Qom in the context of "Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant"

Iran has one of the highest urban population growth rates in the world. From 1950 to 2002, the urban proportion of the population increased from 27% to 60%. The United Nations (UN) predicts that by 2030 80% of the population will live in urban areas. Most internal migrants have settled near the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj, Ahvaz, Mashhad and Qom. Tehran, with a population of 8.7 million in 2016, is the largest city in Iran and is the nation's capital. Tehran is home to around 11% of Iran's population. It is the hub of Iran's communication and transport networks.

Mashhad, with a population of 4.2 million in 2019, is the second-largest Iranian city and the centre of the province of Razavi Khorasan. Mashhad is one of the holiest Shi'a cities in the world as it is the site of the Imam Reza shrine. It is the centre of tourism in Iran. Between 15 and 20 million pilgrims go to Imam Reza's shrine every year.

Muslims, including Shia, Sunni, Ibadi and other branches, agree on two holiest sites in Islam being the Masjid al-Haram (including the Kaaba) in Mecca; the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina.

Sites associated with the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima and son-in-law Ali, the respective Shia Imams descended from them and their family members (collectively referred to as Ahl al-Bayt) are considered holy by the different Shia Muslim sects. Karbala and Najaf in Iraq are two of holiest cities revered by all Shia sects. Additionally, Mashhad and Qom in Iran are two of the holiest cities to Twelver Shia, the largest Shia sect.

The Principlists (Persian: اصول‌گرایان, romanized: Osul-Garāyān, lit. 'followers of principles or fundamentalists'), also interchangeably known as the Iranian Conservatives and formerly referred to as the Right or Right-wing, are one of two main political camps in post-revolutionary Iran; the Reformists are the other camp. The term hardliners that some Western sources use in the Iranian political context usually refers to the faction, although the principlist camp also includes more centrist tendencies. The faction rejects the status quo internationally, but favors domestic preservation.

Within Iranian politics, "principlist" refers to the conservative supporters of the Supreme Leader of Iran and advocates for protecting the ideological "principles" of the Islamic Revolution's early days. According to Hossein Mousavian, "The Principlists constitute the main right-wing/conservative political movement in Iran. They are more religiously oriented and more closely affiliated with the Qom-based clerical establishment than their moderate and reformist rivals".

The topic of Islam and children includes Islamic principles of child development, the rights of children in Islam, the duties of children towards their parents, and the rights of parents over their children, both biological and foster children.

Islam identifies three distinct stages of child development, each lasting 7 years, from age 0-21. Each comes with specific prescriptions for what a child is to learn and what their relationship with their parents should be.

Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei (born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. His tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years, makes him the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East and the longest-serving Iranian leader since Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Born into the Khamenei family, he studied at a hawza in his hometown Mashhad, later settling in Qom in 1958 where he attended the classes of Ruhollah Khomeini. Khamenei became involved in opposition to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, and was arrested six times before being exiled for three years by the Shah's regime. Khamenei was a mainstream figure in the 1978–1979 Iranian Revolution, and upon its success, held many posts in the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran. In the aftermath of the revolution, he was the target of an attempted assassination that paralysed his right arm. There have been continued assassination threats against Ali Khamenei by Israel. Khamenei served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989 during the Iran–Iraq War, when he also developed close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). After the death of Khomeini in 1989, Khamenei was elected supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts.

Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (Arabic: علي الحسيني السيستاني; born 4 August 1930) is an Islamic scholar and the dean of the Hawza in Najaf, Iraq. A Grand Ayatollah, Sistani is considered one of the leading religious leaders of Twelver Shia Muslims. After the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent overthrow of the authoritarian Baathist regime, Sistani advocated for democratization instead of the system of Wilayat al-Faqih. He has likewise endorsed rule of law, Iraqi nationalism, non-sectarianism and popular sovereignty. He has been a vocal critic of foreign interference in Iraqi affairs and has warned foreign actors against imposing their will on the Iraqi people.

Born in Mashhad, Iran to a Sayyid family, Sistani studied in Qom under Hossein Borujerdi and later in Najaf under Abu al-Qasim al-Khu'i. An Usuli, Sistani rose to the rank of mujtahid in 1960 and succeeded Abd al-A'la al-Sabziwari as Grand Ayatollah. Sistani was included in top positions of The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims from 2004 to 2024 and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2004 and 2005.