Iran's National Virtual Space Center will take legal action against Google and other international platforms over the distortion of the historical name of the Persian Gulf, considering the use of other names a violation of national identity and of ICCPR

A powerful explosion at Iran’s biggest port of Bandar Abbas caused at least 40 casualties and over 1.000 people injured, state media reported; local firefighters have been joined by Russian specialists, dispatched by plane upon President Putin's order

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