The Iranian plateau covers much of eastern Iran. It stretches south of the Alborz Mountains to the coast. Its western edge is marked by the Zagros Mountains and in the east it ends at the western edge of the Hindu Kush range, roughly at the Afghan-Iranian border. Southwest Pakistan, Balochistan, also sits on the Iranian plateau.

The eastern part of the plateau is arid and only moderately populated. The western parts have more rainfall and support large cities located on the foothills of the Iranian Plateua such as Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad and Shiraz. The eastern edge of the plateau is often taken as the eastern border of the Middle East.

See also: Geography of Iran.