Deputy of Tharallah Headquarters: Private Drone Flights Banned in Tehran

Following the flight of two unmanned aerial vehicles near the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in recent months, the deputy of operations at the Tharallah Headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the flight of "personal and private quadcopters and helicopters in Tehran has been banned." Alireza Rabiei stated on Tuesday, February 21, in an interview with the Tasnim news agency that the Tharallah Headquarters is responsible for ensuring the security of Tehran and issuing any permits for the flight of unmanned aerial vehicles. According to Mr. Rabiei, some of the drones that were imported to Iran by various unions and sold to individuals had taken flight without permission, and actions were taken against them. He announced that these unmanned aerial vehicles were confiscated or prevented from flying again. Mr. Rabiei added: "Based on a directive recently issued, we have stopped the flights of these drones which had caused security issues and sometimes social and psychological problems in society." The Tharallah Headquarters in Tehran is one of the security headquarters of the IRGC, tasked with "managing the security of the capital and other cities in Tehran province." After reports of "continuous" air defense fire on the evening of January 16, some military and government officials announced that a filming drone had entered a "no-fly zone" and was shot down by air defense. On the morning of January 24, the sound of air defense fire was heard around Enghelab Square, and subsequently, several sites, including "Asr Iran," reported that as a result of this fire, a "helicopter" or drone had been shot down near the office of the Supreme Leader, known as the "Leader's House." In this regard, Mohsen Hamdani, the security deputy of Tehran's governorate, stated that this "helicopter" belonged to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and was attempting aerial filming of the Tehran Friday prayer location, but "disregarded the no-fly zone and entered this area." IRIB denied this claim. Institutions such as the office of the Supreme Leader, the judiciary, and the Guardian Council are located within the vicinity of Jomhoori Street and Har Square. "The luminous object is related to the testing of a satellite launch vehicle from a Western country." On Tuesday, the deputy of operations at the air defense headquarters also announced that the luminous object seen in some parts of Iran "is related to the testing of a satellite launch vehicle in one of the Western countries, and the assumption that it was over the sky of Iran is incorrect." Alireza Elhami emphasized: "The reason this luminous object was observed in several of our provinces and other countries is its very high altitude and the large amount of fuel it had." He did not provide further details about this luminous object. Reports of an unidentified flying object in the skies of some cities were published on Sunday evening. According to reports, this object appeared in the sky at 19:00 and disappeared after 10 minutes. These reports were published while, after the observation of several luminous objects in northern Iran in October of last year, AFP, Reuters, and the Associated Press reported on Thursday, October 8, 2015, citing two officials in the U.S. government, that four missiles fired by Russia towards targets in Syria had deviated and fallen into Iranian territory. Marzieh Afkhami, the then-spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, had not confirmed these reports, and the Russian Ministry of Defense denied these reports, stating that the missiles launched in Syria had hit their intended targets. In this context, media reported on "continuous" air defense fire in central Tehran.