News Digest: Week of April 18

April 18

Security: Seeking retribution for the U.S. assassination of General Qassem Soleimani is a “basic principle in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. “The action taken by the perpetrators and advisers of this cowardly act will not go unpunished” regardless of the outcome of talks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, he added.

Regional: President Ebrahim Raisi threatened Israel during a televised address on National Army Day. “If you make the slightest move against our nation ... our armed forces’ destination will be the heart of the Zionist regime.”

Military: Iran unveiled two new drones, the Kaman-22 and Ababil-5, during a military parade in Tehran marking National Army Day. The Kaman-22 has a range of more than 3,000 kilometers and can carry out strikes as well as surveillance and reconnaissance missions. No details were released about the Ababil-5.

 

April 19

Energy: Oil Minister Javad Owji said that Iran’s natural gas sector needed $80 billion in investment in the years ahead. “In the absence of adequate investment we will be forced to import,” he warned.

 

April 20

Security: Iran claimed to have captured three Mossad agents in the southeastern Baluchistan and Sistan province. The three were involved in "disseminating classified information and documents," according to Iranian authorities.

 

April 21

Military: Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, said that the United States, or “the enemy,” was offering concessions or to lift sanctions if Iran gives up on avenging General Soleimani. “This is pure fantasy. The Supreme Leader has emphasized the need for revenge and the Revolutionary Guards' top commander has said that revenge is inevitable and that we will choose the time and place for it.”

Education: Iranian teachers went on strike in Tehran and several other cities to protest unfair wages, poor working conditions, and the imprisonment of their colleagues. At least 30 protestors were detained, according to the Iranian Teachers Trade Unions Coordination Council.