The main reason for my trip was to visit my friend Mohammad, who is from Iran but who went to college and grad school in the U.S.
Here he is in the mountains south of the Caspian Sea. The scenery through the mountains is striking---arid hills, with green in the irrigated valleys, and little farming (mostly sheep and goat herding, I think) in small villages.
Farther north, closer to the Caspian, the climate is very moist---in fact, it's a major rice-growing area.