Iran is planning to build a Formula One circuit on the island of Qeshm which it hopes will become "one of the world's most beautiful".
F1 continues to expand to new countries, with Mexico returning to the 2015 calendar and Azerbaijan's capital city Baku set to host next year's European Grand Prix. Masoud Soltanifar, the Vice President and Head of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation, says Iran is the latest nation to take an interest in the sport.
"Iran has so many young people with an increasing tendency for driving, Formula One has a great future in Iran," the official told the IRNA news agency. "It has the potential to become one of the world's most beautiful F1 destinations".
Qeshm is located a few kilometres off the southern coast of Iran. Soltanifar's announcement comes with the future of the Italian Grand Prix increasingly uncertain beyond 2016 and only months after this year's German Grand Prix was cancelled.