Sardar Azmoun, Iranian professional footballer who plays as a forward for UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli has won Emirates Ballon d’Or.

Azmoun had been nominated for the UAE Pro League’s Best Player award alongside his countryman Mehdi Ghaedi and Caio Lucas.

The player achieved a stat line of 11 goals and 6 assists in 21 games.

He also won the UAE Pro-League in his debut in Shabab Al Ahli, in addition to winning the UAE Super Cup, President’s Cup, and UAE/Qatar Super Cup.

/MNA/

Iranian intelligence operatives have uncovered the full profiles of the Israeli air force pilots, commanders, and drone operators, who partook in the Israeli regime’s unprovoked war on the country in June.

The development was reported by official Iranian broadcast channels and the country’s various news outlets on Saturday.

According to the reports, the discovery had laid bare the air force personnel’s complete personal details, including their identities, places of residence, operational units, military bases, and roles in other crimes.

The reports highlighted that the intelligence coup was realized, despite the regime’s strict efforts to conceal the personnel’s identities as witnessed by Israeli outlets routine blurring of their faces during televised coverage.

The reports named two of the pilots as “Major Yael Ash, deputy commander of Squadron 119 (the “Bat” Squadron)” and her husband, Bar Prince. Ash was identified as the paternal granddaughter of Major Shimon Ash, a pilot who went missing during the Yom Kippur War that was fought between the regime and a coalition of Arab countries in 1973.

Iran uncovers full profiles of Israeli air force pilots

‘They’re no longer safe’

One Iranian channel reported that the country’s intelligence apparatus was now in possesion of “satellite images revealing the exact locations” where the personnel lived.

It referred to Ash’s comments in a televised interview, during which she had claimed “she wanted to restore security” to the Zionists.

“Now, she, herself, is no longer safe,” it said, adding that the revelation of the Israeli personnel’s information “makes the entire world unsafe for them.”

The Iranian intelligence apparatus’ knowledge of the personnel’s whereabouts, their equipment, and their movements “provides Iranian intelligence operatives with a strategic advantage” in case any future retaliation was required, the reports stated.

‘Sample revenge already taken’

The reports further clarified that some of the Israeli air force personnel had already seen their residences targeted during Iranian retaliatory operations throughout the imposed war.

One broadcast report featured pictures of the aftermath of one such retaliatory strike against one of the personnel’s residences in the city of Yavne in the central part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Some of the residences, it added, were also hit by Iranian missile strikes.

The reprisal saw Iran’s armed forces launch at least 22 rounds of counteroffensive across the occupied territories.

The retaliation targeted Israeli nuclear, military, and industrial sites, prompting the regime to request a ceasefire just after 12 days.

Failed attempt at vilifying Iran

The reports further revealed that once the personnel’s whereabouts came under Iranian counterstrikes, the regime relocated them to such places as schools.

The evacuation, they noted, took place so the regime could claim that Iran had targeted “civilian” sites in case those places were targeted.

The reports finally said what had been made public as part of the discovery so far was only “one example.”

“The disclosures of such classified information will continue.”

MNA/

The Islamic Republic of Iran has extended its export of advanced technology to the heart of Latin America with the establishment of a fiber optic plant in Venezuela.

Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Seyed Sattar Hashemi, said that in line with expanding technology diplomacy and exporting Iran’s technical capabilities to other countries, a fiber optic production facility has been launched and put into operation in Venezuela by Iranian knowledge-based companies.

The Iranian fiber optic plant in Venezuela was established with a $10 million investment. It aims to meet Venezuela’s domestic needs—which previously imported fiber optic equipment worth $2 million annually from Iran—and to become a regional hub for exporting telecommunications equipment to Latin American countries.

According to Amirhossein Mirabadi, head of the Center for International Interactions at the Vice-Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy, with the inauguration of this plant, Iranian knowledge-based companies have established a presence in a region often described as the United States’ backyard.

Earlier, Iran and Oman had also agreed to establish a new corridor for data and internet transit—a route beginning in Northern countries such as Russia and Central Asia, passing through Iran, and extending Southward to the Persian Gulf, India, and even East Africa.

The purpose of this agreement is for Iran, leveraging its domestic infrastructure, to become one of the main data transit routes in the region. The initial capacity of this corridor is 4.5 terabits per second.

MNA/

The Iranian-Belgian short film ‘Nigeria’ directed by Sabah Gavili will compete in 16th edition of International Inter-University Short Film Festival (IIUSFF).

This festival will be held from August 31 to September 2, 2025 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

‘Nigeria’ tells the story of two young delinquents who commit murder during a robbery. A street vendor witnesses the crime, setting off a chain of events that unfolds in the film. MNA/

The 2025 U17 World Championships wrapped on Sunday evening at Ano Liosia Olympic Hall in Athens, Greece with the US winning the men’s freestyle team title in dramatic fashion.

