After years of assiduous efforts, Iran has now mastered the process of producing state-of-the-art drones, something that has added another element to Iran’s military prowess.

Iran’s drone capabilities are nothing new. Over the last decade, Iran, thanks to its native scientists, has succeeded in developing a full range of combat, reconnaissance, and surveillance drones. The latest major achievement in this regard was unveiled earlier this month when the Iranian Army’s navy inaugurated Iran’s first drone carrier which included a variety of modern and advanced types of drones all produced and manufactured by Iranian experts in the Army and the Ministry of Defense.

Officials have highlighted the progress Iran has made in developing drones, which have increased Iran’s power exponentially. Two weeks ago, a lawmaker said Iran’s drone capabilities have increased the strength of Iran and the Resistance Axis. Mehrdad Veis-Karami told Iran’s state news agency IRNA that the Axis is now enjoying drone and missile power. Referring to the drone and missile power of the Resistance Front in Palestine and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, he said in the past “the Zionist regime used to respond to the firing of a single Kalashnikov bullet with an F-16 aircraft, but now we see it is in a weak position.”

Iran’s drones also strengthened its security. On Sunday, a senior lawmaker said Iran’s drone capabilities ensure security at a time when military tools are determining thins. “Today is not only the age of dialogue, but also the age of missiles, and the power of the Islamic Republic’s missile drones guarantees the country’s security,” the lawmaker, Ali Reza Salimi, who is a member of the Iranian parliament’s presiding board, said, according to IRNA.

With Iran’s drones assuming a high position in the country’s defense strategy, the West moved to portray them as a threat. The first step in this regard was taken by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who alleged that Iran was mulling supplying Russia with drones amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. “Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred [unmanned aerial vehicles], including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline,” Sullivan claimed. “It’s unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these UAVs to Russia already.”

A wave of Western propaganda ensued Sullivan’s allegation, with CNN reporting that Russian officials paid a visit to Iran to view its “weapons-capable drones.” Citing Sullivan, the American news channel said, “A Russian delegation has visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice in the last month to examine weapons-capable drones.”

These allegations were possibly made with the purpose of putting pressure on Iran to limit its drone program. But Iran is unlikely to restrict the program simply because all of Iran’s drones are developed domestically with pure indigenous technology and they play an important role in guaranteeing the country’s security. Iran is now a drone power and its achievements have been acknowledged even by its adversaries. /MNA/

Iranian and Iraqi officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cinematic cooperation and joint movie products, particularly for adolescents.

According to the MoU that was inked at Iraqi National Theater on July 24, Iran and Iraq agreed to co-produce joint features, short films as well as documentaries.

Both sides also agreed to further enhance the mutual cooperation in the field of cinema, particularly exchanging research and information as well as releasing joint projects.

Promoting the technical knowledge of the two sides’ artists, holding workshops, and exchanging experts for executing the cinematic projects were among the provisions of the MoU. /MNA/

Iranian athletes bagged 6 medals at the first tournament of the Kuwait International Boxing Championship for men.

Iranian fighters namely Mostafa Rigi and Bagher Faraji won silver medals in the event. Also, Sajjad Mohammadpour, Shahin Mousavi, Hossein Mirahmadi, and Toofan Sharifi got bronze medals.

Some 100 boxers representing 21 countries participated in the tournament. Alireza Esteki was the head coach of Iran’s boxing team in the event.

The Iranian team stood in third place at the end of the first tournament of the Kuwait International Boxing Championship for men. /MNA/

Despite U.S. sanctions, the international activities of Iranian scientists have increased year by year, so that more than 35 percent of Iranian articles in Scopus have been multi-national projects, Peyman Salehi, the deputy science minister, has said.

He made the remarks at the COMSTECH (the Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation) ceremony on Saturday.

Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and build constructive international partnerships.

In 2021, Iranian scientists published more than 77,000 scientific articles in the Scopus database, so that, Iran has been ranked 15th in science production, he said, IRNA reported.

The country also ranked 15th and 16th in the world in terms of scientific references, he added.

In 2011, the share of Iranian articles with international participation was about 16.5 percent, which increased to 34.2 percent in 2021. Pointing to the history of Iran’s scientific activities in the past two decades, Salehi said that Iran ranked 56th in science production in 1996 and ranked 15th in 2021. Accordingly, we are leading the region in science production.

