Mashhad is the second most populous city in Iran and capital of Razavi Khorasan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country, bordering with Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Its population was about 3,400,000 at the 2016 census. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road connecting with Merv in the east.

The city gained its current name meaning "place of martyrdom" in reference to the Imam Reza shrine, the tomb of eighth Shia Imam. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine and pay their tributes to Imam Reza. So on 30 October 2009 (the anniversary of Imam Reza's martyrdom), Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Mashhad to be "Iran's spiritual capital"”. Mashhad is also famously known as the city of Ferdowsi, the Iranian poet of the Shahnameh, which is considered to be the national epic of Iran.