, the Majlis (Islamic Consultative
Assembly), consisting of 270 members, similarly elected. The president
and the assembly serve a four-year term. All legislation passed
by the assembly must be sent to the Shura-E- Nigahban (Council
of Guardians), consisting of six religious and six secular lawyers,
to ensure that it complies with the constitution and Islamic precepts.
There is also a 83- member Majlis-E-Khobregan (Council of Experts),
composed entirely of clerics and elected to decide issues such
as succession to the position of Wali Faqih (religious leader),
who, as spiritual leader, has overall authority. The president
is the executive head of government but, like the assembly, ultimately
subject to the will of the religious leader. Although a number
of political parties exist, Iran is fundamentally a one- party
state, the Islamic Republican Party having been founded in 1978
to bring about the Islamic revolution.
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