Is Iran a Middle Eastern country?

Answer 1

Iran does not define itself as an ethnic nation-state, so it is not empirically Arab or Persian. It has a Persian majority (60% of Iranians are Persians), but it also has an Arab minority (2% of Iranians are Arabs), especially in the southwest province of Khuzestan.

Answer 2

Whether the question is about genetics or culture, the answers are the same.

Genetics

All the genetic researches done in the 20th and 21st century have proven the genetic unity of the people living in the current Iranian borders and the lack of influence of Arab and more generally foreign genetics on them. According to the most recent research done by Cambridge Professor Dr. Maziar Ashrafian Bonab, Iranian genetics trace their roots back to the genetics of the people who used to live around Mesopotamia and in current South-West Iran 10,000 years ago.

Culture

The Persians have always considered themselves a people that are substantially different from their Arab neighbors to the South and West, their Russian and Turkish neighbors to the North and their Indian neighbors to the East. They have a culture and a language which are more closely related to English than Arabic or Turkish and serve as the origin point of Zoroastrianism. While that religion is now on the brink of going extinct, many of its customs, such as Nourouz are still widely celebrated. Persians typically look down on Arabs, especially because the Persians were civilized long before the Arabs and built incredible empires that were world powers. It is not an Asian country in the typical sense of the word because it shares few commonalities with the Oriental Nations of China, Korea, Japan, etc. and also shares few commonalities with South Asian nations like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Answer 3

Yes. However, it is not an Arab country.