A country I controlled (4)
I believe the answer is:
iran
'a country' is the definition.
(Iran is a country)
'i controlled' is the wordplay.
'controlled' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this in another clue).
'i'+'ran'='IRAN'
(Other definitions for iran that I've seen before include "oil supplier" , "Country where ayatollahs replaced a shah" , "Asian country" , "Country to east of Iraq" , "Persia some time ago" .)