Iranian workers seek opportunity elsewhere: analysts

The steady stream of Iranian workers, among them highly-skilled professionals, who leave their homeland to seek greater freedom and opportunity elsewhere, reflects the bitter reality Iranians face at home.

The outflow of talent is a sure sign of the pressure Iranians face from the hard-line regime that has governed their country for the past four decades, analysts tell Al-Mashareq.

Government corruption and nepotism, economic woes and foreign policy that has favoured external expansion over domestic welfare have pushed many Iranians to leave their homeland when they have the opportunity.

And once they leave the country, they have little incentive to return.

Each year since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Iranians have left the country, according to the BBC.

"The number of Iranian emigres and those fleeing the tyranny of the ruling regime in Iran is likely to go up," Iraqi MP and Iraqi Ummah Party leader Mithal al-Alousi told Al-Mashareq.

"If more opportunities are available to escape, we would be facing millions of people leaving, with highly educated people and intellectuals being at the forefront of such an exodus," he said.

Desperate to get out

To circumvent the restrictions imposed on their travel by the Iranian regime, some Iranians apply for tourist or medical treatment visas, al-Alousi said.

They head to neighbouring countries, particularly Iraq, and from there on to a third country in search of a better life and future, he added.

Iranian government statistics indicate more than 40% of the unemployed in Iran are university graduates, which is one reason many fail to return after completing their education abroad.

Another reason for the exodus of Iranian professionals is the rampant nepotism throughout government institutions, al-Alousi said, noting that public sector positions are often handed to those who have links to the regime.

"Corruption is a strong factor behind this migration, but it is not the only one," he said. "Silencing of voices, infringement of public rights and freedoms as well as random detention campaigns and forced disappearances and eliminations of activists contributes towards this trend."

This is all part of the Iranian regime's efforts to maintain control, he said.

The economic loss for Iran as a result of its brain drain is "nothing compared to the loss of the country’s cultural and ethnic diversity and the future of its people as a result of corrupt leaders who only look out for their own interests", he said.

No concern for the people

"The rulers of Iran do not care for the problems and suffering of the Iranian population due to economic crises," Iraqi strategy expert Alaa al-Nashou told Al-Mashareq, noting that these have been exacerbated by the regime's policies.

"They are only concerned with strengthening their influence abroad and depleting the resources of other countries through flagrant intervention in the affairs of these countries," he said.

Immigration has become the only option for many Iranians, especially talented professionals and scientists who now feel marginalised and excluded, he added.

"The corruption of the ruling class in Iran and its failure to run the country efficiently has turned the lives of Iranians into a living hell at the social, economic and service levels," al-Nashou added.

"A large percentage of Iranians are now living in their country in abject poverty, and their economic prospects are getting worse," Ghazi Faisal Hussain, an advisor at the Iraqi Centre for Strategic Studies, told Al-Mashareq.

"The Iranian regime has caused poverty, unemployment and corruption for its population, while deploying all of the country’s resources to feed sectarian conflicts in the region and generously financing its proxies," he said.

The regime is heavily focused on spreading the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist), he said, which calls for allegiance to al-Wali al-Faqih (Khamenei).

According to Hussain, the Iranian regime "is digging its own grave as a result of its policies that do not serve the interests of the Iranian people but only contribute towards increasing its suffering".