Iran freestyle team claimed the title in the 2023 U20 World Wrestling Championships for the third time in a row. The Iranian freestylers won four gold medals, two silvers and one bronze in the competition held in Amman, Jordan.

Reza Shakeri won Iran’s first gold medal after defeating Jesse Mendez from the U.S. 5-2 in the final bout of 65kg.

Abolfazl Babaloo overcame Ivan Prymache of Ukraine 5-0 in the final match of the 97kg.

Mohammadmobin Azimi beat Kazakhstan’s Rizabek Aitmukhan 5-4 in the 92kg final bout.

Amirreza Masoumi won Iran’s fourth gold by defeating Said Akhmatov from Russia 11-0 in the final bout of 125kg.

Ali Rezaei of Iran lost to Meyer Shapiro from the U.S. 11-6 in the final bout of 70kg and his countryman Hossein Mohammad Aghaei was defeated against American wrestler Mitchell Mesenbrink 15-5 in the 74kg final.

Ali Mahmoud Khorramdel also won a bronze medal in 61kg.

Iran won the team title with 165 points, followed by the U.S. and India with 152 and 102 points, respectively. / T.T/

Iran defeated Mongolia 70-33 on Monday in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2023 Division B.Team Melli had defeated Malaysia 65-59 in their opening match in Group A.

Four players scored in double-digits for the victors led by Delaram Vakili who knocked down 4 three-pointers to end up with 13 points. Edna Eissaianjangi, Negin Rasoulipour, and Faezeh Shahriari all put in 11 points each in the resounding win.

Iran will meet Indonesia on Tuesday. Group B consists of Kazakhstan, Thailand, Jordan and Sri Lanka.

Iran have come into this competition ready to compete, coming off playing a series of tune-up games in Taipei. Even though they were unable to claim a victory, Iran had the opportunity to play games against quality teams like Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and the Philippines. /T.T/

Iran has experienced a significant rise in exports of medicine and medical equipment in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21.

“Exports of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment grew by 300 percent in the first four months of the year,” IRNA quoted Heidar Mohammadi, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, as saying.

Last year, some 1,060 trillion rials (about $2.1 billion) worth of medicine and medical equipment were manufactured inside the country, he added.

Around 99 percent of the medicine supplied to the domestic market is produced by Iranian companies, he highlighted.

Iran plans to increase the exports of medicine to around $200 million in the current year from some $60 million last year, Mohammadi said in April.

Currently, the production of medicine, medical equipment, and powdered milk is supported by subsidies. So, their exports were very limited, but it is hoped that their exports will increase next year, he explained.

Referring to the shortage of 100 drug items in the country, he said: “Currently, nearly one and a half percent of the country’s pharmaceutical need is imported. Along with domestic production, it is done as soon as the domestic production meets the demand.”

A total of 227 knowledge-based firms are supplying medical equipment for health centers across the country, according to the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology.

Iranian-made pharmaceuticals are currently exported to Canada, Japan, and Europe, Faramarz Ekhteraei, chairman of the Iranian Pharmaceutical Industries Syndicate said, emphasizing that 72 percent of the country’s pharmaceutical raw materials are domestically produced.

Some 40 percent of the country’s total pharmaceutical exports are biotechnology products, a member of the board of directors of the Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Medical Biotechnology Products said. /T.T/

Iranian scientists have managed to develop homegrown supersonic cruise missiles and are currently testing them, according to Tasnim News Agency. Military analysts believe the new generation of Iranian cruise missiles would be using ramjets to enable them to travel faster than the speed of sound.

Most Iranian cruise missiles use a rocket takeoff engine and a homegrown turbojet engine to carry out a two-stage launch. The latest cruise missiles employed in Iran’s navy use ramjet engines which means they use significantly less time to prepare. Supersonic missiles use the least amount of time for preparation which would enable Iran to show a more timely reaction to aggression. Ramjets work best at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 and have the capacity to reach the speed of Mach 6.

