iran

Oshnavieh (in local Kurdish: Shino) is a city in northwestern Iran, west of Lake Urmia about 1,300 metres above sea level. It lies in the West Azarbaijan province on border to the another Kurdish provinces in Turkey and Iraq. The city is captured by huge mountains who keep the mild weather even under the summers.

Ushnavieh is located in an agricultural area and has water flows from mountains entire the year. The most agricultural products are wheat, beetroots and main tree fruits like apple and grape.

Oshnovieh is a historic city and there are many historic sites from the Hurrian and Urartian periods onward. It likely corresponds to the ancient city of Suguniya which was attacked by Shalmaneser III of Assyria as recorded in his annals dealing with his accession year.

Iran is divided into thirty provinces (ostan), each governed by an appointed governor (استاندار, ostandar). The provinces are divided into counties (shahrestan), and subdivided into districts (bakhsh) and sub-districts (dehestan).

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Golpayegan County (Persian: شهرستان گلپایگان) is a county in Esfahan Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Golpayegan.

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Mazandaran  is a Caspian province in the north of Iran. Located on the Southern coast of the Caspian Sea, it is bordered clockwise by Golestan, Semnan and Tehran provinces. The provinces of Qazvin and Gilan lie to the west.
Mazandaran is divided into 15 shahrestans (approximately equal to counties). All the shahrestans are named after their administrative center, except Savadkooh.

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Jamkaran, Iran (on the outskirts of Qom) is the site of the Jamkaran Mosque, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims. Local belief has it that the Twelfth Imam (Muhammad al-Mahdi) - a messiah figure Shia believe will lead the world to an era of universal peace - once appeared and offered prayers at Jamkaran.

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Qom also sometimes spelled as Ghom, is one of the 30 provinces of Iran with 11,237 km², covering 0.89% of the total area in Iran. It is in the north of the country, and its provincial capital is the city of Qom. It was formed from part of Tehran province in 1995
The mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for salat (prayer) as well as a center for information, education, and dispute settlement. The Imam leads the prayer.

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Mashhad (Persian: مشهد, literally the place of martyrdom) is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia world. It is located 850 kilometers (500 miles) east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
Now Mashhad is notably known as the resting place of the Imam Reza (Ali ibn Musa al-Rida). A shrine was later built there to commemorate the Imam, which in turn gave rise to increasing demographic development.

Mashad is also known as the city of Ferdowsi the great Persian poet of Shahnameh which is considered to be the Persian national epic.

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Markazi (استان مرکزی in Persian) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. The word markazi means central in Persian.

Markazi is in west Iran, and its capital is Arak.  The present boundaries of the province date to the 1980s, when the province was split into the current Markazi and the Tehran Province, with portions being annexed to Esfahan, Semnan Province and Zanjan.

The major cities of the province are: Saveh, Arak, Mahallat, Khomein, Delijan, Tafresh, Ashtian, and Shazand (previously known as Sarband)

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Maragheh (Maraghe or Maragha, Persian: مراغه Azeri:مراغه ) is a city in Northern Iran on the bank of the river Safi Chay. Maragheh is an ancient city situated in a narrow valley running nearly north and south at the eastern extremity of a well-cultivated plain opening towards Lake Urmia, which lies 30 km to the west.
One of the famous burial towers, the Gonbad-e-Kabud (Blue Tower, 1197) is decorated with decorative patterns resembling Penrose tiles.

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Maku, (Azerbaijani: Makı) is a town in the northwestern part of the West Azerbaijan province of Iran. According to some accounts the word Maku possibly derives from the Armenian language Maki.
The city is well-known in Bahai history for its fort where the Bab had been exiled to and imprisoned for nine months. In this fortress Mulla Husayn-i-Bushrui, the first Disciple of the Bab had the chance to meet his Master again, arriving on Naw-Ruz of the year 1848.

In ancient times the region of Maku was a part of Lesser Media and its name itself may be derived from the Persian word Madkuh meaning "the Mountain of the Medes". Medes were one of the ancient Iranian tribes.

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Mahan is well-known for the tomb of the great Sufi leader Shah Ne'emat Ollah-e-Vali, as well as Shazdeh Garden (Prince Garden).

The tomb of Shah Nur-eddin Nematollah Vali, poet, sage, Sufi and founder of an order of dervishes, has twin minarets covered with turquoise tiles from the bottom up to the cupola. The mausoleum was built by Ahmad Shah Kani; the rest of the building was constructed during the reigns of Shah Abbas I, Mohammad Shah Qajar and Nasser-al-Din Shah. Shah Nematallah Wali spent many years wandering through central Asiaperfecting his spiritual gifts before finally settling at Mahan, twenty miles south-east of Kerman, where he passed the last twenty five years of his life. He died in 1431, having founded a Darvish order which continues to be an active spiritual force today. The central domed burial vault at Mahan, completed in 1437 was erected by Ahmad Shah Bahmani, king of the Deccan, and one of Shah Nematallah's most devoted disciples.

Mahan has some of the most beautiful minarets in Iran.

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Lorestan or Luristan, (Persian لرستان; Luri لُرِسّو Luressu) comprises a province and a historic territory of western Iran amidst the Zagros Mountains.

Lorestan covers an area of 28,392 km². The major cities in this province are: Borujerd, Khorramabad,Aligoodarz, Dorood, Koohdasht, Azna, Alashtar, Noor Abad, and Pol-e-Dokhtar.

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Laleh Gachsar located in Iran.

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Kordestan (Kurdish: پارێزگه ی کوردستان, Parezgeha Kurdistane; Persian: استان کردستان, UniPers: Ostane Kordestan) is one of the thirty provinces of Iran, not to be confused with the greater geographical area of Iranian Kurdistan.
The capital of Kurdistan Province is the city of Sanandaj (Kurdish: Sinne). Other counties with their major cities are Marivan, Baneh, Saqqez,Sarvabaad, Qorveh, Bijar, Kamyaran and Diwandarreh.

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Khuzestan (Persian: خوزستان) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq's Basra Province and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and covers an area of 63,238 km². Other major cities include Behbahan, Abadan, Andimeshk, Khorramshahr, Bandar Imam, Dezful, Shushtar, Omidiyeh, Izeh, Baq-e-Malek, Mah Shahr, Dasht-i Mishan/Dasht-e-Azadegan, Ramhormoz, Shadegan, Susa, Masjed Soleiman, Minoo Island and Hoveizeh.

Historically Khuzestan is what historians refer to as ancient Elam, whose capital was in Susa. The Achaemenid Old Persian term for Elam was Hujiya, which is present in the modern name.

Khuzestan is the most ancient Iranian province and is often referred to as the "birthplace of the nation," since this is where the Persians, one of the branches of Aryan tribes, first settled, assimilating the native Elamite population, and thus laying the foundation for the future dynastic empires of Achaemenid, Parthia and Sassanid. The pre-Islamic Partho-Sassanid Inscriptions gives the name of the province as Khwuzestan. Khuzestan is also where the medical college and the town of Gundeshapur was located.

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