The US won the title with 154 points. Iran finished with 150 points after its three loses in the finals and one in a bronze-medal bout, Tehran Times reported.

Kazakhstan managed to pip Azerbaijan by one point and finish third with 91 points. Azerbaijan finished fourth 90 points and Japan got 79 points and finished fifth.

Iran and the US had two face-offs in the finals and the latter’s wrestlers won both to get huge advantage over Iran.

RESULTS

45kg

GOLD: Keegan BASSETT (USA) df. Parsa TAHMASBI (IRI), via fall (6-0), BRONZE: Mirjalol MUKAMMILOV (UZB) df. Arnur NURSAIDOV (KGZ), 4-4, BRONZE: Ibragim VELIULLOV (UWW) df. Bakdaulet AGABEK (KAZ), 9-2

48kg

GOLD: Ariah MILLS (USA) df. Sina BOUSTANI (IRI), 12-1, BRONZE: Islam RABADANOV (UWW) df. Ravan HASANZADE (AZE), 11-9, BRONZE: Dovudbek BAKHADIROV (KGZ) df. Masamune USHIMADO (JPN), 12-0

51kg

GOLD: Samuel SANCHEZ (USA) df. Ulugbek RASHIDOV (UZB), 5-2, BRONZE: Danael ABDYKASSYM (KAZ) df. Temuri TUTARASHVILI (GEO), 9-4, BRONZE: Dzhamal BAKAEV (UWW) df. Haruku SHIINA (JPN), 12-5

55kg

GOLD: Jinnosuke OKONOGI (JPN) df. Abdumalik JALOLDINOV (UZB), 5-4, BRONZE: Greyton BURNETT (USA) df. Mohammadreza BARARI (IRI), 4-0, BRONZE: Chingis SARYGLAR (UWW) df. Jovanni TOVAR (COL), 8-2

60kg

GOLD: SITENDER (IND) df. Rihito HIURA (JPN), 9-4, BRONZE: Hasan HASANOV (AZE) df. Nathan NASH (CAN), 5-4, BRONZE: Bekassyl ASSAMBEK (KAZ) df. Arian MEHRALIZADEH (IRI), 9-0

65kg

GOLD: Huseyn ISMAYILOV (AZE) df. Arseni KIKINIOU (USA), 1-1, BRONZE: Morteza HAJ (IRI) df. Gourav PUNIA (IND), 8-8, BRONZE: Adisbek ALTYNBEKOV (KGZ) df. Yeraly ASKERBEK (KAZ), 7-1

71kg

GOLD: Jayden JAMES (USA) df. Arsham VAHABIAN (IRI), 9-2, BRONZE: Ayubjon BOZORZODA (TJK) df. Jason KEIL (GER), 6-0, BRONZE: Yeghishe MOSESYAN (ARM) df. Farrukhbek JUMANAZAROV (UZB), 7-6

80kg

GOLD: Artur KOSTIUK (UKR) df. Mohammadparsa KARAMI (IRI), 3-1, BRONZE: Dinmukhammed KASSYMBEK (KAZ) df. Ivan PASLARI (MDA), 5-4, BRONZE: Issa ZANGIEV (UWW) df. Berat ERTURK (TUR), 5-2

92kg

GOLD: David DZEBISOV (UWW) df. Amirali ALIZADEH (IRI), 6-2, BRONZE: Tanner HODGINS (USA) df. Elguja LOMIDZE (GEO), 10-0, BRONZE: Said PASHAYEV (AZE) df. Beibarys YERGALI (KAZ), 5-3

110kg

GOLD: Magomedrasul OMAROV (UWW) df. LACKY (IND), 6-4, BRONZE: Hakim TAGHIYEV (AZE) df. Stefan STEFANOV (BUL), 1-1, BRONZE: Amirhossein NAGHDALIPOUR (IRI) df. Murtaz BAGDAVADZE (GEO), 11-0

MNA

The Iranian team named Timrad, from Khatam University, secured the first place in the Robocup 2025 Rescue Simulation League, leveraging their advanced scientific knowledge and technical expertise in artificial intelligence and robotics; the competition was held from July 15 to 21 in Salvador, Brazil.

Aichi Institute of Technology, Japan, and International Institute of Information Technology – Hyderabad, India, ranked second and third, respectively, IRNA reported.

The five-day competition brought together 2,000 participants from 40 countries. The event hosted six leagues, including RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup Junior, RoboCup Industrial, RoboCup @Home,and RoboCup Flying Robots.

