Iran Army Trains for Electronic Warfare, Simulates Air Attacks

Iranian army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi and General Habibollah Sayyari inaugurate the electronic warfare exercises. (Iranian state TV)
Iranian army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi and General Habibollah Sayyari inaugurate the electronic warfare exercises. (Iranian state TV)
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Iran Army Trains for Electronic Warfare, Simulates Air Attacks

Iranian army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi and General Habibollah Sayyari inaugurate the electronic warfare exercises. (Iranian state TV)
Iranian army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi and General Habibollah Sayyari inaugurate the electronic warfare exercises. (Iranian state TV)

The Iranian army kicked off electronic warfare drills, simulating combat conditions and air attacks by fighter jets, drones, and helicopters.

Iranian media showed video footage of Iranian army commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi and deputy chief for coordination General Habibollah Sayyari at the command center of the electronic warfare drills.

They were seen communicating with army commanders via a television network before the launch of the drills, codenamed “Shield of the State’s Guardians.”

The Army's Public Relations Department said the exercises include electronic support operations for fighter jets and drones and testing electronic defense systems against drones.

Reuters quoted state television as saying that units of the naval, ground, and air forces, as well as air defenses, participated in the exercises in the largely desert central region in central Iran.

The drills featured locally-made radars, drones, manned and unmanned combat jets, micro aerial vehicles, and other military equipment.

State-run English Press TV quoted Sayyari as saying the army has the appropriate infrastructure and has achieved favorable results in countering threats in today’s world and predicting future threats in this sensitive and complicated arena.

Iran has developed a large domestic arms industry in the face of international sanctions and embargoes that bar it from importing many weapons.

Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its weapons capabilities.

On Tuesday, Tehran announced the manufacture of an advanced, domestically-made drone called “Mohajer-10,” with an enhanced range and flight duration, with a greater payload-carrying capacity.

The United States accuses Iran of providing Russia with the Mohajer-6 drones, among other drones, since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine, which Tehran denies.



Malala Yousafzai 'Overwhelmed and Happy' to Be Back in Pakistan

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (2R) returns to her native Pakistan to attend a summit on girls' education. Zain Zaman JANJUA / AFP
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (2R) returns to her native Pakistan to attend a summit on girls' education. Zain Zaman JANJUA / AFP
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Malala Yousafzai 'Overwhelmed and Happy' to Be Back in Pakistan

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (2R) returns to her native Pakistan to attend a summit on girls' education. Zain Zaman JANJUA / AFP
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (2R) returns to her native Pakistan to attend a summit on girls' education. Zain Zaman JANJUA / AFP

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said Saturday she was "overwhelmed" to be back in her native Pakistan, as she arrived for a global summit on girls' education in the Islamic world.
The education activist was shot by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012 when she was a schoolgirl and has returned to the country only a handful of times since.
"I'm truly honored, overwhelmed and happy to be back in Pakistan," she told AFP as she arrived at the conference in the capital Islamabad.
The two-day summit was set to be opened Saturday morning by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and brings together representatives from Muslim-majority countries.
Yousafzai is due to address the summit on Sunday.
"I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls," she posted on social media platform X on Friday.
The country's education minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told AFP the Taliban government in Afghanistan had been invited to attend, but Islamabad has not received a response.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.
Pakistan is facing its own severe education crisis with more than 26 million children out of school, mostly as a result of poverty, according to official government figures -- one of the highest figures in the world.
Yousafzai became a household name after she was attacked by Pakistan Taliban militants on a school bus in the remote Swat valley in 2012.
She was evacuated to the United Kingdom and went on to become a global advocate for girls' education and, at the age of 17, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.