Iran is the only country that borders both the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
Iran occupies a strategically important position in southwestern Asia. Its northern coastline reaches the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest enclosed inland body of water, while its southern coastline extends along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. This gives Iran access to two very different maritime regions.
The country’s landscape includes the Alborz Mountains beside the Caspian coast and the Zagros Mountains running across the west and southwest. Tehran, Iran’s capital, lies south of the Alborz range. Iran’s southern ports, including Bandar Abbas, sit near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
Iran is often confused in geography questions with Iraq, which borders the Persian Gulf but not the Caspian Sea, or with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, which border the Caspian but not the Persian Gulf. The country was officially known internationally as Persia in many contexts until the government requested use of “Iran” in 1935.