Sistan-Baluchistan

Sistan-Baluchistan is Iran's south-Eastern Province. It borders Pakistan and Afghanistan and reaches The Gulf of Oman. Zahedan is the provincial capital, while Saravan lies close to the Pakistani border. The province is distinct from Pakistan's neighbouring Balochistan, although Baluch communities live on both sides of the frontier.

Much of the population is Baluch and Sunni Muslim in a country governed by a Shia-majority state. Rights groups describe persistent poverty, weak infrastructure, discrimination and a heavy security presence. Armed Baluch groups, smuggling networks and Iranian security forces all operate in the province. Iran describes attacks on state institutions as terrorism; Baluch rights groups place the violence within a longer history of political, ethnic and religious marginalisation.