Out of a total of 77,000 articles published by Iranian scientists in the Scopus database last year, 35.7 percent were related to international joint activities. Despite the sanctions, the amount of joint scientific activities of Iranian researchers has increased every year.

Iranian scientists are not limited by geographical and political borders, and apart from multi-national projects, the increase in Iranian researchers’ citations also proves this issue.

Referring to research centers, institutes, and science and technology hubs, he highlighted that in the past years, with the establishment of 240 innovation centers, as well as 49 science and technology parks, we have launched a complete roadmap to transform science into technology.

Science diplomacy at the highest level

Data from the Scopus International Citation Database show that Iran’s scientific diplomacy has reached more than 34 percent since the beginning of 2021, the highest level in the past 20 years.

Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and build constructive international partnerships. It is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a number of formal or informal technical, research-based, academic, or engineering exchanges, within the general field of international relations.

Comparing the rate of 2020 with 2019, Iran with a growth of 12.5 percent and with a slight difference from India has gained second place in the world in terms of the growth of world science diplomacy, Mohammad Javad Dehghani, head of the Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), said.

In 2011, the share of Iranian articles with international participation was about 16.5 percent, which increased to 19.7 percent in 2016 and gradually in the following years, so that in 2020 and 2021, reached 30.5 and 34.2 percent, respectively, he added.

The share of Iranian articles with international participation has had significant growth of 209 percent during an eight-year period (2013-2020), becoming the Islamic world’s leading country in science diplomacy, according to the Scopus International Citation Database. /T.T/

The Social Security Organization has established agencies in more than 20 countries, Mehdi Shakouri, an official with the organization, said on Sunday.

In some countries, such as Turkey and Canada, more agencies are operating due to the high number of Iranians living in those countries, IRIB quoted Shakouri as saying.

Over the past two years, some 1,500 Iranians living abroad have put in retirement requests via the agencies, and pensions are being deposited into their overseas accounts, he explained.

Over 4m Iranians residing abroad

The Secretariat of the High Council of Iranians Abroad announced in its 2020 report that a total of 4,037,258 Iranians reside abroad, 76 percent of whom are resident in the Americas and European countries.

Over the past two years, some 1,500 Iranians living abroad have put in retirement requests via the agencies, and pensions are being deposited into their overseas accounts. A comprehensive law is being drafted to protect Iranians living abroad, Fatah Ahmadi, deputy minister of justice for human rights and international affairs, has said.

In order to pave the way for Iranians abroad to invest in their homeland, create sustainable employment, and also to facilitate the movement of Iranians, especially the elites, in order to provide consultations and help the development of the country, it is necessary for them to travel to Iran, he explained.

“We try to address such concerns within the framework of this comprehensive law to provide opportunities for Iranian expatriates to stay and invest in the country,” he noted.

Moreover, the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi has placed the issue of facilitating the return of Iranians living abroad to their home country high on its agenda, with government officials constantly reiterating the need for paving the way for the expatriates to return.

About 500 Iranian researchers have returned home over the past four years to transfer their knowledge and expertise to the country’s universities, according to the vice presidency for science and technology.

With the support of the National Elites Foundation and Science and Technology Vice Presidency, universities, knowledge enterprises, technology parks, and incubators launched a plan titled ‘cooperation with Iranian expatriate entrepreneurs and elites’ in 2015.

The plan aims to attract Iranians abroad to share knowledge in different forms including postdoctoral research, research opportunity, and visiting fellows, in addition to being faculty members. /T.T/

Taha Nemati from Iran finished in the first place in the +102kg weight class of the 2022 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships on Sunday.

Nemati came first in the snatch by lifting 150kg and also came first in clean and jerk with 190kg. He won the gold medal with a total of 340kg.

Uzbekistan’s Abdurashitov Nurbol won the silver with (145-171-316). The bronze medal went to Kazakhstan’s Zholtay Sanzhar with (136-170-306).

The competition is being held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from July 15 to 25. /T.T/

Two Iranian short films “The Gift” and “I Will Never Leave You” were awarded at the Anthem film festival in the United States.

Directed by Alireza Biglari, “I Will Never Leave You” won the prize of Best International Short Narrative.

