Disputes - international:
East Timor-Indonesia Boundary Committee continues to meet regularly
to survey and delimit land boundary; East Timor refugees delay
return from camps in Indonesia; maritime delimitations with
Australia and East Timor await further discussions; ICJ awarded
Sipadan and Ligitan islands to Malaysia in 2002; Indonesian
secessionists, squatters and illegal migrants create repatriation
problems for Papua New Guinea
Illicit drugs:
illicit producer of cannabis largely for domestic use; possible
growing role as transshipment point for Golden Triangle heroin
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
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@Iran
Introduction Iran
Background:
Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in 1979
after the ruling shah was forced into exile. Conservative clerical
forces established a theocratic system of government with ultimate
political authority vested in a learned religious scholar. A group
of Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November
1979 and held it until 20 January 1981. During 1980-88, Iran fought
a bloody, indecisive war with Iraq over disputed territory. Over the
past decade, popular dissatisfaction with the government, driven by
demographic changes, restrictive social policies, and poor economic
conditions, has created a powerful and enduring pressure for
political reform.
Geography Iran
Location:
Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the
Caspian Sea, between Iraq and Pakistan
Geographic coordinates:
32 00 N, 53 00 E