Brain Drain Blights Iran’s Economy as Investors Wait in Wings

Drawing on a cigarette at his flat in central Tehran, Araz Alipour counts on one hand his college friends who have chosen to build a career in Iran.

“Easily 90 percent of them have gone overseas,” the 29-year-old software developer said, reflecting on a middle-class flight that has seen many of the nation’s best scientists and engineers leave. “Of my 45 university classmates, I guess maybe five are left.”