The cast of Biglari’s short film includes Goli Ghasemi, Alireza Biglari, Mostafa Safaei, Fariborz Mehrabian, and Sina Abbasnezhad.

Farbod Ardebili’s “The Gift” also won the prize of Best Short Drama. The latest edition of the film festival was held from July 13th to 16th in Nevada. /MNA/

 

The head of Iran’s space agency Hassan Salarieh has said that Iran is set to launch a satellite into space in the coming months.

A satellite is prepared to be put in space, Hassan Salarieh told IRIB and predicted that as a result of the launch team’s good efforts, the satellite would be launched in the Iranian autumn season.

Almost without being active in space, the sovereignty of countries is questionable and the states are unable to have full sovereignty, he underlined.

Management in the agricultural sector, which is associated with people’s food security, will be highly costly and extremely incomplete without being active in space programs, he added.

The head of Iran’s space agency Hassan Salarieh

He also referred to the important role of space services in dealing with traffic and transportation.

Security issues and monitoring of a country’s borders without being present in space are slow and very incomplete, he further noted. It is essential to make use of the capacities of space in maintaining [full] security in the borders of the country, he pointed out.

He underlined the role of being active in space in monitoring meteorological conditions and dust storms.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he touched upon the effectiveness of space-related activities in managing subsidence, drought, and water resources as well as identifying unlawful constructions in mountains and forest resources and control of biological species.

Iran to put satellite into orbit in coming months

Iran launched its first satellite Omid (Hope) in 2009 and its Rasad (Observation) satellite was sent into orbit in 2011. Earlier in April 2022, Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology (ICT), Issa Zare’pour, said that the Islamic Republic of Iran will be turned into one of the main exporters of space-related services in the region in the very near future.

“We have several satellites at hand for launching into orbit. The Islamic Republic of Iran should soon become one of the exporters of space services to the region and Islamic countries because we are one of the top 10 countries that can build homegrown satellites. These satellites are also launched with a domestically-produced launcher,” the ICT minister added.

Meanwhile, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Energy Commission, Fereydoun Abbasi Davani, said that the 13th government under President Ebrahim Raeisi is seriously determined to develop the space industry and is pursuing the development of space technology diligently.

Iran to put satellite into orbit in coming months

In June 2020, a spokesman for the Iranian defense ministry, Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini, said that the Zoljanah satellite launch vehicle has been tested again for research purposes.
Zoljanah, also spelled Zuljanah, was made by the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics and was unveiled on 1 February 2021.

Also, IRGC Aerospace launched the ‘Noor-2’ Satellite by the domestically-built launcher Qassed (messenger) on March 8, 2022, and placed it into orbit at an altitude of 500 km. The mission of the satellite is reconnaissance, and it was placed in orbit after 480 seconds at a speed of 6.7 km/s.

Referring to the successful launch of the “Noor” satellite, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi termed a significant move taken by scientists of the country in achieving advanced technology “very valuable and honorable” and said that achieving this technology is one of the manifestations of national authority. /MNA/

 

Young weightlifter Alireza Moeini from Iran lifted 166kg in the snatch at the 2022 Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Uzbekistan to break the Asian record.

A junior Iranian athlete, Alireza Moeini lifted the 166kg weight in the snatch at the 2022 Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Uzbekistan to win a gold medal for Iran and break the Asian record in the youth category.

The 2022 Asian Youth and Junior Championships started in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on July 15.

Another Iranian representative Ali Keshtkar won a bronze medal after he successfully lifted the 175, 182 and 186 kg weights to win the bronze medal in the clean and jerk and overall. /MNA/

Afsaneh Hesamifard scripted history on Friday by becoming the first Iranian woman to climb treacherous K2.

K2, at 8,611 meters above sea level, is the second-highest mountain on the planet after Mount Everest (standing at 8,849 meters). K2 is considered one of the most dangerous summits for mountaineering enthusiasts across the globe.

Known as the ‘Savage Mountain’ as winds on its peak roar at more than 200 kilometers per hour and temperatures drop to minus 60°C.

Hesamifard became only the third woman to reach the top of Mount Everest in May this year.

Climbers representing Pakistan as well as the United States, Lebanon, Nepal, Philippines, Estonia, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Argentina, and the United Kingdom are part of the group. /MNA/