Science and Technology

Iranwire – The U.S. Treasury Department has given tacit approval to an expansion of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to cover Iran at a time of mass protests and internet shutdowns. The SpaceX CEO was petitioned by Iranians on social media over the weekend to offer the same improved coverage to Iran as to other countries. Since last Friday, when demonstrations …

RFL/RE – More than half of Iran’s fleet of passenger aircraft has been grounded due to aging and a lack of spare parts and engines, an aviation expert has told Iranian media. The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Omid Khansari as saying that only “about 120 to 130 planes are active” out of a total of some 340 aircraft owned …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The small country of Albania appeared to have more courage and stronger leadership than the Biden administration: it recently sent a strong message to the Iranian regime after Iran’s cyberattacks against Albania in July. Albania severed diplomatic relations with Tehran and ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours. “This extreme response… is fully proportionate …

Al-Monitor – The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions on 10 individuals and two companies affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused of conducting “malicious” cyber acts, including ransomware activity.  “Today’s actions demonstrate our commitment to disrupting ransomware infrastructure and actors,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “The United States will not tolerate malicious cyber …

Al-Monitor – Ukraine’s military reported Tuesday that it had destroyed an Iranian drone used by Russian forces near Kharkiv. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry published photos of what it said were the remnants of an Iran-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drone shot down near Kupiansk. An intact tail fin of the drone bore the words M214 Giran-2, or “Geranium-2,” in Cyrillic lettering. The photos were first posted online by …

Al-Arabia – Iran has designed a drone, named Arash-2, specifically for targeting the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, a senior Iranian military commander said on Sunday. “We have specially designed this drone for Haifa and Tel Aviv. This is a unique drone that was developed for this task,” state media quoted Kiyoumars Heydari, commander of the Iranian army’s …

VOA -Albania has suffered a renewed cyberattack, the country’s interior ministry said Saturday, blaming Iran which Tirana also accused of an earlier assault on its digital systems. “The national police’s computer systems were hit Friday by a cyberattack which, according to initial information, was committed by the same actors who in July attacked the country’s public and government service systems,” …

Al-Arabia – A member in the Albanian parliament, Taulant Balla, confirmed to Al Arabiya on Wednesday that his government has evidence of Iran’s involvement in the cyberattack against his country, stressing that the Albanian security services have identified the Iranian groups responsible. Balla said: “This decision comes after a very severe cyberattack that Albania suffered on July 15. It was …

Al-Arabia – Albania is ending diplomatic relations with Iran and has ordered Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours, after an investigation into a cyberattack in July, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Wednesday. “The government has decided with immediate effect to end diplomatic relations with Islamic Republic of Iran,” Rama said in a video statement sent …

Iranwire – For several days last week, Instagram users based in Iran reported difficulty in accessing the popular platform: one of very few major social networks not officially blocked by the regime. But all of a sudden, Instagram was temporarily unreachable via home internet services – but not via mobile – in Tehran, and fully down in other Iranian cities. …