Of course, I didn't become an architect, but later on in Iran, I had a lot of contact and discussions with architects because Iran was developing, and I felt we shouldn't destroy the past and copy completely the West, which is the problem in developing countries.

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

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.

In Iran, as in all developing countries, they wanted to copy the outside world, without knowing what was good for our own country.

I hope that things will change, because it's a pity that a country like Iran is not where it should be, or where it has been historically. It's important for Iran, for all of the Middle East, and also for the rest of the world.

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.

You cannot expect a foreign country to be more Catholic than the pope for you.