What happened to Iran in the Cyberpunk universe (2020–2077)?

In Cyberpunk lore, Iran (Persian Radiological Exclusion Sector (Post-1997 Meltdown)) is aligned with Petrochem & SovOil Automated Reclamation Rigs. In 2020 (● VITRIFIED RADIOACTIVE SLAG, Sovereignty 0%): By 2020, vast stretches of western and southern Iran remain fused into radioactive silica glass swept by lethal fallout sandstorms. By 2077 (● PERMANENT RADIOLOGICAL TOMB, Sovereignty 0%): Eighty years after the 1997 Meltdown, the Iranian interior remains marked on global cartography as an uninhabitable radiological hazard sector.

ATLAS/NATIONS/IRN

← [IDN] Indonesia [IRQ] Iraq →

ISO IRN● 2077 STATUS: IRRADIATED DEADZONE● SPHERE: NON-ALIGNED

Iran

Persian Radiological Exclusion Sector (Post-1997 Meltdown)

[MAP: 1994 →][MAP: 2002 →][MAP: 2020 →][MAP: 2045 →][MAP: 2077 →]

CAPITAL / PRIMARY HUB: Tehran (Irradiated Ruin)
DOMINANT MEGACORPORATION / POWER BLOC: Petrochem & SovOil Automated Reclamation Rigs
CANONICAL SOURCEBOOK CITATION: Cyberpunk 2020 Core Rulebook (1990), p. 176 · Firestorm: Stormfront & Shockwave (1997), pp. 56–60 · Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook (2020), p. 252 · The World of Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), p. 43

Chronological Geopolitical Record (1994–2077)

Complete era-by-era archival telemetry for Iran across all five canonical Cyberpunk anchor years.

ERA 1994 // 1994 CRASH·● THERMONUCLEAR BRINKMANSHIP·● BIOTECHNICA

1994: Iran — World Stock Crash & US Collapse

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 30%[LAUNCH 1994 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (1994): Tehran Supreme Defense Directorate

01.Following the 1994 World Stock Crash, collapsing oil revenues and regional proxy wars push Iran and its neighbors into frantic tactical nuclear armament.
02.Foreign oil syndicates and Soviet arms dealers flood the Persian Gulf with surplus strategic warheads and ballistic missile batteries.
03.Armed clashes over Strait of Hormuz tanker tariffs escalate toward full-scale regional mobilization.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENTMass Conscription & Coastal Refinery Strikes

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMECollapsed Rial · Oil Barter

ERA 2002 // SOVOIL COUP·● 1997 MIDEAST NUCLEAR MELTDOWN·● NON-ALIGNED

2002: Iran — SovOil Coup & Mideast Meltdown

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2002 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2002): None — Uninhabitable Thermonuclear Glass Zone

01.In 1997, escalating hostilities between Iran, Iraq, Libya, Chad, and neighboring Gulf states culminate in the Mideast Meltdown—a catastrophic week-long thermonuclear exchange.
02.Tehran, Isfahan, and the Khuzestan oil fields are vaporized, destroying over 50% of the planet’s remaining crude petroleum reserves and ending the oil age.
03.Lethal radioactive fallout blankets the Iranian plateau, killing tens of millions and forcing the world to adopt Biotechnica’s synthetic CHOOH2 biofuel.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENT45M+ Dead in Iran Alone · 90% Regional Depopulation

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMENon-Existent (Total Societal Extinction)

ERA 2020 // 4TH CORP WAR·● VITRIFIED RADIOACTIVE SLAG·● NON-ALIGNED

2020: Iran — Fourth Corporate War & DataKrash

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2020 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2020): Automated Corporate Strip-Mining Concessions

01.By 2020, vast stretches of western and southern Iran remain fused into radioactive silica glass swept by lethal fallout sandstorms.
02.Only heavily shielded corporate extraction crawlers operated by full-body cyborgs and drone crews enter Khuzestan to strip rare-earth minerals.
03.Small pockets of heavily mutated and cyber-scavenging Nomad survivors cling to existence in the northern Alborz mountain valleys.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENTLethal Sievert Radiation Across Central & Southern Basins

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMEAutomated Corporate Mineral Extraction Only

ERA 2045 // TIME OF THE RED·● CONTAMINATED WASTELAND CORRIDOR·● NON-ALIGNED

2045: Iran — Time of the Red & Reconstruction

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2045 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2045): SovOil & Petrochem Hazmat Reclamation Outposts

01.During the Time of the Red, atmospheric dust from the Night City nuke merges with lingering Persian Gulf fallout belts.
02.SovOil establishes pressurized, lead-shielded relay stations along the Caspian coast to monitor automated trans-plateau pipelines.
03.Rogue automated combat tanks left over from 1997 and the Fourth Corporate War continue to roam the interior glass deserts.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENT98% Historic Population Lost or Displaced

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMECorporate Reclamation Scrip

ERA 2077 // MODERN DYSTOPIA·● PERMANENT RADIOLOGICAL TOMB·● NON-ALIGNED

2077: Iran — Modern Megacorp Hegemony

SOVEREIGNTY INDEX: 0%[LAUNCH 2077 MAP →]

CONTROLLING AUTHORITY (2077): Extraterritorial Corporate Weapons Proving Grounds

01.Eighty years after the 1997 Meltdown, the Iranian interior remains marked on global cartography as an uninhabitable radiological hazard sector.
02.Arasaka, Militech, and SovOil use the uninhabited glass plains as live-fire proving grounds for experimental autonomous mechs and orbital weaponry.
03.Surviving Caspian coastal enclaves live in pressurized domes wholly dependent on SovOil air and water filtration.

HUMAN TOLL & CASUALTY ASSESSMENTPermanent Ecological & National Extinction

MONETARY & ECONOMIC REGIMEExtraterritorial Corporate Test Sector

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