British Ambassador's Video About Iran Sparks Reactions

“I went to the United States in 2014 where I delivered a speech to [expat] Iranians. All of them longed to return home,” he said in a speech to his former aides and ministers on August 28 a short video of which was only published on Tuesday. 

Rouhani added that an expatriate, apparently with high qualifications, who returned after this meeting was arrested at the airport, presumably by security forces taking their orders from places other than his government. 

“They shut the door. Sadly, some people are happy that our talented youth are leaving. They say, 'Let them go so that others who support the hardline government can take their place,'" he said.

“We would not be facing this level of emigration if effective action had been taken by the government,” warned Shahriyar Heidari, an independent lawmaker who is deputy chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the parliament. He also expressed concern about serious damage to the country’s academic foundations. “Most of the emigrants are gifted and expert individuals,” he added. 

Pundits have repeatedly warned about the surge in emigration of academics, entrepreneurs, and professionals, particularly healthcare staff, and the younger elite since hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, took office two years ago. 

There is no transparent data on emigration of Iranian elite and professionals, but some lawmakers occasionally provide fragmentary information about the scope of the problem.

Among those who have lost hope in the country’s prospects, particularly the younger generation from all walks of life, emigration appears to be the only option for a better life. A recent poll by the US-based Statis Consulting found that almost half of Iranian youth want to leave the country amid pessimism about their future.

“All around me there are people who are emigrating, essentially escaping, those who never wished or liked to go. I wish you [the Islamic Republic] were gone and all of these people stayed,” an anonymous person wrote said on social media. 

Bahram Salavati, the head of Iran Migration Observatory (IMO), warned about "mass migration" and loss of human capital due to what he dubbed "Venezuelization of the Iranian economy" resulting from low “economic stability” and inflation in January 2021. "The desire to migrate once prevalent among the educated and the elite is now rapidly spreading among various social classes, particularly the low-income groups.”

The IMO, a research institute founded during Rouhani's second term as president at Sharif University of Technology, monitors data and produces analyses on emigration, particularly for policymakers. The IMO published the first edition of Iran Migration Outlook, which includes data on Iranian emigrants worldwide, international students, and asylum-related emigrants.

On August 2, while expressing his frustration over the lack of support for their efforts to mitigate the brain drain phenomenon, Salavati said that the observatory's funding had stopped, and they had been ordered to vacate their offices. 

An IMO survey in 2022 found that economic and social instability, institutionalized corruption, and the regime's governance methods were responsible for the very high desire to emigrate among medical students, professors, and other healthcare professionals, with the UAE being their top destination.

Countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany, Turkey, Oman, and the United Kingdom are other favorite destinations for Iranians leaving their homeland behind in search of a better life and improved opportunities.

In July 2021, Salavati had told the Hamshahri newspaper that the closure of the gap between a desire to leave and a decision to leave meant "a drop in hope as well as economic and social participation in Iran," as other countries offered various educational, professional, investment, or social attractions.

Daniel Abed Khalife was in Wandsworth Prison when he escaped by clinging onto the bottom of a food delivery van. The 21-year-old is accused of trying to leak information to Iran and leaving fake bombs at a military base before his arrest in January.

Charged under the Official Secrets Act, he is accused of collecting personal information about soldiers from the Ministry of Defence joint personnel administration system while serving as a soldier.

Justice minister Alex Chalk told MPs that “strapping” had been found underneath the delivery vehicle and said an internal inquiry must report to him by the end of the week with a list of prison staff who were on duty at the time, notably those at the kitchens and security gates.

“No stone must be left unturned in getting to the bottom of what happened,” he told MPs.

Questions now remain as to how Khalife - labeled a flight risk and in turn, denied bail while awaiting trial - was allowed to work in the kitchen, giving him access to the delivery vehicle, a “privileged job” given usually only to the most trusted inmates, according to former Prison Governor, John Podmore.

Podmore told Times Radio: “Someone like him would not be allowed access to work the kitchen”, suspecting it was a premeditated escape with little chance of his being found. Further questions are being asked as to why, given the nature of the charges against Khalife, he was not in a maximum security category A or B prison such as Belmarsh.

Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020, under the order of then-President Donald Trump, who claimed Soleimani was actively planning attacks on American diplomats and service members in the region.

