Latest Company Involved In Iran’s Drone Program Revealed
Iran International has obtained information about an IRGC-affiliated company active in supplying drones and missiles for Russia and Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Iran International has obtained information about an IRGC-affiliated company active in supplying drones and missiles for Russia and Lebanese group Hezbollah.
An Iranian hacktivist group, called 'Lab-Dookhtegan' or Read My Lips, shared with Iran International exclusive information about the activities of the company, identified as ‘Tik’, sharing the photos and identities of several senior members of the company.
According to the group, the company has provided training on missile and drone production and their control systems to Hezbollah and Russian forces on several occasions this year.
The group also provided a list of the company’s senior executives, including CEO Rasul Sirati, his deputy Hamidreza Daneshi-Kohan, Kianoosh Morovatipour, the technical engineering manager of the company, Mohammad-Ali Razavi-Kohani, in charge of the assembly line and Heshmat Parsaifard, responsible for training Hezbollah forces.
The names of the cover companies used by the IRGC to evade sanctions are being revealed gradually, creating a crisis for the Islamic Republic.
Earlier in June, the Israeli research center ALMA identified the Iranian scientists behind the Shahed 136 drones used by Russia in its war on Ukraine. A report exclusively obtained by i24NEWS identified two civilian companies in Tehran that manufacture components for the Shahed drones and are reportedly operated by the IRGC.
The company Shakad Sanat Asmari, also called Chekad Sanat Faraz Asia, manufactures parts for the Iranian aviation industry and its former CEO Ehsan Rahat Varnosfadrani is the company's chief scientist. Daria Fanavar Borhan Sharif (Sadid Sazeh Parvaz Sharif) is the other company, specializing in communication, optical, and electronic circuits, and Ehsan Imaninejad is its CEO.
Pundit Jaber Rajabi told Iran International that the main reasons that Russia is using Iranian-made drones are their cheap prices and the fact that Moscow wants to have an accomplice in its invasion.
He said the Islamic Republic has spent three decades developing its military technology but since it cannot manufacture airplanes and jets, it has to focus its energy and assets on missiles and drones.
Political analyst Mehdi Mahdavi-Azad told Iran International that the issue of Iran’s drones and missiles had not been very grave for the West until Russia started to use them. He believes that before the Russian invasion, Europe and the United States were not seriously concerned about the Iranian missiles because their range is not more than 2,000 kilometers, therefore not reaching Europe's borders.
Mahdavi-Azad said the regime cunningly has not worked on long-range missiles to avoid worries by the Europeans. However, Reuters reported on Wednesday that European diplomats have told Iran they plan to retain EU ballistic missile sanctions set to expire in October under the defunct 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a step that would provoke Iranian retaliation.
Only hours after the report was released, Alireza Sabahifard, the commander of Air Defense Force of Artesh, Iran's traditional Army, said, “This year, the production of advanced long-range radar, missile and drone systems is on the agenda of the Air Defense Forces of the Army.”
Iran’s supply of drones to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine has been condemned by the US and its NATO allies and met with sanctions by the US, European Union and other states.
In April, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a procurement network, which consisted of Iran’s Pardazan System Namad Arman (PASNA) and the entity's front companies and suppliers in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China that Washington said have enabled PASNA's procurement of goods and technology.
In March, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control coordinated with the FBI to designate four other firms – including the Iran-based Defense Technology and Science Research Center and its procurement firm Farazan Industrial Engineering Inc -- and three people in Iran and Turkey for allegedly buying equipment, including European-made engines, to be used for the regime’s drone and weapons programs.
The man is Hossein Shariatmadari, a hardliner trusted by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and appointed by him to run the Kayhan Daily in Tehran, the regime’s most uncompromising media outlet.
While Shariatmadari can be regarded as an extremist who does not mince words and is less diplomatic than the 84-year-old autocrat who appointed him, his ideas cannot be dismissed. As long as Khamenei is alive, Shariatmadari’s words are closer to his thinking than what any Islamic Republic diplomat might say.
Addressing a congregation marking the death anniversary of an ayatollah assassinated four decades ago, Kayhan’s chief editor said that the kind of Islam the regime upholds is “not American Islam.” The difference between true Islam and ‘American Islam’, he claimed is pursuing justice. But for Khamenei justice means an unending war against Israel and the United States.
Any kind of Islam other than what Khamenei demands is fake according to the ideology of the Islamic Republic, which the aging autocrat defends with all the destructive means at his disposal. This was also in the heart of his animosity toward Saudi Arabia, which he many times described as a “corrupt” system because it cooperated with the United States, which protects Israel.
