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Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) forces took control of the Marshall Islands-registered tanker Advantage Sweet in the Gulf of Oman late April, while it was sailing from Kuwait to Houston, Texas.

An unnamed Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) air defence commander has been sentenced by a Tehran military court to 13 years in prison for their role in the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS 752 shortly after it took off from Tehran in January 2018.

The Meraj-532 is the first Iranian drone known to be launched from a speeding vehicle, which means it does not need a rocket booster system for take-off. The weight saved appears to have been traded in for a larger warhead.

Iran’s education minister Yousef Nouri resigned and was replaced by Farhangian University president Reza Moradsahraei. Iranian media reports linked the move to an outcry over delayed salary payments to teachers, but it also comes amid a wave of alleged poisonings of schoolgirls around the country and ongoing protests against the country’s strict dress code.

Russian and Chinese vessels joined their Iranian counterparts in a naval exercise off Chah Bahar in the Gulf of Oman in mid-March. After two days of air defence and anti-hijacking drills, the exercise concluded with a fleet review on 19 March.

Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani has been taking the lead in the recent diplomatic rapprochement with Iran’s Gulf neighbours.  Analysts suggest that Shamkhani has been recognised as a more skilled messenger than foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states are reshaping their regional outlook, as transactional relationships replace some of the more ideologically-driven approaches taken since the 2011 Arab Spring. Former outcasts led by Iran and Syria are being welcomed into Gulf palaces once again, at least in part due to concerns the US can no longer provide a trusted security umbrella. In this rapidly changing environment, Iran could yet emerge as a significant new market for GCC investors.

Free trade deal taking Tehran further into Russia’s orbit: Tehran continues to negotiate a free trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), with local media suggesting an agreement may be signed later this year. Six rounds of talks have been held, following a temporary agreement signed in May 2018 which came into force in 2019.

Iran has unveiled a new cruise missile, named the Paveh, which, with a claimed range of 1,650km, could easily reach Israel.

The 86th Flotilla of the Iranian Navy (Nejada) docked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil late February for a week-long port visit, having apparently bypassed the Panama Canal by taking a 7,000 nautical mile detour around South America instead. It is unclear where the flotilla is heading for next.

Iranian officials have announced a large lithium discovery in Hamedan province, south-west of Tehran. Iran is planning to seek international expertise to develop the reserves and to tap private sector investment, but the search for overseas partners will be complicated by US sanctions on the mining sector.

The late Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi believes opposition groups can unite to remove the Iranian ruling system in a constitutional coup, while the Mojahedin-e-Khalq remains committed to armed revolution. But, along with the reformists tolerated by the regime, none of these actors seem to have great traction on Iran’s streets, where Ayatollah Ali Khameini has most to fear from the combination of younger protestors and workers.

The overwhelming might of Iran’s internal security apparatus has ruthlessly suppressed the demonstrations which broke out in September 2022, following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The regime has dug in at home and abroad to protect the system of clerical rule, with hardliners as dominant as ever. But the protests have continued despite this onslaught and the regime’s critics have found new ways to express their discontent, from widespread strikes (including in the Tehran bazaar, a bastion of the 1979 revolution), to cyberattacks on state banks and other institutions.

Boats based on the UK’s Bladerunner design are now operational, and can fire two active radar 90km range Nasir CM-90 anti-ship missiles developed by Iran from the Chinese C-704.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (Nedsa) has been converting another container ship to naval use. The 36,000t Shahid Bagheri has been pictured getting a flight deck similar to the Shahid Mahdavi, which was seen anchored off Bandar Abbas in mid-February.