Iran's first domestically-built destroyer, Jamaran, launched in the waters of the Persian Gulf in February, 2010 Iran’s Deputy Navy Commander Captain Mansour Maqsoudlou has announced the country’s plan to design and manufacture aircraft carriers. The initial designs for building the carriers have been approved and the process of research, design and manufacture will start soon, Captain... 

Energy experts believe the new US sanctions on Iran could lead to a major hike in crude oil prices. South Korea has announced that it will buy around 10 percent of its needed crude from Iran in 2012, which will be slightly higher than last year. Seoul’s demand for more Iranian oil follows the approval of a new act by the US Senate for imposing tougher sanctions on Iran’s financial and energy... 

USS Kitty Hawk -- a 1,000 feet supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board The US military is preparing a massive military campaign against Iran, sending thousands of American troops, warships and weaponry to Israel. An unnamed source said the military deployment of US anti-missile ships and accompanying support personnel will occur in January and later this spring, Global Research reported. Commander... 

Russia and China will be a headache for US President Barack Obama if he decides on a military confrontation with Iran. A political analyst says Russia and China consider a US military action on Iran as an attack on their own borders and a threat to their own national security. “The US is assuming that Russia or China will not respond militarily, but they’ve been wrong before,” Shamus Cooke... 

An Iranian navy vessel launches a missile during the Velayat 90 drills at the sea of Oman, on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012. A senior Iranian lawmaker says the country will not allow any oil to reach the “war engines of Iran’s enemies” through the Strait of Hormuz if its oil is subjected to sanctions. “Iran will never allow the Strait [of Hormuz] to be used against it and for the benefit of its... 

Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health and Medical Education Mostafa Qanei says the country has ranked first in scientific progress in the world in 2011. “According to the statistics published in Nature, Iran ranks 40th in science production and first in scientific growth in the world in 2011,” Qanei said on Saturday. He went on to say that the Islamic Republic has witnessed a 20% growth in... 

In the stand-off over the crucial oil lane in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s navy drill is to culminate with the launch of long-range missiles. The US says its warships, which crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, are heading to the Arabian Sea. Iran’s long-range missile systems, including the Shabab-3, cover a distance of over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and thus could reach Israel and US bases... 

Iran's Navy is currently conducting 10-day Velayat 90 naval drills in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman says his country hopes that stability will continue in the strategic Strait of Hormuz and no action will be taken to destabilize this international waterway. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Hung Lei said Chinese public opinion is very sensitive about... 

The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet says it will not “tolerate” any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran announced its forces are capable of closing the route if necessary. “[The fleet] maintains a robust presence in the region to deter or counter destabilizing activities,” a spokesperson for the fleet said on Wednesday. “The free flow of goods and services through the... 

An Iranian researcher has invented the world’s tiniest capacitor microphone that can be used in making small and invisible hearing aids. Bahram Azizollah-Ganji, a faculty member of Noushirvani University of Technology in the northern city of Babol, has built a very small microphone which is only 0.5 x 0.5 mm big. The device, which is the tiniest microphone in the world, is mainly developed for... 

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on Thursday announced the upcoming launch of 10-day massive naval exercises in the international waters, the local satellite Press TV reported. Sayyari said at a press conference on Thursday that the naval maneuvers dubbed Velayat 90 will start on Saturday and will cover an area of 2,000 (1,250-mile) km stretching from the east of the Strait of... 

Norman Paech, a retired German professor and politician Former German lawmaker Norman Paech says any Israeli venture to launch a military strike against Iran would spell the end of Tel Aviv regime. A war with Iran would be different from the one with Gaza; it would mean the downfall of Zionist Israel, Norman Paech wrote on the German-based daily Jung Welt. Paech said that in a study released on 12... 

Arrested US spy, Amir Hekmati. A senior Iranian lawmaker says the US government demanding that Iran return the CIA spy, recently arrested by the country’s intelligence agents, is outrageous. “The US spy is a criminal and must be tried in Iran for the crime he has committed,” Kazem Jalali said on Wednesday. The lawmaker, who is also the spokesman for Iran’s Majlis (parliament) National... 

Iran's first domestically-built destroyer, Jamaran Iran’s domestically-built Jamaran destroyer has returned home from its first international mission after successfully conducting counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Part of the 16th fleet of Iranian warships, the Jamaran destroyer and Bandar Abbas frigate arrived at Iran’s naval base in the Bandar Abbas port city, located... 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Following the expansion of economic and political relations between Tehran and Caracas, US President Barack Obama has demanded the Venezuelan government sever all ties with Iran. “I think the government’s ties with Iran and Cuba have not benefited the interests of Venezuela and its people,” Obama said in the email...