Shariatmadari said, “our war with the enemy is ever lasting and permanent, and we have achieved a lot from the beginning, but still have a long way to go.”
The Islamic regime has indeed armed and supported tens of thousands of militants throughout the region with the aim of defeating the United States and destroying Israel. It is also a few steps away from becoming a nuclear threshold state, if not outright producing nuclear weapons.
When President Barack Obama was crafting the JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran, his aides told the media that the President aimed higher than a nuclear deal. His ambitious goal was to use “the strategic opportunity” to try to convert Iran from foe to “friend”, as an influential media outlet put it at the time.
However, as soon as the deal was signed, the following year Iran’s Revolutionary Guard wrote ‘death to Israel’ on their missiles, and Obama had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to get American hostages back.
In the approximately 18 months Obama was in office after the JCPOA was finalized in mid-2015, no strategic breakthrough took place. Iran got its billions from the deal and spent most of the money fueling the wars in Yemen, Syria and building up its proxy forces in Iraq, despite subtle hints of possible wider cooperation his diplomats gave during the nuclear talks.
The Biden administration after trying for two years to revive the JCPOA has apparently realized that Iran is not ready to play ball and is contemplating a limited agreement to nominally limit its nuclear program while the president fights for re-election.
But Khamenei is the one who defines the nature of US-Iranian relations. For him the concept of America and Israel being eternal enemies is almost sacred and he does not miss a chance to say so. On June 4, he once again revealed his lack of interest in any shift in policy, indirectly referring to a limited deal.
“Our young people should pay attention. The enmity of world arrogance will not disappear with tactical retrenchments. Some imagine that if we retreat on some issue, their enmity will decrease against us. This is a mistake.”
Abdi told the clerics in an article in Etemad newspaper: "If you cannot solve any of the people's problems, at least do not put more burdens on their shoulders."
Abdi's comments appeared to be a response to Expediency Council member and conservative cleric Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam who lashed out at the people for causing high inflation and told them on Sunday: Learn to live like the people of China who have only two meals every 24 hours."
He also claimed that the people of Iran have more resources than the Chinese, but the Chinese are content with what they have, and Iranians are expecting more every day.
Abdi responded by asking: "How many meals do you have in a day?
Mesbahi-Moghaddam’s comment came at a time when food prices have risen by around 100 percent since May 2022. Meat, dairy and fruit consumption has drastically decreased due to high prices.
Abdi also criticized the Friday Imam of Mashhad, the firebrand Ahmad Alamolhoda and father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi for saying "The more you pay Iranian workers, the more demands they will come up with."
Abdi said, the clerics usually interfere in many areas but the economy is not a subject in which the they can express unsubstantiated opinions. Abdi further charged: "There is no pay increase for the workers. The inflation rate was 48 percent last year and it is going to be around 55 to 60 percent this year. Have you added that much to the workers' wages?"
Meanwhile in another response the Chairman of the Sino-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Majid Reza Hariri said: "May I respectfully tell his Excellency Mesbahi-Moghaddam that the Chinese have four meals a day."
Only to be fair with Mesbahi-Moqaddam, Rouydad24 quoted him as having told Jamaran News that "People expect the inflation rate to rise, and this expectation coupled with the news about Iran's relations with the West and the failure of nuclear talks lead to an increase in the inflation rate."
In another development, former vice president Massoumeh Ebtekar wrote in Etemad newspaper: "Rising prices have broken the people's back," adding that "The people are tired of seeing the government prioritizing the issue of hijab over the problems of inflation and rising prices."
Ebtekar added: "A majority of Iranians just want to live a simple life and benefit from what the world can offer them. They do not wish to be dependent on the West or rely on the East. They are against lawlessness and promiscuity and at the same time they are against rigid rules of social life that the hardliners wish to impose on them.”
Ebtekar argued that "What people want is stability. An economic stability without sudden political changes that give rise to inflation, and political stability to ensure that laws do not change every day [to protect the interests of a certain group].
She said: "People hate lies in the corridors of power, they do not like the impossible promises politicians make, they hate powerful men playing with their state of mind and insulting their intelligence. They do not like to be humiliated and abused. They are tired of politicians who deny the impact of years of sanctions and rising prices."
Ebtekar who was a staunch revolutionary in the early years of the revolution and one of those who took American diplomats hostage, insisted that "The people are tired because their criticisms remain unheard and they see that the government has no plan for the future of young Iranians. Every time they have voted to improve the situation, powerful elements entered the scene to turn their joy into bitterness."