I believe in freedom for women to have equal rights - the right to work, the right to hold high positions, the right to take custody of their children after divorcing.

It's normal that countries work for their own benefit, political and economic.

I remember I went to an exhibition somewhere and one of the artists, an Iranian lady, said, "I wish we had somewhere that our paintings would stay forever." So this idea came to me. I said, "She's right, we should have a place to keep them, and not only Iranian art works, but also of foreign artists."

I always want to remain positive. In our long history, Iran has been invaded by so many other countries and despite it all, the Iranian identity has survived. People are very courageous, especially the women, who are braver than the men.

There are many people inside Iran who say, "We don't have enough to eat. Why do we need a nuclear bomb?"

Monarchies are above political parties. Sometimes political parties do things that are to the disadvantage of the country because they want to beat the other party. In Iran, where we have different religions and ethnic groups, it was a unifying factor.

I wanted to preserve the old buildings, not to destroy them and build something new.