It is not easy to visit Iran these days – less than a thousand visas have been granted to Americans over the past 12 months. But with a sense that a new dialogue may be happening between this remarkable culture and the West, about a dozen CEOs from the U.S., U.K., and Canada with extensive experience in emerging markets persevered to take a closer look. We were secured in something of a bubble seeing sometimes what our guides, some explicitly working for the government, wanted us to see. Still, throughout our ten days this month in Tehran, the religious center of Qom and historic Kashan, Isfahan, and Shiraz, little of what we experienced was expected.

We came, of course, colored by the Western news cycle narrative. Iran, for us, was the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis from our youth, decades of Cold War diplomatic tit-for-tats, and a regime bent on suppressing its own people while actively supporting instability in the region. But after spending the past two years traveling across the Arab world (and writing a book about innovation and entrepreneurship in the region), I also knew how younger generations and new technologies can redefine business and engagement across the board.

We almost immediately learned that Iran is an astoundingly lovely place, with very little of the deep poverty one sees intertwined into the societies of most emerging markets. We visited some of the greatest historic and cultural centers we have ever seen. There is an excellent education system – their engineering, in particular, is globally competitive. We didn’t see a fraction of the religious tension we expected. Everywhere we went, people (especially young people) came up to us even on the streets, tourist spots and restaurants to say hello, to thank us for being there, to express affection.

We met with a wide cross-section of Iranian business leaders, start-up entrepreneurs, clerics, students, and others, and we heard very different perspectives. When history came up at all, which was infrequent, they recalled western-backed coups, our willingness to turn a blind eye to the corruption and human rights violations of leaders we supported, our policies of regime change and our inconsistent follow-through in the region up to the present day.

At the same time their frustration at their own top-down government weight of the last 40 years was equally palpable. Even while we were often monitored, we regularly heard across generations a sense of deeply missed potential and yearning for different futures. “You are impressed by what you’ve seen, that it is better than you expected,” one CEO of a large enterprise told me, “But I can’t help wondering where we’d be today without the tensions, the sanctions, and the missed opportunities.”

Sanctions have clearly had a significant toll – devaluations have had enormous impact on purchasing power, job opportunities across the board are limited, and inflation is improbably high at over 30% – but we were told repeatedly that the banking sanctions were the most effective. For manufacturing equipment, building materials, and consumer goods, however, there were myriad ways (legally and illegally) to work around them, especially through Turkey and Dubai. Coke and Pepsi were everywhere. In oil and gas, where Iran ranks fourth and first in the world respectively, alternative non-western markets have kept their economy marginally afloat for the time being. China was everywhere in big ways and small – sadly it was near impossible to find a real Iranian piece of jewelry or textile in the ancient and bustling bazars.

Stuxnet, the computer virus that attacked much of their security apparatus several years ago, was a wakeup call and the country has since invested significantly in their technology infrastructure. Today, in a country of roughly 70 million, there is well over 100% mobile penetration – meaning many people have more than one “dumb” phone – but 3G is coming and their over 60% Internet penetration is rising (albeit service speed is slow by western standards.)

Even the government has become more proactive in supporting innovation through dozens of tech “incubators” emphasizing technology that fits their economic planning for oil, gas, agriculture, education and city infrastructure. At the same time, there is a rising independent start-up community as well. The recent “Startup Weekends” have attracted nearly 2,000 kids in Tehran looking to learn entrepreneurship and innovate. And despite the sanctions and difficulty in buying apps, we were told that there are some 6.5 million iPhones in the country. Despite government restrictions for access to social networks, every young person we saw has found works-arounds to access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more.

One executive said, making an analogy to one of the fastest growing emerging markets of the last twenty years: “Think of us like Turkey a decade or two ago – only Turkey with enormous oil and gas reserves and a hungry and highly educated new generation wanting different lives and to move more quickly.”

And here lies the most central point.

I found that in Iran the difference in outlook between the older and the younger generations could not be wider. The new generations were born after the taking of our Embassy, so it’s not part of their world-view. They have little interest in their parents’ politics or religion, and in being told what to do. They experienced a rigged election five years go and the subsequent brutal crackdown when they protested, and they mistrust anything they cannot prove. They see what other young people are doing around the world with and through technology, and they want to do the same things.

What would happen if Iran’s and Western policymakers embraced this potential, bubbling just an inch below the surface? There are risks. We can’t know precisely what Iran will do in the coming months or years, but we do know with complete certainty that there will be a lot more technology in a lot more hands of the new generation. Bottom up, they will solve problems with new tools and build new economic futures for themselves. The risk in opening up dialogue to be on their sides thus also offers a staggering opportunity – for Iran, the region and globe.