Abstract The structurally and stratigraphically complex area of northern and central Iran holds the key to understanding the plate tectonic evolution of the South Caspian–Central Iran area. The closure of the Palaeotethys, the opening of the Neotethys, the rise and demise of the Cimmerian mountain chain, as well as the onset of Neotethys subduction and large-scale Neotethyan back-arc rifting all predated the formation of the more than 20 km-thick fill of the South Caspian Basin. This volume brings together work by specialists in different disciplines of the geosciences (tectonics, geophysics, sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, basin modelling and geodynamics) in order to elucidate the complex Late Palaeozoic–Cenozoic geodynamic history of the Iran area and the birth of the South Caspian Basin.