City (pop., 1996: 1,191,043), northwestern Iran.
Earthquakes and invasions by Arabs, Turks, and Mongols have damaged the city numerous times. The Turkic ruler Timur conquered it in 1392. During the next 200 years control passed several times between Ṣafavid Iran and the Ottoman Empire. During the 18th–19th centuries it passed between the Ottomans and the Russian Empire, and the same powers fought over it in World War I (1914–18). In the 1850s a schismatic Shīʽite religious leader known as the Iran-Iraq War (1980–90). Notable ancient sites include the 15th-century Blue Mosque, renowned for the splendour of its blue tile decoration, and the remains of the 12-sided tomb of Mongol leader {{link=Ghazan, Mahmud">Mahmūd Ghāzān .