The RoboCup Rescue Simulation League is an educational and research project focused on disaster response; its core mission is to advance the field of disaster response through research and development.

The purpose of the RoboCup Rescue Simulation league is twofold. First, it aims to develop simulators that form the infrastructure of the simulation system and emulate realistic phenomena predominant in disasters. Second, it aims to develop intelligent agents and robots that are given the capabilities of the main actors in a disaster response scenario.

RoboCup is an international initiative covering the areas of artificial intelligence and robotics, with the ultimate goal of developing a team of humanoid robots that is able to defeat the official human World Soccer Champion team by 2050.

The initiative is a platform for testing technologies such as real-time decision-making, multi-agent collaboration, sensor data processing, and navigation in complex environments.

The event was first launched in 1997 and was inspired by the victory of a computer chess player against the then world chess champion, Gary Kasparov.

RoboCup (Originally called Robot World Cup Initiative) is an international research and education initiative. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined, as well as being used for integrated project-oriented education.

The Iranian participants in RoboCup 2025 were the winners of the 19th edition of the RoboCup IranOpen competition, held from April 19 to 22.

IranOpen 2025 was composed of 25 specialized leagues, including soccer simulation, rescue and relief, flying robots, technological inventions, and artificial intelligence. Also, for the first time, a specific artificial intelligence league was added to the competitions, which has led to a 40 to 50 percent increase in the number of teams compared to last year.

Recent achievements

Iranian students aged 7-17 won second place among seven countries in the Kazakhstan RoboLand 2025, which was held from March 27 to 29 in the city of Karaganda.

The event brought together over 750 young inventors from seven countries, Kazinform News Agency reports.

The international festival drew the participation of 362 teams from Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan to compete in 23 categories.

Over 2,000 children took part in elimination trials, and over 400 teams competed in the qualifying round to reach the RoboLand 2025 finals.

Roundtable discussions Digital transformation of education: Trends and prospects were held as part of the festival to focus on the digitization of the educational process and share best practices on STEM education development.

T.T/

Iranian students won a gold medal, two silver medals, and a bronze medal at the 37th edition of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) being held in Sucre, Bolivia.

The event kicked off on July 27 and will wrap up on August 3. A total of 330 contestants from 84 countries participated in this year’s event.

Amir-Ali Asgari secured the gold medal, Mani Zare and Hamed Ghafari grabbed silver medals, while Kiarash Rezaei won a bronze medal, ISNA reported.

IOI is one of several international science Olympiads held annually around the world. Talented high school students from various countries compete in this prestigious algorithmic competition to sharpen their informatics skills—such as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming, and testing.

Each participating country selects a team of up to four contestants accompanied by leaders. The team competes individually in two intense competition days, solving complex problems within a limited time, testing their creativity, algorithmic knowledge, and problem-solving skills.

Iran grabbed a gold medal, two silver medals, and a bronze medal at the 36th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), ranking 9th among 96 countries. It was hosted by Egypt.

Recent achievements

Iran won two silver medals and two bronze medals at the Eighth International Economics Olympiad (IEO) 2025, which was held from July 20 to 29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This year, 68 countries participated in the IEO. Mohsen Payandeh-Peyman and Abolfazl Modir-Roosta won silver medals, while Parsa Sedaqat and Alireza Ahmadi secured bronze medals, IRNA reported.

Four Iranian students clinched three gold medals and a silver medal at the 36th International Biology Olympiad (IBO 2025), ranking second among 81 countries, up from third in 2024.

Siavash Pezeshpour, Ali Soleimanzadeh Kalahroudi, and Ali-Akbar Nourollahi won the gold medals, while Radin Bayani secured the silver medal at the competition, which was held from July 19 to 27 in Quezon City, Philippines, PANA reported.

Five Iranian students secured silver medals at the 55th International Physics Olympiad, ranking 11th globally.

Held from July 18 to 24 in Paris, the IPhO 2025 brought together 440 candidates from over 90 countries.

Mohammad-Hassan Sadeqinejad Simaki, Arya Zarabi, Ilya Qashaee, Mohammah-Hassan Golabdar, and Milad Mohammadi won silver medals, IRIB reported.

Iran grabbed two gold medals, three silver medals, and a bronze medal at the 66th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO 2025), held from July 10-20 in Australia. / T.T/

So far, 16 cities in the country have taken necessary measures to develop age-friendly communities, the head of the Welfare Organization has said.

These cities are located in Tehran, Gilan, Yazd, Isfahan, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Lorestan, Hamedan, Khuzestan, and Bushehr provinces, IRNA quoted Seyed Javad Hosseini as saying.

Age-friendly communities are places where age is not a barrier to living well and where the environment, activities, and services support and enable older people to have opportunities to enjoy life and feel well.

