The gaze of history on old Tehran

Area city, 270 square miles (707 square km). Pop. (2016) city, 8,693,706.With a dramatic topography reflective of its proximity to the highest peak in the country, Tehrān is Iran’s gateway to the outside world. Tehrān’s image abroad was strongly influenced by the Iranian Revolution of the late 1970s. In the last two decades of the 20th century, television screens and newspaper articles around the world portrayed Tehrān as a deeply religious city steeped in tradition, fighting against modernization and Westernization.