Science and Technology

Al-Arabia – Over a dozen US and western-made parts were found in an Iranian drone that was downed in Ukraine, a Ukrainian intelligence report revealed. Forty of the 52 components Ukraine removed from the Iran-made Shahed-136 drone appear to have been manufactured by 13 different American companies, the assessment showed. The other 12 components were manufactured by companies in Canada, …

RFL/RE – Jadi Mirmirani, considered to be one of Iran’s leading technologists and a defender of digital rights, has said that he has been sentenced to six years in prison for comments he posted on social media. Mirmirani announced his sentencing in a video address posted to his Twitter account, and said he hopes the ruling will be overturned on appeal. The …

Iranwire – Over the past few days, Iranian government supporters have falsely attributed a Twitter account critical to the clerical regime to Taraneh Alidoosti, a prominent actress arrested last week after she expressed support for the nationwide protest movement. Pro-regime media outlets have used the fake Twitter account to support the case against Alidoosti, alleging that the messages posted there …

RFL/RE – Hard-line Iranian lawmakers have proposed a plan to impose tougher penalties against those who publish news that is deemed to have “negative social consequences.” According to the plan, those who publish “fake news” in the media will be responsible for the negative social consequences resulting from it. The rules would “apply to any type of news.”Mohammad Taghi Naqdali, a member …

RFL/RE – Iran is threatening to permanently block WhatsApp and Instagram, which are very popular in the country. The U.S. internet company Meta has so far not responded to the letter sent by the Iranian authorities in early December, in which they demanded that the company open a representative office in the country and adapt its guidelines to those of …

Iranwire – Twitter has blocked the account of Ali Akbar Raefipour, a media activist and university professor close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), after he used the social media platform to issue threats to anti-government protesters. In a tweet on December 6, Raefipour wrote, “If you want to lose your life, join the street protests, especially if you …

Iranwire – Iran’s Union of Cinema Screenwriters says it has suspended its activities to protest the government’s continued denial of the people’s demand for change, amid protests that have convulsed the country for 12 weeks. “Until the end of the current situation, union members are free to write for others or for themselves or stop their professional activities”, the association’s …

Iranwire – The Office for Sunnis has published a statement announcing that it has identified the individuals who “infiltrated” Friday Prayers in Zahedan. The statement claims that during and following Friday Prayers on December 2, some infiltrators “resorted to destruction” in an attempt to interrupt the words of prominent Sunni clergyman Sheikh ol-Eslam Molavi Abdolhamid. The Maki Mosque’s security headquarters has since …

Iranwire – Iranian Prosecutor-General Mohammad Javad Montazeri has said that access to the Internet should be entirely blocked in Iran, amid a heavy-handed state crackdown on weeks of nationwide anti-government protests. Known for its harsh Internet censorship, which includes banning thousands of websites, the authorities have to a large scale shut down the Internet for most of Iranians in an …

Al-Arabia – The US is “skeptical” of the report that says Iran has developed a hypersonic missile, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Thursday. “We’ve seen the reports asserted and coming out of Iran, we remain skeptical of these reports,” Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a press conference. “We will continue to monitor closely any development or proliferation out of …