Military manpower: males 15-49, 49,283,496; 29,137,291 fit for military service; 2,098,169 reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: 2.1% of GNP (1987)
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Country: Iran
- Geography
Total area: 1,648,000 km2; land area: 1,636,000 km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than Alaska
Land boundaries: 5,492 km total; Afghanistan 936 km, Iraq 1,458 km,
Pakistan 909 km, Turkey 499 km, USSR 1,690 km
Coastline: 3,180 km
Maritime claims:
Continental shelf: not specific;
Exclusive fishing zone: 50 nm in the Sea of Oman, median-line boundaries in the Persian Gulf;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: Iran began formal UN peace negotiations with Iraq in August 1988 to end the war that began on 22 September 1980—troop withdrawal, freedom of navigation, sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway and prisoner-of-war exchange are the major issues for negotiation; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR; occupies three islands in the Persian Gulf claimed by UAE (Jazireh-ye Abu Musa or Abu Musa, Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg or Greater Tunb, and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek or Lesser Tunb); periodic disputes with Afghanistan over Helmand water rights; Boluch question with Afghanistan and Pakistan