Caspian Sea, the largest landlocked lake in the world, is located in northern Iran. The Iranian Caspian coast, including the three littoral provinces of Gilan, Golestan and Mazandaran, with its thick forests and large-scale rice paddies presents a striking contrast to the dry inner plateau of Iran.
According to Medlem-Spray website, the three picturesque provinces are bound by Caspian Sea in the north and Alborz Range in the south. The landscape is divided into a multitude of valleys whose rivers drain into the sea.
There are several roads connecting Tehran to the three provinces, all through breathtakingly beautiful scenery, across the mountains or alongside rivers. One of the roads from Tehran to Chalous on the Caspian coast, winding north across the rugged Alborz mountains, passes the popular ski resort at Dizin.

With their tropical climate in summer and mild winters, beautiful sandy beaches and scenic beauty, the three provinces are very popular among Iranians as a holiday and weekend resort. Numerous holiday and residential complexes and private villas dot the landscape.
The total area of Caspian Sea is 435,000 square kilometers or one-fourth the size of Iran.

Nomenclature
Caspian Sea has been called the Hyrcanian, Abaskun, Jorjan, Khorasan, Tabarestan, Mazanderan, Xvalyn and Khazar, with the last three names used in Persian, Azeri and Turkish languages. The most populous parts, namely the southern and western Caspian coasts, belonged to Iran until the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD.
Culturally and linguistically, they retained their Iranian character in the following centuries, but in the Middle Ages, the population became fused with the incoming waves of Turkic nomadic tribes, and these immigrants accounted for an increasingly large component of the ethnic makeup.

Coastline
Caspian Sea’s coastline is 6,397 km long, of which more than 900 km is along the Iranian side. About 128 large and small rivers flow into the sea from Iran and Sepidroud, Shalman, Shafaroud and Tonekabon are the largest rivers. The highest salinity level reaches 12.7 ppt (about 1/3 of the ocean salinity) during summers. The average water temperature in the coastal regions throughout the year ranges from 15.9 degrees centigrade to 17 degrees centigrade. Temperature difference between the coldest area in the north and the warmest area in the south is 4 degrees centigrade during winter and 16 degrees in summer.
Fish Species
There are over 120 fish species in the southern part of Caspian Sea, which are commercially divided into sturgeons and bony fishes. The bony fishes are also divided into sardines and other species. The main commercial species are as follows:
Sturgeons: Beluga (Huso huso), Russian sturgeon (Acipenser guldenstadti), Iranian sturgeon (A. persicus), and Sevruga (A. stellatus). The Iranian caviar--a famous and exclusive product worldwide--is produced by these species.
Bony fishes: Kutum (Rutilus frisii kutum), Mullets (Mugil auratus and M. saliens), Carp (Cuprinus carpio), Bream (Abramis brama), Pike-perch (Lucioperca lucioperca), Roach (Rutilus rutilus) and Salmon (Salmo trutta caspius).

Sustainable Fisheries
Iranian Fisheries has put great emphasis on development of sustainable fisheries. Large sums of money are allocated for the preservation of sturgeons. Because of their importance, fishing sturgeons, caviar-producing species, is only the responsibility of the state-run Iranian Fisheries.
It also monitors methods to prevent overfishing and damage to fish stocks. For example, beach seining is the only allowed fishing system for licensed cooperatives to catch bony fishes other than sardines. In order to prevent illegal fishing, marine guards control activities in the Caspian Sea.
Iranian Fisheries has established Iranian Fisheries Research and Training Organization to extend technical and scientific support to fisheries-related activities.
Funds are allocated to researches on identification and conservation of fish stocks. Millions of fingerlings are produced annually by Iranian Fisheries and released to ensure the sustainability of different fish species in Caspian Sea.
The fingerlings of the following species are produced by Iranian Fisheries: Rutilus frisii kutum, Acipenseridae and Abramis brama.

