I think of Iran as desert (a particularly beautiful one, judging from the pictures), but I can't imagine Persia having the resources from a desert to become a world power. Was the area of Iran always a desert?
Ancient Iranians were hackers in the best sense [1], and experts at long range transport of water. Water was conveyed from the Alborz mountain range all the way to the south. The mongols destroyed much of this network (that was still functional after a thousand years) and that pretty much put an end to verdant growth in the central and easter regions.
