again, the Afsharid Dynasty.
Nader Shah completely remade the Persian army, modernized it, built a navy, and embarked on a campaign where he went from re-conquering the Caucasus (briefly) up to sacking Delhi.
The entire reign of Nader Shah has more than enough material for a civ. And that’s just one leader.
Again, Persia wasn’t partitioned among colonial powers or whatnot. The rough timeline is Safavids taking over, Afsharids coming after, then Zand, and finally Qajar coming around the 19th century and lasting until the 1920s (then it’s a weird transition period, then Pahlavis and finally modern Iran).
There were changes of Dynasties yes, but there was some sort of “Iran” or "Persia through pretty much the entire period the game covers.