{"id":33906,"date":"2025-09-02T13:11:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/?p=33906"},"modified":"2025-09-02T13:12:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:12:02","slug":"iranian-press-review-defence-minister-says-country-has-arms-factories-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/iranian-press-review-defence-minister-says-country-has-arms-factories-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian press review: Defence minister says country has arms factories abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Tehran admits to overseas missile factories<\/h3>\n

Two months after the end of Israel<\/a>\u2019s war<\/a> on Iran<\/a>, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh revealed<\/a> a new aspect of the country\u2019s missile programme, saying that Iran has defence and weapons \u201cinfrastructure and factories\u201d in other countries.<\/p>\n

Iran has long been known for supplying missile technology to its regional allies, but this marks the first time a senior military commander has acknowledged the existence of arms factories abroad.<\/p>\n

Nasirzadeh also announced a shift in Iran\u2019s military priorities after the 12-day war. He did not give details, but his reference to problems in the army and the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s defence system early in the conflict suggests changes may target that area. Until the war, it had relied on domestic production.<\/p>\n

Nasirzadeh, who, like Israeli officials, claimed victory in the war, also stressed the development of Iran’s missile programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we did not have missile capabilities, there would definitely be no ceasefire. They would have continued until we surrendered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On the need to expand Iran’s military programmes, he said: \u201cIn today\u2019s era, any country that is not powerful is not allowed to live. Even economic power alone will not achieve results without military power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outrage over destruction of dissidents\u2019 graves<\/h3>\n

The destruction of graves belonging to political prisoners executed in the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution has sparked widespread anger both inside and outside Iran.<\/p>\n

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Tehran municipality, led by hard-line mayor Alireza Zakani, demolished part of Plot 41 in Tehran\u2019s main cemetery, where the prisoners were buried, and turned the area into a parking lot.<\/p>\n

Hard-line Islamist groups have a long history of destroying the graves of political opponents, as well as those of artists and poets. But such large-scale destruction by an official body is rare.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Mohsen Borhani criticised the municipality\u2019s actions, saying<\/a>: \u201cThis trend of destroying graves and replacing them with something else must be stopped. Neither Islamic law allows the destruction of people\u2019s graves, nor do law or morality permit it. This is a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Centre for Human Rights in Iran<\/a> also condemned the move in a statement, urging international organisations to speak out and accusing the government of trying to erase evidence of its past crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy paving over these graves, the Islamic Republic is destroying critical evidence of the atrocities it committed,\u201d the group wrote.<\/p>\n

MP accuses IAEA inspectors of espionage<\/h3>\n

The return of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Iran has sparked strong opposition from conservative members of parliament, some of whom accused the inspectors of spying on the country\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n

In June, following attacks by the US and Israel on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, parliament passed a law to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA.<\/p>\n

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Lawmakers opposed to the inspectors\u2019 return argue that the move was illegal. The foreign minister, however, said the decision was made with the approval of the Supreme National Security Council.<\/p>\n

Opposition MPs also said the agency provided detailed information about Iran\u2019s nuclear programme to the US and Israel before the war, which left more than 10 nuclear scientists dead and caused widespread damage to nuclear facilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amir Hossein Sabeti, one of the MPs, said<\/a>: \u201cNot even two months after parliament passed a law to suspend cooperation with the agency, the agency\u2019s spies came to Iran disguised as inspectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also referred to remarks by Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, made after the war about IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, saying: \u201cYou said we would take care of Grossi later, but now Grossi is taking care of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fars<\/a> news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also called for a review of the decision.<\/p>\n

Explaining the reasons behind the law on suspending cooperation with the agency, it wrote: \u201cGrossi\u2019s unprofessional and espionage performance resulted in passing this law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressure on student organisations continues<\/h3>\n

Despite promises by President Massoud Pezeshkian to open up political space in universities,\u00a0student organisations still face heavy restrictions\u00a0a year after he took office.<\/p>\n

According to the Shargh<\/a> daily, around 30 student organisations were forced to suspend their activities at universities between 2021 and 2024 by order of Ministry of Higher Education officials. Most remain restricted and unable to operate.<\/p>\n

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In Iran, student organisations not only address union issues but are also viewed as major centres of political activity. As a result, many student activists face punishments including expulsion, suspension, imprisonment, and exile.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Shargh reported that while some students who had been barred from education were allowed to return after Pezeshkian came to power, banned organisations are still being systematically blocked from resuming their activities.<\/p>\n

One student activist told the daily that after lobbying to relaunch their political organisation at Noshirvani University in Babol, they were invited to a meeting with a senior official from the Ministry of Higher Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of solving the problem, it felt more like an interrogation,\u201d the student said about the meeting. \u201cThey asked us: what do you want the association for? If we allow it, how will you prove you follow Islamic laws? What is your ideology?\u201d<\/p>\n

* Iranian press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tehran admits to overseas missile factories Two months after the end of Israel\u2019s war on Iran, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh revealed a new aspect of the country\u2019s missile programme, saying that Iran has defence and weapons \u201cinfrastructure and factories\u201d in other countries. Iran has long been known for supplying missile technology to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34055,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33906\/revisions\/34055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}