ایرج افشار سیستانی

The Islamic Republic of Iran owns and administers several valuable and strategic islands such as Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs in the Strait of Hormuz and at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz is an L-Shaped narrow waterway which connects the semi-closed sea of the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and international shipping lanes of the open sea through Makran Sea. Owing to its particularly strategic status, this strait is considered the artery of the economic life of the West and Japan in the Far East. The Strait of Hormuz is about 185 km long and cuts through the extension of the mountains in the south of Iran to the Musandan Peninsula. It is a geologicaldepression bordered by Iran in the north and by the Musandan Peninsula in Oman in the south.

Sistan is located in the east of Iran. Given its particular geographical location, specific climatic conditions, and particular political status, this province has enjoyed great strategic significance since ancient times. It is also located at a junction with the fertile and rich Indian subcontinent. Sistan is the land of national myths, the birthplace of epic, the origin of the first advanced human civilizations, the center of urban communities, and the bridge connecting West Asia with Indo-China and the passage way of commercial caravans. During the Achaemenid period, at the time of Darius the Great, Ptolemy referred to the name of AryaPolis for Sistan, which indicates that Sistan was one of the large centers housing a great number of people from the Aryan ethnic origin.The writer of History of Sistan considers its people to be of a beautiful and supreme ancestral race and refers to them as a group of hard-working, powerful, tall, and healthy people. Since its residents began cattle raising and farming, different kinds of art emerged in Sistan and greatly contributed to the formation of the lifestyle of the people living in different regions of this land. The artists and craftsmen of Sistan have created a number of marvelous works and masterpieces which are now ornamenting various art centers of the world. Some of them have also been chosen as symbols in other countries, for example, the windmill of Sistan is presently the symbol of Netherlands.

The border town and seaport of Chabahar, the center of Chabahar County in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, next to the Makran Sea, is located in the east of a bay of the same name, outside the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Indian Ocean. Chabahar plays an invaluable and strategic role not only in the political geography of Iran but also in the world because of its kilometers of sea borderlines with the Makran Sea. Chabahar Bay enjoys a supreme place outside the Strait of Hormuz. It is the only Iranian border port and town which is located next to oceanic waters and, from an economic view, particularly regarding goods and energy transit, positioned on a strategic pathway, too. It is also considered to be a megaport. The Baluch tribe and the other tribes of Chabahar and its neighboring regions have always lived alongside each other in peace and unity in order to contribute to the growth and flourishing of their unique culture and literature. They also consider it necessary to lend a hand to the government in order to promote dynamism and establish permanent security in the region and play a role in the development of this town. Because of its desirable location, the free zone of Chabahar can function as the best transit route to other central Asian countries and Afghanistan. The Chabahar region connects the hinterlands of central Asia and the internal plateau of Iran to international waters. Linking the north to the south and the east to the west can be viewed as the main factor underlying the economic flourishing of this region. In this way, we can be hopeful about the spread of security in the southeast of Iran. Social and cultural connections and the cooperation of the two sides of borderlines not only promote the motivation to establish security and sustainable development in border towns and cities but also contributes to the fight against smuggling and hostage-taking and consolidates peace in the cities and town of this region and other regions.

The strategic region of the Persian Gulf which has been introduced as one of the sub-systems of the Southwest Asia is a jewel in the south of Iran located between 16 to 40˚ N latitude and 32 to 57 E longitude. The water area of the Persian Gulf which connects Europe، Asia، and Africa is located in the Persia Gulf region between 24˚ to 30˚ N latitude and 48˚ to 57˚ E longitude. Makran region in the southeast of Iran is located like a pearl between 25˚ to 35˚ N latitude and 58˚ to 70˚ E longitude. The water area of Makran Sea is a part of the Indian Ocean and the only open sea in the southeast of Iran. The significance of this sea lies in its connection to the Indian Ocean. The Persian Gulf is connected to the rest of the world through the Strait of Hormoz and Makran Sea. The collection of the vast waters of the south of Iran which extend from the Red Sea to the coastlines of the Indus River has been called Pars Sea. A part of these waters which extend from the Strait of Hormoz to the west up to Arvandrud Delta and Bahmanshir is called the Persian Gulf. The other part which extends from the Strait of Hormoz to the east up to the delta of the Indus River is called Makran Sea. Therefore، Makran Sea and the Persian Gulf are branches of Pars Sea. In the course of history، several countries and ethnic groups have dominated and ruled the coastal areas of Pars Sea. However، their time is over now، and it is only the Iranian nation which is still standing and guarding its own legacy of sovereignty.

Springs were the first water sources that the original inhabitants of the Iranian Plateau benefitted from. Since ancient times, these springs have provided human beings with the simplest way of using groundwater and guided them to locate aquifers. The freshwater springs at the bottom of the Persian Gulf originate from the Zagros Mountains and, after flowing at the bed of the Persian Gulf, create some spring with large discharges of water. There is a permanent flow of freshwater under the Persian Gulf flowing from Iran to Saudi Arabia and other countries of this region. In places where the layers containing freshwater are fractured due to tectonic activities, we can observe some of these springs from Qatar in the south of the Persian Gulf to the north of Kazerun in Iran. Therefore, we can claim that these springs are created because of the faulting of the layers containing freshwater at the bottom of the Persian Gulf.

Vast Khorasan in eastern part of Iran including the lands that stands in south of Amo sea (Jeyhon) and Sir sea (sayhon), in the north Hendokish and from political sight were included Vararodan (Mavaraonnahr) and Kohestan (ghohestan).In the old time Vast khorasan were included all Eastern part, but state of Sistan. In the first age of Islam period Vararodan was a part of vast Khorasan and this vast state was made way up to western parts of China, especially today Sin kiang province and Afghanistan, Pamir and Hendokish mountains. Vast khorasn doesnt limited in Iran border and it was included big part of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Torkamanestan, Uzbekistan and etc… Thus the wide part of central Asia that stands in vast Khorasan of Iran was a zone for entrance Iranian culture and the source of Iranian renaissance in the age of after Islam. Also Iran is stand on middle of fourworth zone, middle east, Persian gulf, Mazandaran sea, and central Asia that gives to Iran special role for connecting regions. Abrisham road is a passage of peace, global trade, relocation path of idea, opinion, knowledge, believes and one of the biggest international commercial road that pass from many big country and it was a worthy bridge between peoples that live on that times, also it was the zone that connected Iranian, Indian, China and Vararodan and Miyanrodan cultures and in many century for a long time Iran had this responsibility.