Jask ( and Balochi: جاشک) is a city in the Central District of Jask County, Hormozgan province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, serving as capital of both the county and the district.

Demographics

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 11,133 in 2,406 households. The following census in 2011 counted 13,810 people in 2,958 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 16,860 people in 4,415 households. Jask is a port town, about south of

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, situated on the Gulf of Oman. It is the site of an Iranian Navy base that opened on 28 October 2008. The base's position provides the Iranian Navy with the capability to close the Strait of Hormuz in order to block the entry of an "enemy" into the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari remarked on the base's opening that Iran was "creating a new defense front in the region, thinking of a non-regional enemy." The port of Jask is also the proposed end of the Neka-Jask pipeline. The city also has the Jask Airport.

Port of Jask

The port of Jask is a small port on the western part of Iran's coast along the Gulf of Oman. However, over the last few years it has seen a steady growth of its export freight flows to

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

, mostly agricultural products, including refrigerated, and construction materials Major developments for the port of Jask were announced by Iranian authorities in early 2019, i.e. the construction of a new terminal for oil tankers for a total investment of US$700 million, to be followed by the construction of a refinery and of a petrochemical plant. These developments are part of a total investment of US$1.8 billion centered on the construction of a new oil pipeline from Goreh, Bushehr to Jask in order to pump and export oil from Northern Iran. When these investments are completed in Jask, they will contribute to developing Iran's southern regional economy, as is already the case further east at Chabahar Port, and to facilitating exports through ports which do not require ships to enter the

through the Hormuz Strait.

History

The

English people The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language in England, English language, a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language, and share a common ancestry, history, and culture. The Engl ...

made Jask their primary commercial port in the 17th century, and in 1616 AD, a ship carrying their first shipment sailed from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and arrived at Jask. English businessmen founded the first East India Company trading post in Jask in the year 1619. Jask served as the East India Company's hub for trade and transactions with the Iranian central region up until Bandar Abbas was given responsibility for English trade. The English and Portuguese engaged in a bloody battle that ended with the Portuguese being defeated and driven from Jask in the late 1620s after the Portuguese blocked two East India Company ships from entering the port.

Language

The linguistic composition of the city:

Climate

Jask has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BWh''), with very hot summers, warm winters and little precipitation. Due to winds blowing off the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, the city has experienced some of the highest

dew point The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to produce a relative humidity of 100%. This temperature depends on the pressure and water content of the air. When the air at a temperature above the ...

s and heat indices in the world. On July 31, 2015, Jask observed a temperature of degrees with a dew point of , leading to a

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shade (shadow), shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the Shade (s ...

of . On July 20, 2012, Jask experienced a dew point temperature of .

Notes

References

{{Jask County, state=collapsed Cities in Hormozgan province Populated places in Jask County Port cities and towns in Iran