Not surprising.
Any industrial country with a decent scientific and industrial base can make 1-5 prototypes of a high value item. Proof is actual serial mass production at a feasible economic cost and efficiency.
This quoted individual is saying $2B USD is needed just to get the program up and running to serial production.
Where is Iran supposed to get such funds during massive economic stress? Building a small plane for domestic trips is a luxury good. Iran has much bigger needs and issues at this time.
A possible solution would be a partner that can provide some or all of the capital cost either external (Russia/Iraq/Qatar) or internal (IRGC for military transport plane). Iran could also theoretically pull from its economic development fund to pay for the project, but that would require consensus that this is an immediate national priority need.
This is the real cost of sanctions. We have the capability to build many domestic projects, we simply lack the capital or access to capital markets to fund them. This constrains growth and economic advancement across various sectors of the economy.
Add in factors that many countries deal with such as corruption of state revenues, project management issues, political rivalry and inefficient government spending, and you get a compounded effect.
In the past Iran expressed the desire to license produce Russian and Ukrainian planes.
In 2008 Iran wanted to license produce Russian Tu-204 and Tu-334 planes and KA-32 helicopters, but these plans were abandoned due to Russian fear of Western sanctions.
Russia also cooperated with Iran in license production of tanks (T-72) and APCs (BMP2) back in 1990s and participated in the project of light subsonic trainer Shafagh, but this cooperation was abandoned due to US pressure on Russia.
Iran also wanted to license produce Ukrainian An-148 in 2009 but these plans never materialized due to Western pressure.
There were articles about German intelligence service BND participating in the US program aimed to disrupt emerging aviation industry in Iran. Germany intentionally supplied defective parts for Iranian built An-140 and the plane crashed shortly after taking off.
But times have changed....Russia is now an enemy of the West and is more internationally isolated than Iran.
Now for the first time Iran can have full cooperation with Russia in all spheres.
So I think now there is no need to reinvent the bicycle trying to build own plane and it will be better if Iran license produce planes in cooperation with Russia.
Since Russia is under Western sanctions and is a new pariah state, Russia can't sell its technology to anyone except Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.
In current circumstances Russia can't sell its weapons to anyone because of sanctions but its military industry needs economies of scale and Iran can be the only partner that can buy Russian technology.
While over the last 20 years Iran have made great progress in military technology developing everything by itself and in isolation, in current circumstances it makes sense for Iran to license produce Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100, MC-21 and Su-75 5th generation fighter.....
Russia can also share its expertise and help Iran in other spheres of military technology like Space technology for example.
Unlike the last 30 years, there is no longer fears of Western sanctions or pressure in Russia regarding its cooperation with Iran in military sphere.
The last 40 years were especially difficult time for Iran:
1980s was a catastrophic decade when all financial assets of Iran were frozen, Iran was isolated from the world and fought a devastating and costly war with Iraq (which was supported by USA, USSR, Europe and the Arab World) with 1mln casualties
1990s was a decade when Iran was alone and isolated in the Unipolar world that was dominated by USA
2000s was a dangerous decade when global hegemon USA, ruled by Neoconservative Jews, invaded Iran's neigbors: Iraq and Afghanistan and threatened to bomb and invade Iran while trying to isolate it even further.
2010s was a difficult decade when Obama and Trump imposed crippling sanctions that seriously weakened Iran's economy....
But now we are in 2020s and 2030s are ahead....
There is no longer a Unipolar World and USA is no longer a global hegemon....
Russia- a huge country with 140mln people and 5000 nuclear warheads is now on Iran's side against the West
China- is becoming a global superpower and needs Iran as an ally against the West and for energy security.....
With the collapse of the Unipolar World and with the rise of China the future will be bright for Iran and Iran will no longer be a pariah state like it was in the last 40 years and
Russia and China will be on Iran's side against USA.
So it now makes sense to think about license production of Russian and Chinese technology instead of trying to reinvent the bicycle in isolation.