Spinmeisters Of Iran: Becoming A High-Power Industrial Laser Exporter In The Face Of Sanctions

An interesting story on Iranian state television channel IRINN today tells the story of how Iran, dependent on foreign countries for advanced industrial lasers (and with undertones of the vulnerability of such dependencies in the face of sanctions) developed its own domestic advanced laser industry that it claims now makes it just one of a handful of laser-producing countries and a net global exporter of advanced industrial lasers. The broadcast also discusses advanced AI and medical research in the country as well, presenting the image of Iran as a global advanced research powerhouse that is self-sufficient and not impacted by international sanctions. Such coverage could simply fall into the standard "global technology leadership" narrative so popular in many countries with centralized governing structures or could reflect the government feeling an increasing need to push back against deepening impacts of sanctions – a deeper investigation of S&T coverage on domestic Iranian television would offer more clues.

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This analysis is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Internet Archive and its TV News Archive, the multi-party Media-Data Research Consortium and GDELT.