Addressing a gathering at the Iranian House of Humanities Thinkers on migration of experts and professionals from Iran, Zarif said the problem started after the ‘people-oriented’ policies set in the post-Islamic Revolution era were replaced by ‘tool-oriented’ policies.
The former top diplomat said, “Development should be human-centered and human beings are at the center of development,” reminding, “Those who resisted during the (Iran-Iraq) war, those ones who resisted against the (US-led Western) sanctions, and those who prevented the 2002 war in Iraq from coming to Iran were the people, not the tools.”
Zarif noted that the country saw signs of reverse immigration of the elites in 2015, giving the credit partly to former vice president for science and technology Sorena Sattari, under then president Hassan Rouhani, ‘only by creating hope’ among the Iranian migrants.
“Unfortunately, with a consistent policy, we build up despair and humility in this country,” he said.
Although no official figures have been released on the migration from Iran, some reports indicate that the country ranks high in terms of the number of migrants.
