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My essential identity is that of a writer.

Few Iranians these days go through the fiction of calling themselves 'Persian.' Calling yourself Persian is a way of distancing themselves from Iran.

My identity is always at the forefront, and I also think that every article that is written about me refers to me as an Israeli architect.

I have to expend an awful lot of energy actively undoing the impact of my name. Understandably, people assume that I have at least some connection to Iran. The truth is that I don't. I have very little knowledge about the culture, the language, the history. I've never been to Iran. I've never even been inside a mosque.

I was born in Iran, left at a very young age - less than a year old - and grew up and was educated in the West.

Iranians defend and present their Islamic and Iranian identity to other people worldwide.

I proud to say that most of the Iranians love me and love my work. I love them, and I always have them in my mind when I work. There are few people who do not agree with me, but truly, I don't care. I call myself an actress with a mission.

Foreign journalists have to have an approved interpreter assigned them, which they have to pay for, who also acts as guide. As an Iranian, even writing for foreign media, I've been mercifully unrestricted.

I think I really produce my best work in Iran.

I am neither an Occidental writer nor a Russian writer. I am an accidental writer.