Which factor played a major role in the decline of the Safavid Empire?

A. The economy suffered after high taxes stifled trade with Europeans.

B. Leaders that ruled after the death of Shah Abbas were ineffective.

C. The military was weakened after the defeat at the siege of Vienna.

D. The Ottoman Empire invaded and took control of the entire Middle East.

B. Leaders that ruled after the death of Shah Abbas were ineffective.

Explanation:

The Safavid Empire is considered the largest Iranian Empire since the Muslim conquest of Persia. The safavids are original of Ardabil, a city of the Iranian Azerbaijan, at that time a region in the north of Iran. They were predominantly an Azeri-speaking Turkish dynasty, whose classical language was Persian. The Safavids created a unified and independent Iranian State for the first time since the Muslim conquest of Persia, reaffirmed Iranian political identity and established Shiite Islam as the official religion of Iran. The Safavids ruled Iran between 1502 and 1722, the year in which the Pashtun forces of Mir Mahmud Hotaki invaded their dominions. The decline of the empire began after the death of Shah Abbas, when the leaders lost power over their territories. Later, in 1736, the Afsarid dynasty seized the territory, although some Safavid lords lasted until 1760.

Many of the leaders were ineffective, but the Ottoman Empire certainly had a superior role in the collapse of that Persian empire than any other option provided.