Highlighting the fact that the country is aging, the official elaborated on the services provided to the elderly.

“Some 6.5 million elderly people are benefiting from various services offered by the organization. The Welfare Organization provides some 22 different kinds of services in rehabilitation, social services, and empowerment sectors, including home care, counseling, day and overnight care, and social supports.”

In October 2024, Mojgan Rezazadeh, the head of the secretariat of the National Council of the Elderly, said that the national document for creating age-friendly environments across the country has taken effect.

“The world’s population, especially in developing countries, is growing old, and Iran is no exception. The percentage of the elderly population in the country has increased from five percent in 1976 to about 10.5 percent, reaching around 9 million people,” IRNA quoted Rezazadeh as saying.

The document works towards improving physical and social environments to become better places for the elderly.

It is compiled in three parts: Principles of indicators and criteria of the strategic plan of an age-friendly city, holding workshops on how to prepare a strategic document for an age-friendly city, and planning indicators for an age-friendly city.

In addition to its eight main domains, traveling and tours for the elderly are going to be added to the plan.

The age-friendly environment has eight main domains, including transportation, social participation, civic participation, and employment, respect and social inclusion, housing, communication, and information.

Each province should develop a strategic provincial document based on their environment, and implement the program with the cooperation of the member institutions and the strong participation of municipalities and governor-general offices in each city, Rezazadeh stated.

T.T/

Having published a total of 4,615 articles in top 25 percent of journals (Q1 journals) in 2024, Iran is placed among top ten countries in publishing nanotechnology articles, ranking 12 in h-index for nano-articles in the world.

China, the U.S., and India, with 86,924, 14,473, and 11,194 articles, respectively, are the top three countries. Iran is atop England (4,360), Japan (4,022), and Spain (3,830) in the ranking, ISNA reported. The Q1 journal index is used to categorize scientific journals based on their impact; it is most commonly used in databases like Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) and Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

Q1 journal ranking is based on Impact factors, SJR, H-index, and the number of citations, ISNA reported.

Introduced by physicist Jorge Hirsch, the h-index is an important metric for measuring the scientific impact of a researcher, journal, or university. It was introduced by physicist Jorge Hirsch. It measures the number of scientific publications (many articles), scientific impact (high number of citations), and a combination of quantity and quality of research.

Although from 2011 on, the country has undergone a downward trend in patenting nanotechnology, it is placed among the top 30 countries in patenting nanotechnology, ranking 27th in 2024.

It is worth noting that the percentage of granted patents increased from 19 percent in 2023 to 25 percent in 2024. Similarly, the number of published and granted patents slightly rose from 17 percent in 2023 to 19 percent in 2024.

By the end of 2024, Iran had published 364 nanotechnology-related patents in the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 25 percent of Iran’s USPTO-registered patents fall within the nanotechnology sector.

Iranian nanotech journals among world’s most cited

The Journal Citation Report (JCR) Impact Factor 2024 has cited 161 Iranian journals, naming five among the world’s most cited in the nanotechnology sector.

Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry (JNSC) affiliated to Islamic Azad University with an impact factor of 7.9 is placed among the top 25 percent of journals in JCR published by Clarivate Analytics in three categories including Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, ranking 34 among 147 top journals; Chemistry, Multidisciplinary, ranking 41 among 239 journals; and Material Science, Multidisciplinary, ranking 88 among 460 top journals.

Journals of International Nano Letters affiliated to Kermanshah Islamic Azad University, Nano-medicine Journal affiliated to Mashhad Medical Science University, Journal of Nanostructures affiliated to Kashan University, and International Journal of Nano Dimension affiliated to Tonekabon Islamic Azad University received an impact factor of 4.0, 1.7, 1.3, and 1.1, respectively, IRNA reported.

So far, ten out of the 12 specialized nanotechnology journals in the country have been indexed in the international Scopus database, of which five have received an impact factor.

The JCR 2024 included data from over 21,000 journals from 113 countries across 254 research categories.

JCR is most commonly a database that provides impact factors and rankings for scholarly journals in science, technology, and social sciences, based on citation data. JCR is a widely used resource for evaluating and comparing journals within the research community.

The most well-known metric provided by JCR is the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). The JIF is a measure of how frequently, on average, articles published in a particular journal are cited in a specific year.

JCR data is drawn from the Web of Science Core Collection, a comprehensive citation index.

Only journals that have met the rigorous quality standards for inclusion in the Web of Science Core Collection are featured within the Journal Citation Reports, which ensures users can confidently rely on the information and descriptive data provided.

The annual reports provide a rich array of publisher–neutral data, metrics, and analysis to enhance user understanding of journal performance, including the widely recognized JIF and the Journal Citation Indicator.

T.T/