The handful of countries that have gained the technical knowledge to make supersonic cruise missiles are the U.S., China, India, Russia, and North Korea.
In June, Iran unveiled Fattah, a hypersonic ballistic missile it said is capable of breaching any defense system in the world. / T.T/

A photogrammetric documentation project has commenced on two of the iconic edifices inside the UNESCO-registered Golestan Palace in downtown Tehran. Shams-ol-Emareh and Emarat-e Badgir will be accurately documented by the means of a photogrammetric method, Afarin Emami, who presides over the World Heritage site said on Sunday.

Pointing out that photogrammetry is one of the most accurate methods of documenting historical monuments, Emami said: “This method can produce a variety of outputs, including two-dimensional linear maps, flat photos, and three-dimensional models.”

“By using the 3D model, you can obtain the dimensions in all directions of length, width, and height, and investigate the unknown spaces of the building and answer questions about the structure and architecture of the building,” she explained.

Talking about Emarat-e Badgir, the official said this mansion, which has four high towers, is one of the most prominent buildings of Golestan Palace in terms of decorations. “Emarat-e Badgir boasts all kinds of decorations, such as exquisite tilework, plasterwork, paintings, carvings, and mirrorwork.”

She said this project is aimed at preparing data from all floors, horizontal and vertical flat images of interior spaces, 3D models, and even a route map of underground channels.Emarat-e Badgir of Golestan Palace in Tehran is the third construction of this complex, considering its age. The mansion was constructed upon the order of Fath Ali Shah, the second ruler of the Qajar dynasty.

Emarat-e Badgir consists of a massive “Shah Neshin” and two small interconnected rooms. The hall has nine sash windows and two painted truly breathtaking spiral columns. The coloring and decorations of the walls, ceiling, and ground all bear fantastic decorations such as paintings and mirrorwork.

Referring to the photogrammetry of the Shams-ol-Emareh, Emami said: In this project, plans of all the floors, walls, ceilings, and decorations have been prepared.

Shams-ol-Emareh (“Edifice of the Sun”) has a central open hall and twin two-tiered towers on top with arched windows and elaborate tilework. It is simple to picture Nasser al-Din Shah achieving his desired view, even though it is not possible to climb to the top.

“In the photogrammetric method, all the details and decorations related to architecture, including tiling, plastering, mirroring, and painting, are recorded. Also, doing this type of documentation for all Golestan palace buildings is foreseen in a management plan and will be done in order of priority,” Emami explained.

Photogrammetry is the art and science of deriving accurate 3-D metric and descriptive object information from multiple analog and digital images. It is one surveying method among others, e.g. simple and tactile methods, tacheometric and GPS surveys, various scanning methods, or remote sensing from satellites.

The palace complex once served as the official residence of Qajar monarchs who ruled Persia (Iran) between 1789 and 1925. It exemplifies architectural and artistic achievements of the Qajar epoch, as well as an introduction of European motifs and styles into Persian arts.

Experts say it displays a remarkable mixture of ancient Persian and contemporary European architectural styles, which characterized much of Iranian art in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Golestan Palace embodies a successful integration of earlier Persian crafts and architecture with Western influences. Over the past two centuries, it became a center of arts and architecture, a source of inspiration for Iranian artists and architects to this day.

Currently, the complex consists of eight key palace structures mostly used as museums and the eponymous gardens, a green shared center of the complex, surrounded by an outer wall with gates. / T.T/

Isfahan province has registered more than 10,000 visits to its cultural heritage museums and sites during a national three-day holiday started on Friday. All the 80 historical monuments and museums that operate under the supervision of this provincial tourism directorate were open and provided services to tourists despite holidays declared due to heatwave, the official explained.

“Over 10,000 domestic and international travelers paid visits to historical sites and museums in Isfahan province during the three-day holidays last week,” the deputy provincial tourism chief said on Sunday.

“According to the available data, Chinese tourists constitute the majority of foreign tourists visiting the historical monuments in Isfahan province,” Hamidreza Mohaqqeqan said.

A domestic travel flow started across the country as of Tuesday when the Iranian government declared national holidays for the two upcoming days due to a heat wave that saw temperatures touch record levels across the country.

The decision came after the meteorological office forecasted temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in many cities and hovering around 50 degrees Celsius in the southwest.

