How Iran’s Expatriates Are Powering Its Tech Sector

The 1979 Iranian Revolution reshaped the ideological, social, and economic landscape of Iran, resulting in a profound change in Tehran’s economic priorities. The ultimate result of these changes—particularly the new government’s hostility to Western and liberal economic theories—was decades of international sanctions and a massive brain drain, driving Iranian intellectuals to leave the country for Europe and the United States.

More than four decades after the revolution, Iran’s highly educated, skilled, and often wealthy expatriate class has emerged as a key pillar of support for Iranian domestic startups. Drawing on their global experience, the Iranian diaspora has become a decentralized, informal network of “code diplomats” who quietly move knowledge, capital, and infrastructure across borders in defiance of sanctions and censorship. This is in stark contrast to the traditional image of the Iranian diaspora—educated professionals whose counter-revolutionary nature became their unwavering identity. In contrast, the new image of the Iranian diaspora is characterized less by ideology than by “technical assistance” and “political neutrality.”

Tech Growth Amid Isolation

Iranian industries are isolated by secondary US sanctions, and Iranian access to the latest global technologies is difficult, if not impossible. This makes the rise of Iranian startups in the digital and internet fields all the more remarkable, demonstrating the high level of skill, passion, and expertise among Iranian youth today.

Though Iran is economically isolated through sanctions, the Iranian people are far from technologically illiterate. In 2023, an estimated 80 percent of Iranians used the Internet, higher than the global average of 72.46 percent. With a population  of 90 million, Iran has about 151 million mobile phone subscribers, and an estimated 94 percent of the total population has access to mobile phones. Every year, the number of young Iranian professionals interested in modern digital technologies and start-ups increases.

The annual growth rate of startups in Iran is estimated at 14.1 percent from April 2024 to April 2025. According to Hossein Afshin, the Vice President for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, the revenue of Iranian knowledge-based companies increased by 60 percent in the last year (from March 2024 to March 2025), and sales of knowledge-based products increased by 40 percent compared to 2023.

Code-Writing Diplomats

The desire among Iranian digital startups to benefit from the world’s most advanced technologies has fueled their drive to connect with companies and individuals in the Iranian tech diaspora. Over the past decade, this interest has been reciprocal, with the Iranian diaspora providing opportunities for collaboration and technical assistance to Iranian digital companies that are unable to access advanced technologies because of sanctions. In this manner, the Iranian diaspora functions as a network of virtual embassies—free from political interference or dreams of overthrowing the regime.

For example, a number of Iranian expatriates launched OpenHopeHack on GitHub—a project that has become a symbol of diaspora mentorship inside Iran. These expatriate professionals encourage young Iranians to participate in open-source projects. By offering prizes such as laptops, they also help young people gain practical experience in the open-source community. In addition, prominent events such as iBRIDGES—an annual conference organized by the Iranian diaspora that connects overseas Iranian technology professionals with entrepreneurs inside Iran—serve as structured exchanges that stand apart from political lobbying. Political neutrality and technical assistance have enabled the tech diaspora to play an increasingly significant role within the country, operating separately from strict government oversight and serving as a bridge for technology transfer into the country.

The fifth Connect+ Forum was held in April at the Iran House of Innovation and Technology (iHiT) to facilitate the role of knowledge exchange between Iranian experts abroad and domestic technology leaders. According to statistics from the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, Iranians living abroad remotely launched 200 startups inside the country, the result of cooperation between more than 2,400 Iranians living abroad and domestic, scientific, and industrial centers. From 2015 to 2022, 2,000 Iranian experts involved in such projects returned to the country.

Crucially, “tech whisperers” are neither regime loyalists nor political agitators, existing outside Iran’s turbulent political sphere altogether. They embody generational continuity, retain Iranian immigrant talent, and quietly contribute to digital ecosystems.

Ideology Hinders Technical Participation

The Iranian government appears to have been caught off-guard by Iranian entrepreneurs’ cooperation with the technical diaspora, and it has struggled to maintain a consistent response. Tehran sees the economic value in its businesses cooperating with the diaspora and benefiting from their financial and technological assistance. At the same time, the theocratic government remains extremely suspicious of the diaspora, which is largely anti-clerical in its outlook. Successive governments in Iran seem to have concluded that, in light of international sanctions, they must rely on help from the Iranian diaspora. Still, during periods of domestic unrest, Tehran has tended to crack down on this engagement, sacrificing potential economic progress for regime stability.

For example, Iran’s iBRIDGES event is considered an exceptional opportunity to find foreign investors for startups. Parviz Karami, an official in the science and technology sector in the administration of former President Hassan Rouhani,

However, the actions of some tech diaspora groups in the 2022-23 Mahsa Amini protests have led the regime to maintain a cautious distance from them. During the protests, Amin Sabeti, a cyber-security expert and a member of the diaspora, founded Certfa Lab, a research group that tracks hackers linked to the Iranian government. Under Sabeti’s leadership, Certfa Lab launched a project called “rapid response,” urging major tech companies to disable the social media accounts of arrested individuals before Iranian security officials can search their devices. Such activities have led some hardliners inside Iran to accuse foreign tech collaborators within the diaspora of being Western spies.

The conspiracy-minded Vatan Emrooz newspaper ran a front-page article on November 23, 2015, warning that the Iranian tech diaspora were “children of capitalism” intent on spreading subversion within Iran. The newspaper described the establishment of global startup weekends—like iBRIDGES—as the result of a “neocolonial” design by the US State Department.

Permitted or Not, Iran’s Tech Diaspora is Shaping the Future

Iranian tech expatriates are no longer passive observers, but are actively engaged with Iran’s youth and startup community. From advising companies at the early-stage to helping implement infrastructure to scale-up projects, these Iranian mentors are creating networks that overshadow forms of conventional diplomacy. By offering guidance freed from political conditions, Iranian expatriates are empowering domestic entrepreneurs to experiment with new technologies and connect with global markets, all while navigating widespread sanctions and regulatory challenges.

In the current climate, code speaks louder than diplomacy. While policymakers in Vienna or New York are negotiating nuclear agreements, these “ghost mentors” are diligently building resilience in unpredictable ways. This promising collaboration, however, will only flourish when politics and ideology step aside for goodwill and mutual growth.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Gulf International Forum.