Kazem Gharibabadi stated, "The investigation into the crimes of suspects, including Donald Trump, Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Former US CENTCOM commander General Kenneth McKenzie, is on the agenda, and the court will start the trial and administer justice based on compelling and convincing evidence."

He further explained that the indictment related to the “assassination” of Qasem Soleimani was issued several months ago and has been submitted to the court.

“Currently, preparations for the trial are underway, with expectations that trial sessions will commence within the next two to three months.”

Since Soleimani’s killing, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was charged with planning to assassinate John Bolton, the former US National Security Advisor, in retaliation for the military commander’s death. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also identified as a potential target in the same plot.

Qasem Soleimani was a key figure in Iran's external military and intelligence operations, responsible for supporting and organizing militant proxy forces, including Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite militia groups that have engaged in hostilities against US forces in the region.

Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the House Oversight Committee will hold the hearing titled “A Dangerous Strategy: Examining the Biden Administration’s Failures on Iran.” The session will examine “how the Biden administration has repeatedly engaged in secret negotiations with Iran, ignoring the emerging threats arising from Iran and its proxies.” 

The hearing on September 13 “will also look at ways the Biden administration has fallen short in assisting Americans trapped abroad and circumstances around dismissals of high-level officials.”

This appears to be the first full-fledged examination of the administration’s Iran policy after several revelations since late in June that have worried many observers and the Iranian American community.

In late June, Iran International first reported that President Joe Biden’s envoy for Iran, Robert Mallay was put on unpaid leave after his security clearance was suspended and the case was being examined by the FBI. To date, the administration has remained silent about what the underlying reasons were for Malley’s suspension, while other officials continued to hold secret talks with Iran with the mediation of Oman and Qatar.

In August, it was announced that the United States had agreed to unblock $6 billion of Iranian funds frozen at South Korean banks, weeks after it allowed Iraq to unfreeze $2.7 billion.

At the same time, it was announced that Iran had released five American hostages form prison into house arrest pending the full release of its funds before they would presumably be allowed to leave the country.

Critics accused the administration of paying outright ransom for the hostages, while the deal still left two more prisoners behind.

The media have also reported that the Biden team is secretly negotiating with Iran over a partial, unofficial understanding to reduce Tehran’s high-level uranium enrichment. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that Iran has accumulated more than 120 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which can be easily purified further to reach 90-percent, enough for up to five nuclear bombs. However, the pace of the enrichment has slowed down in recent weeks, giving credence to reports of a secret deal with Washington.

According to a 2015 INARA law, any administration trying to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran should keep Congress informed, which has the right to review the deal.

With the release of Tehran’s blocked funds and reports of more secret talks, Republicans in Congress began accusing the administration of potentially violating the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA).

The Subcommittee on National Security is headed by Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.). At this point, details about the hearing and potential participants are not clear. 

In announcing the hearing Rep. Grothman said in a statement, “The Biden administration’s foreign policy decisions regarding Iran continue to defy logic and are actively making Americans less safe at home and abroad. Despite promises, the Biden administration has failed to deliver transparency throughout negotiations…” 

The Subcommittee Chairman went on to say, “The Iranian regime poses a great threat to American foreign interests and stability in the Middle East region and this hearing is a great opportunity to examine all these issues and provide Americans at home with what the Biden administration refuses to: transparency and answers.”

The Iranian government labeled this attack as an act of terrorism while the gunmen responsible remain at large. 

The Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence issued a joint statement claiming the act was carried out by a network involved in "disruptive activities."

The statement, while lacking specific names or evidence, asserted that they had identified and targeted several members of the network, which it claimed had "financial support purportedly from the US Department of State.”

It also claimed members of the network had been providing free online training to activists in the women's and civil society sectors, both within and outside Iran, though there was no clear evidence given.

Furthermore, the intelligence organizations alleged that the group had recently conducted a training workshop for women's sector activists in May at a university in England with more planned this month, targeting civil activists and women in the online sphere with the intention to create more domestic uprising.

There have been reports of numerous attacks on military and government forces in the province in the past and since nationwide protests broke out in September 2022. The provincial capital Zahedan was the scene of a government massacre when around 90 citizens were gunned down during a protests September 30.