I was reading about Iran and learned Iran has one of the highest educated people in muslim world , probably second to Turkey . Most of them are decent in urban centers having good view about India and many from middle upper middle have studied here in india .. There is a stark divide between establishment and general public which you won't probably find in other countries .
During the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
Iran was transformed from a majority agricultural economy to one of industry and foreign exports. When mullha regime came they declared in their new sharia constitution
" economy of Iran must not be an end itself but rather a means to an end, the end being obedience to God."
state of Iran nationalized nearly all of the major players in Iran’s economy. we all have seen what such policy did to us in India

. The lost decades of India and its after effects still persists . Iran had atleast oil and gas with it .
They really had bad luck .. If the islamic revolution and the iran-iraq war had not happened there could have been economy somewhere near japan/germany . In Iraq war alone they lost atleast 10 lakhs people and 100s of billions dollars . Loosing 1 million in a population of 4/5 crore (80s iran) is too much .
There has been also heavy capital flight since islamic revolution . And then came the nuclear adventure and sanctions . Trade restrictions over recent years did lots of damage as well .