>>>>About the only thing they have in common with ancient Persia is geography.
>>>
>>>More or less my thoughts - but just to be accurate, wouldn't the people of today be, to a great extent, descendants of the ancient Persans? - I am not sure about this.
>>
>>I've never heard them being called any other name than Persians or Iranians. They don't seem to be Arabic.
>>
>>And I think every Persian government in the past was insisting on this heritage. This isn't anything new.
>
>No, I guess the claim isn't new. But the question I pose is, how similar is the current government really to the ancient one.

Iran today is an Islamic theocratic republic. In 559 BC, a devoted Zoroastrianism named Cyrus became the chief of a tribe in the south of Persia. His ambition was to conquer the world. He created an imperial government and united Persia.