River · Iran
Karun
The Karun is the longest river in Iran and the only one there big enough for boats. It tumbles out of the Zagros Mountains and joins the Arvand Rud near the city of Khorramshahr.
Picture credit: Geographer (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Karun?
The river starts here: Zagros Mountains, Iran.
It ends in the Arvand Rud near Khorramshahr.
Countries on the river: Iran.
The story behind it
The Karun begins as snowmelt high in the Zagros Mountains and carves deep canyons on its way down, some of them with cliffs hundreds of metres tall. Wild goats and eagles live up there, far from any road. Lower down the river reaches the hot plain of Khuzestan, where it waters fields of sugarcane, wheat and melons in a land that would otherwise be desert. In the city of Shushtar people built an amazing system of channels, tunnels and watermills more than 1 700 years ago, and it still stands today. Several big dams now store the water and make electricity for the whole region. Ships can sail up the lowest stretch, which is unusual for Iran. In summer the heat here is fierce, and the river becomes the coolest place to be.
Questions children ask
How long is the Karun?
The Karun is around 950 kilometres long. No other river in Iran is longer, and its whole course stays inside the country.
Which country does the Karun flow through?
The Karun flows only through Iran, mostly in the south-western province of Khuzestan. It starts in the mountains and ends close to the border.
Where does the Karun flow into?
The Karun flows into the Arvand Rud near Khorramshahr. That broad waterway then carries its water onwards to the Persian Gulf.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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