Threats to Biodiversity
Caspian Sea is connected to the open sea through the Volga River. This makes it very vulnerable to the effects of industrial pollution. Oil exploration activities by the Caspian Sea littoral states have increased in the past decade.
There are also international plans to transfer oil and gas through underwater pipelines in Caspian Sea. These activities will certainly have adverse effects on the marine and coastal ecosystems of Iran.
On the domestic front, development of coastal communities, the sewage flowing into the coastal waters and polluted rivers threaten the coastal ecosystems. Population increase and unemployment in the region also increase illegal fishing. Manmade barriers and obstacles close the migration routes of fishes, leading to the destruction of many spawning grounds.
These problems should be addressed to protect the fish species as well as the livelihood of fishermen living along the Caspian coastline.

The Sheikh Safi Tomb in Iran’s Ardebil Province is one of the country’s most beautiful historical and Islamic structures, which dates back to the 14th century AD.
The complex is the resting place of Sheikh Safi, the Safavid spiritual leader along with Shah Ismail I and a number of Safavid princes and generals, reported Press TV.
The mausoleum is composed of a group of stunning architectural structures including Sheikh Safi’s and Shah Ismail’s tomb-chambers, the Chini Khaneh (china hall), the Qandil Khaneh (lantern hall) and the Haram Khaneh (Ladies Quarters).
Sheikh Safi’s tomb-chamber is a cylindrical tower capped with a low dome, under which a large decorative medallion, made of colored staccato is attached.
The tomb-chamber’s walls are covered with floral canvas curtains, which match the medallion’s colorful patterns.
An exquisite wooden box, once decorated with jewelry, adorns the late grave.
The ’Allah-Allah’ dome, which was built after Safi’s demise, is tiled with beautiful azure ceramics covered with the word Allah. A row of white tiles adorns the blue background with Quranic verses.
The interior of the cylindrical structure is decorated with exquisite paintings.
The tomb of Shah Ismail I consists of a small rectangular room with a beautiful illuminated dome and staccato manuscripts.
It is lower than Safi’s and decorated with colorful tiles and Kufic inscriptions.
Its walls shine with golden floral patterns and splendid azure tiles, which beautifully reflect sunlight.
The building has a number of blind arcades and alcoves decorated with priceless 11th century pottery.
A wooden box decorated with finely engraved panels and delicate geometric shapes made of ivory and ebony is located on top of Shah Ismail’s tomb. A background of red silk adorned with shiny turquoise brings out the color of the ivory.
Qandil Khaneh is a rectangular structure covered with polished stones and a stone lavabo in the shape of a petal.
The building, which was once used as a prayer room, is adorned with attractive patterns and Quranic words written out on Persian tiles.
The eye-catching structure is named after the numerous lanterns, which were used to illuminate the complex.
Shah Tahmasb I (1524-76), the second Safavid king ordered the most famous Persian carpets, the Ardebil Carpets for Qandil Khaneh.
The Qandil Khaneh carpets, the finest of their kind during the Safavid era, have been separated with one pair currently in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the other in Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Chini Khaneh (China Hall), a domed octagonal room with four alcoves, was originally used as a meeting hall.
Shah Abbas I refurbished the original monument and changed it into a place to store his collection of Ming and Celadon porcelains presented to him by a Chinese emperor.
A portion of this treasury was later used to fund the country’s wars the Russians took some of the remaining items to Saint Petersburg, which are now housed in the Hermitage museum, and the rest were moved to museums in Tehran.
Chini Khaneh was recently turned into a Safavid museum and the porcelain collection housed in Tehran museums where returned and put on display.
Haram Khaneh (Ladies Quarters) is the oldest part of the complex, which was built upon Sheikh Safi’s order some 700 years ago.
The bodies of 10 Safavid ladies, including Sheikh Safi’s sister, wife and daughters have been laid to rest in the rectangular building.
Sheikh Safi’s mausoleum also includes a mosque called Jannat Sara (the house of paradise), Khanaqah (the house of Dervishes), Shahid Khaneh (the house of martyrs), and Chelleh Khaneh where dervishes used to stay during their forty-day ritual recluse.
Sheikh Safi’s mausoleum still attracts many visitors.