Iran - with Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - has been invited by the BRICS group of nations to become new members of the bloc

A 100-million-dollar fund for the development of the artificial intelligence sector in Iran has been launched; the NDF will also grant specific loans to those companies that financially support AI-based projects in universities and scientific centers

Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance to inform on women refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf in public; according to latest UN report, state-sponsored vigilantism aims at enlisting businesses and private individuals in hijab compliance

Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who had been convicted for reporting on Mahsa Amini's case, were pardoned; freed on bail after 17 months' imprisonment last January, their sentences were reduced on appeal in August

A new ballistic missile, capable of travelling 1.700 kilometres, was unveiled at a ceremony in Tehran attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian