A decade ago, Foad Fanaei packed his belongings and left sanction-hit Iran in the hope that the family’s engineering firm would thrive in Qatar. Starting up in the Gulf Arab state proved to be hard for a 27-year-old outsider who had to grapple with Qatar’s complex business laws and navigate the international financial constraints imposed over Iran’s nuclear program. Since then Fanaei has endured years of financial losses but kept the business going in the hope that one day the nuclear-related sanctions would be lifted.