U.S. Senator Ted Cruz made headlines this week — not for his opinion on whether the war between Israel and Iran should result in regime change in Iran (he says yes), but for what he didn’t know about the country.
In an interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, Cruz was asked what the population of Iran is. He didn’t know, not even roughly. Carlson replied with incredulity, “You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of a government and you don’t know anything about the country.”
Cruz denied he knew nothing, but said, “I don’t sit around memorizing population tables.”
Here are some basic facts about Iran.
Population
Carlson said the population is 92 million. That is basically correct. According to the UN, the population of Iran as of 2024 was 91.5 million.
The capital, Tehran, has a population of nearly 10 million. It’s a large, dense urban area that U.S. President Donald Trump this week said people should “evacuate” if they want to avoid Israeli missiles. There have indeed been traffic jams of cars trying to leave the city since Israel’s attacks began last Friday, but there are no reliable estimates on how many people have actually fled. Some said the congestion was so bad, they gave up and returned to their homes in Tehran.
Ethnic makeup and religion
Iran is predominantly Persian, but it is not a monoculture. There are significant numbers of Turkic and Arab people, as well as Kurds, Baloch, Lurs and other smaller minorities, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
The vast majority of Iranians are Shia Muslim, which is the state religion.
The official language of the country is Persian Farsi.
Political leadership
The official name of the country is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which underlines the fact that it is a theocracy, governed by a combination of religious and secular laws.
The man is charge is the supreme leader, a title that reflects his power. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held that position since 1989 and under the constitution, he directs all domestic and foreign policy of the country, controls the armed forces, appoints judges, and is the head of a powerful committee that oversees parliament.
The president, who is directly elected by the people but is subordinate to the supreme leader, is Masoud Pezeshkian. He won last July’s election, which happened early because the previous president was killed in a helicopter crash in May 2024. Presidential candidates must be vetted and approved in advance by a council led by the supreme leader. It’s not always clear why some candidates are rejected.
Energy
Iran is the ninth biggest producer of oil in the world, making about four per cent of global supply.
Until 2018, Iran was exporting more than two million barrels per day to other countries. But that year, Trump (in his first presidential term) cancelled an agreement that allowed Iran to export oil in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The U.S. then reimposed harsh sanctions, which severely restricted Iran’s ability to export oil.
To this day, the U.S. threatens to punish anyone doing business with Iran. But according to an investigation by the Economist last fall, Iran has been increasingly avoiding U.S. detection, and now exports roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, mostly to China.
Media freedom?
In short, there is none. Reporters Without Borders says Iran ranks 176th out of 180 countries for for press freedom.
Iranian media are controlled by the government, so Iranians have few if any sources of independent information inside the country.
Reporters Without Borders says the supreme leader can and does frequently order the arrest of journalists, who are often subjected to lengthy prison sentences or even the death penalty. It says Iran is one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists.
Iran’s nuclear capabilities
Iran has always said its nuclear program is only for civilian electricity production.
Last week, however, the International Atomic Energy Agency said its inspectors were unable to determine whether Iran’s nuclear programme was “exclusively peaceful.” But it also said it has “no credible indication” of an active, co-ordinated weapons program either.
At least until Israel’s attacks, Iran was enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent purity and had enough material at that level for nine nuclear weapons if enriched further, according to a theoretical IAEA yardstick.
That means Iran’s so-called “breakout time” — the time it would need to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb — was close to zero, likely a matter of days or little more than a week, analysts say.
Israel has warned for decades that Iran may be weeks or months away from developing a nuclear bomb, although that has not yet happened.