Did the World Chess Federation get jealous of all the attention FIFA was getting? How is the decision to host an international competition in Iran made?
Not, however, in this case. It's in Iran for the simple reason that only Iran submitted a bid to host it.
It was originally supposed to be late last year, but nobody bid, and FIDE had to move it back a few months and try again. On the retry they got a single bid, from Iran.
It's just soccer is covered by television and chess is not. That's why you don't hear about it usually.