Iran is a strategic crossroads between the Arab world, the Turkish world, the Caucasian world, and the Indian world. This Middle Eastern country has access to three seas with the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean through its strategic lock of the Strait of Hormuz where 40% of world oil exports transit. Iran has an area of more than 1.6 million km² (about four times the size of Germany) for a population of about 85 million people. Iran is also “the country of mountains” which are omnipresent in the landscape, especially with the high mountain barriers of the central Zagros. The country is experiencing a return…