.....I had an interesting four hour chat with an Iranian business man after a fortunate upgrade for me. He reckoned that there was an "arc of competence" of Iran, northern Iraq, Jordan, Syria and over into north Africa. where they would always thrive. Mainly because they were educated, intelligent and entrepreneurial. The others, Kuwaitis UAE and Saudi, he reckoned would revert to the stone age without oil in pretty short order.
Nope nothing political there.... apart from the entire Shia/Sunni dispute and the "Shia Crescent" as the probable cause of a major, if not nuclear, war in the region....
The 'Shia Crescent' and Middle East Geopolitics - Foreign Policy Blogs