TEHRAN: Iran’s new defense minister said Saturday the priority was to boost the country’s missile program and export weapons to shore up neighboring allies.
“In combat fields, especially in missiles, we have a specific plan to boost Iran’s missile power,” said General Amir Hatami, who was appointed defense minister earlier this month, in a speech carried by the ISNA news agency.
“God willing, the combat capabilities of Iran’s ballistic and cruise missiles will increase in this term,” he added.
Hatami also said Iran would look to export weapons “to prevent war and conflict.”
“Wherever a country becomes weak, others become encouraged to raid it... Wherever necessary, we will export weapons to increase the security of the region and countries, to prevent wars,” he said.
Hatami is the first defense minister to be selected from the regular army, rather than the elite Revolutionary Guards, in more than two decades.
Analysts say this reflects an increasing convergence between the two military arms as Iran increases its involvement in regional conflicts such as Syria and Iraq, which have been the Guard’s exclusive purview since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran’s priority to boost missile program: defense minister
Iran’s priority to boost missile program: defense minister
Saudi intervention ends Socotra power crisis
- Sudden shutdown of the power plants after the operating company withdrew and disabled control systems
- Saudi engineering and technical teams moved immediately after receiving an appeal from local authorities
ADEN: Electricity has returned to Yemen’s Socotra archipelago after urgent Saudi intervention ended days of outages that disrupted daily life and crippled vital institutions, including the general hospital, the university and the technical institute.
The breakthrough followed a sudden shutdown of the power plants after the operating company withdrew and disabled control systems, triggering widespread blackouts and deepening hardship for residents.
The Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen said that its engineering and technical teams moved immediately after receiving an appeal from local authorities. Specialists were dispatched to reactivate operating systems that had been encrypted before the company left the island.
Generators were brought back online in stages, restoring electricity across most of the governorate within a short time.
The restart eased intense pressure on the grid, which had faced rising demand in recent weeks after a complete halt in generation.
Health and education facilities were among the worst affected. Some medical departments scaled back services, while parts of the education sector were partially suspended as classrooms and laboratories were left without power.
Socotra’s electricity authority said that the crisis began when the former operator installed shutdown timers and password protections on control systems, preventing local teams from restarting the stations. Officials noted that the archipelago faced a similar situation in 2018, which was resolved through official intervention.
Local sources said that the return of electricity quickly stabilized basic services. Water networks resumed regular operations, telecommunications improved, and commercial activity began to recover after a period of economic disruption linked to the outages.
In the health sector, stable power, combined with operational support, secured the functioning of Socotra General Hospital, the archipelago’s main medical facility.
Funding helped to provide fuel and medical supplies and support healthcare staff, strengthening the hospital’s ability to receive patients and reducing the need to transfer cases outside the governorate, a burden that had weighed heavily on residents.
Medical sources said that critical departments, including intensive care units and operating rooms, resumed normal operations after relying on limited emergency measures.
In education, classes and academic activities resumed at Socotra University and the technical institute after weeks of disruption.
A support initiative covered operational costs, including academic staff salaries and essential expenses, helping to curb absenteeism and restore the academic schedule.
Local authorities announced that studies at the technical institute would officially restart on Monday, a move seen as a sign of gradual stabilization in public services.
Observers say that sustained technical and operational support will be key to safeguarding electricity supply and preventing a repeat of the crisis in a region that depends almost entirely on power to run its vital sectors.