Isfahan was once a center of international trade and diplomacy and is now one of Iran’s top tourist attractions for good reason. It is full of architectural marvels such as peerless Islamic buildings, markets, museums, Persian gardens, and tree-lined avenues. This is a city for strolling, getting lost in maze-like markets, dozing off in beautiful gardens, and meeting people.

Isfahan has long been nicknamed as Nesf-e-Jahan which is translated into “half the world”; meaning seeing it is relevant to see half the world. In its heyday, it was also one of the largest cities in the region with a population of nearly one million.

Modern Isfahan is now home to some heavy industry, including steel factories and a nuclear facility on its outskirts, however, its inner core wants to be preserved as a priceless gem. The city is also home to a gigantic, professional, and state-of-the-art healthcare city, which is a major destination in the realm of medical tourism. /T.T/

Iran is among the top 5 countries in the world in producing biopharmaceuticals, the chairman of the Food and Drug Administration of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FDA) said.

Heidar Mohammadi made the remarks on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the pharmaceutical innovation factory on Saturday.

Stating that Iran’s biological industry is qualified, Mohammadi said that medicines for special patients suffering from cancer, MS, and rare diseases are produced in the country and exported to neighboring countries.

Many countries are surprised by Iran’s advances in the field of biotechnology, he also said.

“Today Iran has become one of the medicine exporters”, he said, stating that many neighboring countries and other countries around the world seek to purchase medicines and pharmaceutical raw materials from Iran. /MNA/

The Iranian Gas Transmission Company (IGTC) managing director on Saturday said the country has so far become self-sufficient in manufacturing 750 main parts of gas compressor stations.

Gholam-Abbas Hosseini, who made the remarks in a press conference, pointed to knowledge-based firms’ cooperation with IGTC and added 450 others are being made inside the country.

He continued, the country has also become self-sufficient in manufacturing two types of gas turbines.

The Iranian Gas Transmission Company is making the optimum use of homegrown equipment and products, the IGTC CEO underscored, according to news service of Iranian oil ministry, SHANA.

According to him, the company is now using Iranian-made oil and air and gas filters.

Oil Ministry Javad Owji had earlier announced that Iran is also self-sufficient in constructing oil and gas refineries.

Touching upon the country’s daily gas transmission capacity, he put it at one billion cubic meters per day (bcm/d).

The unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran have failed to disrupt the country’s progress in different areas, including oil and gas industry.

In May, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham confirmed the rise in Iran’s oil revenues, confessing to the ineffectiveness of the sanctions.

Washington imposed toughest economic sanctions against Tehran after unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018.

On July 6, the US government leveled new sanctions targeting international companies facilitating Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports to East Asia, S&P Global reported.

Also on July 26, the Iranian oil minister Javad Owji described his country’s crude exports as “favorable”, adding that oil products and exports were climbing in spite of “harsher” sanctions.

He noted that promotion of energy diplomacy and relations with Asian, African, and Latin American countries has helped Iran create new markets for selling its oil.

The minister added international institutes, which observe the countries’ oil exports, have reported a hike in Iran’s output and exports.

On July 29, the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) managing director, however, said some foreign countries have called for cooperation with Iran in the petrochemical sector.

Morteza Shahmirzaei added Iran’s achievements in the petrochemical industry have motivated some foreign states to have cooperation with the country and import Iranian-made products, equipment, and catalysts. /MNA/

The Iranian teenage freestyle wrestling team won the title of 2023 World Cadet Wrestling Championships after winning 6 medals.

The national U17 freestyle wrestling team clinched 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals to become the world champions in 2023 World Cadet Wrestling Championships.

The national Iranian U17 freestyle wrestling team won the championship with 156 points followed by the USA and Japan teams who landed in second and third places with 126 and 106 points, respectively.

The 2023 World Cadets Wrestling Championships (30th) (U17) were the World Cadets Wrestling Championships of combined events, and took place from July 31 to 6 August in Istanbul, Turkey. World Cadet Wrestling Championships renamed to World U17 Wrestling Championships since 2021. /MNA/