> My assumption was that a structure like this would be legal: - Partner in US/UK registers their own company - Opens Stripe under their company name - Hires me as a remote contractor (like any distributed team) - I hold equity as a foreign shareholder (which I thought was legal for non-US persons)

That structure is explicitly illegal because you are an Iranian national. It does not matter whether you are a contractor: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/31/560.419

US business entities may not ever do business with Iran for any reason: https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2012/10/iran-...

See also: https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/56536/can-a-us-compa...

> Is your point that even this structure violates sanctions because I'm Iranian?

Yes.

> Or that the risk/complexity makes it impractical for anyone without massive legal resources?

Companies on the scale of Toyota or Huawei try to circumvent these sanctions. They are regularly found out and caught and prosecuted:

> Do you know if Indian tech companies face similar restrictions when working with Iranians, or is it more open?

Sorry, I'm not Indian and have no knowledge of Indian laws. I would strongly advise you seek legal counsel from a person familiar with them, preferably a barrister/solicitor (in Indian terms).

> If the Western partnership path is genuinely impossible (not just hard), I need to know that.

For all intents and purposes, for you, it is. I'm sorry, genuinely, that our countries are in this position with regards to each other. It isn't your fault, but it is how it is.

Editing to add: the ONLY exception I can think of to this would be if you flee Iran, plead for and are granted asylum in the United States or a third country with better relationships to it. This is extraordinarily hard, and possibly a violation of Iranian law for me to even suggest to you.