Referring to Iran’s protest movement in 2022, former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said those involved thought the Islamic Republic would fall with a few slogans.

Addressing a meeting called “The New Order of the World” in the capital city Tehran, he accused the demonstrators of “wishing too much,” adding that it is a general characteristic of Iranian society.

Iran witnessed massive protests after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was killed in September 2022 while she was in morality police's custody. According to reports, more than 500 demonstrators were killed by regime’s security forces in a few weeks.

Zarif also discussed the increasing wave of emigration from Iran, saying many are idealistically after finding a paradise in foreign countries.

“They do not know that they and their spouses have to work day and night so that they might be able to purchase a 60-meter house in installments,” he claimed.

Zarif’s remarks come against the backdrop of what some experts call Iran’s “emigration crisis.” Earlier in the month, Secretary-general of the Iranian Medical Society Mohammad-Reza Zafarqandi warned about emigration of elite workforce and professionals from various medical and non-medical sectors amid economic crisis, noting that vital signs pointing to an emigration crisis have reached a critical level.

Over the past weeks, Zarif has tried to espouse positions close to those of the establishment in Iran in an attempt not to fade away from the country’s political stage, according to observers.

Last week, he claimed the popularity of Iran's Palestinian proxy, Hamas, has “greatly increased” in the wake of the atrocities of October 7. In January, Zarif also voiced support for Iran’s regional proxy groups, dubbed the “Axis of Resistance.”