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US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States agreed with the United Nations consensus view that Al-Qaeda veteran Saif Al-Adel was now de facto head of the jihadist group and that he was based in Iran.

Convincing forensic evidence of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace activity has emerged from the hard drive of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) seized at sea last year in a British naval anti-smuggling operation. Analysis of the quadcopter drone, seized in early 2022 from smuggler boats heading for Yemen, found details of pre-shipment test flights conducted at the IRGC Aerospace Force’s test facility, which is believed to be located at Chitgar in north-western Tehran.

Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri has been seen inspecting a new tactical airbase named Oghrab-44 (Eagle-44), as he used an official video to introduce Iranians to the facility, located in mountainous terrain in the south. Bagheri said similar facilities were being built in other mountainous areas.

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.

At least two rounds of talks have been held between Iranian and Ukrainian officials in Oman, to discuss Tehran’s supply of armed drones to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, according to GSN sources.

Gulf countries have despatched search and rescue teams, medical equipment, temporary housing and other relief supplies to Turkey and Syria in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit in the early hours of 6 February. Qatar and the UAE were among the first to respond; flights left from Kuwait the following day. Aid has also been forthcoming from Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Qatar’s foreign affairs minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani travelled to Tehran on 29 January, to pass on a message from the United States about the moribund 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Azerbaijan has closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated staff and their families, following a gun attack on the diplomatic mission late January in which one security guard  was killed and two others wounded. Azerbaijan complained local security personnel had done nothing to defend the embassy.

French naval forces seized more than 3,000 assault rifles, 578,000 rounds of ammunition and 23 advanced anti-tank guided missiles in the Gulf of Oman mid-January. The action was announced by US Central Command in February, which said it happened “along routes historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully from Iran to Yemen”.

An attack by suspected Israeli drones appeared to cause relatively minor damage to a military base in the central city of Isfahan late January. Iranian officials described the facility as a workshop, but did not give further details of its function.

Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian undertook a tour of friendly Latin American countries in early February, but stopped off in Mauritania on the way.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol caused a diplomatic stir during a state visit to the UAE from 14-17 January when he described Iran as "the enemy of the UAE, its most-threatening nation".

The European Parliament voted in January for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) to be designated as a terrorist entity by the European Union (EU), drawing a furious reaction from Tehran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is converting two former container ships built by Hyundai Shipbuilding in Korea more than 20 years ago into naval vessels. The conversion is being carried out at the Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex (Isoico) at Bandar Abbas.

Relations between London and Tehran have deteriorated following the execution on 14 January of Iranian-British dual national Alireza Akbari, who had been convicted of spying. Prior to Akbari’s execution, there had been rising speculation in London that the UK could soon designate the IRGC as a terrorist group.