Ebrahim Raisi demonstrated in every meeting, press conference, and circle that he is not only incapable of answering the most basic questions expected of someone who becomes the head of the executive branch to run a government but also that he has no approach for the country’s multi-layered crises over the past decades since the ayatollahs’ government began.
The issue of brain drain and Iranian migration is one of the major crises that every new president of the regime has attempted to address and failed to do so.
Raisi appealed to Iranians living abroad to return to Iran and reassured them about their investment in the country during his first press conference on Monday, June 21.
The remarkable element of the narrative is that a man who was one of the main causes for the Iranian people fleeing the nation due to years of crime, execution, and torture is now expecting them to return and assuring them of a safe and secure future.
On June 24, the state-run media Etemad published a piece headlined “Why should they come back, you tell us Mr. Raisi,” in which it stated:
“The return of intellectual capital and professionals and ordinary citizens to the country needs to reduce strictures and misunderstandings.
There have been many officials in the country who have promised to open the doors and even demanded the return of Iranian immigrants at their request and invitation.
In practice, however, what has prevented this process from accelerating or stopping has been selective treatment, threats, and abuse of those who have sought to return.” Etemad added.
“You must be familiar with this phenomenon due to your long presence in the judiciary, and you know many who have intended to return home, have given up before traveling or after coming to Iran. You know that due to extremism, they have either not been provided with the opportunity to work in Iran, or if they have, they got in trouble and they prefer to stay outside the country than to return.
The piece addressed the massive boycott that the recent presidential elections saw. According to Iranian opposition The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) claims, just about 10% of eligible voters cast ballots in the regime’s sham election.
Many of these people were obliged to vote, including troops and government personnel.
“If you want to give hope and relief to the community, we have not to interfere in the people’s lives. The insistence on promoting a certain form of life and struggling with different generations and strata of society to accommodate a certain kind of thinking and ideology has only led to dissatisfaction.
This was evidenced by the presence of the people in the elections and the millions of absentees and millions of invalid votes if there is someone who can pay attention.” the piece read.
“Mr. Raisi, it is difficult to bring capital into the country. If it is an Iranian or foreign investor. You saw that even during the honeymoon of the JCPOA [2015 Iran nuclear deal], we could not attract foreign investors because tough economic sanctions did not allow it and international banks did not allow it too. Because the investment risk in Iran is high. “Etemad continued.
The brain drain exodus began not long after Ruhollah Khomeini’s take over in 1979. The following years exacerbated this phenomenon and the numbers have risen. As years have gone by, more and more of this group have fled the country, making Iran one of the leading countries experiencing a brain drain.
MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook)
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
