Iran Telecommunications Industry Syndicate Calls For Executive Measures To Purge American Equipment From Critical Infrastructure

Iran’s Telecommunications Industry Syndicate said purging the country’s critical infrastructure from American equipment requires “executive prerequisites and structural reform,” arguing that removing “structural obstacles” and creating coordinated executive requirements is the only way to achieve the goal.

The syndicate, citing the “recent emphasis by the head of the National Center for Cyberspace,” said the policy would be possible only by removing structural obstacles and creating executive requirements, and it pointed to major challenges that have prevented adequate progress despite “repeated admonitions from senior national officials.”

El Confidencial

It listed ongoing orders to import American equipment, managers’ and experts’ knowledge dependence on training based on American vendors, and the risk created by selecting American brands that “prevents acceptance of risk in the change process.”

The syndicate also argued that supplying American equipment at lower prices and shorter delivery times drives organizations to decisions “not aligned with national security,” and it called the idea that not using American equipment automatically mandates domestic products “a kind of fallacy and evasion of the main issue.”

Faramarz Rastgar, Secretary of the Iran Telecommunications Industry Syndicate, said purging American equipment is “not only a security necessity but also part of the nation’s overarching strategy to achieve technological autonomy,” and the syndicate said it stands ready to cooperate with relevant authorities to implement the national policy.

Economy News described Iran’s digital and hardware markets as tense in the postwar period, saying shortages of goods, price surges, disruptions in import routes, and uncertainty about supply substitutes have turned the market “into one of the most tense markets in the postwar period.”

In the mobile, laptop, and computer components market, Economy News said the repetitive refrain is: “Prices are for today,” and it described volatility across phones and laptops as well as “SSD memory, graphics cards, monitors, power supplies, motherboards, network components, storage devices, and even simple accessories.”

The Times of India

It tied the crisis to import routes, saying a major portion of Iran’s digital goods market—especially laptops and components—has for years been fed via the UAE and Dubai, and it reported that “about 600,000 laptop devices were imported into the country at an estimated value of $260 million.”

Economy News added that in the same customs data, the value of laptop imports from the UAE was about $247 million, and it said the UAE has effectively been the main hub supplying laptops to Iran’s market.

The report also stated that in 1404, commercial mobile imports declined to about 8.4 million units valued at around $1.6 billion, down from 11.4 million units valued at nearly $2.48 billion in 1403, and it said the market reacts quickly when the Dubai route is disrupted through “reduced official supply, increased prices of existing stock, and growth of the informal market.”

EcoIran said Iran–U.S. talks mediated by Pakistan in Islamabad ended after several hours of intensive discussions without reaching a final agreement, with the Iranian side describing the talks as shaped by “fundamental differences and Washington's maximal demands.”

“According to Economy News, shortages of goods, price surges, disruptions in import routes, and the uncertainty of supply substitutes have turned Iran's digital and hardware markets into one of the most tense markets in the postwar period; a market whose pulse used to be in harmony with Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, but now faces shortages, hoarding, momentary price spikes, and a retreat of buyers”

اقتصادنیوز سایت مرجع اقتصاد ایران

EcoIran reported that Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and head of the Iranian negotiating team, wrote on X that before the talks he emphasized goodwill and resolve but that “due to the experiences of the two previous wars they did not trust the other side.”

On the U.S. side, EcoIran said American officials including Jidi Vans, the Vice President of the United States, stated that Washington had presented its proposed framework but Iran had not accepted it, and it quoted Vans stressing “the need for long-term guarantees regarding Iran's nuclear program.”

Separately, The Times of India reported that 63-year-old Jamshid Ghomi, a dual Iranian-American national, was arrested at his $35 million Newport Beach property and charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, with prosecutors alleging he supplied advanced US networking and encryption equipment to Iran’s nuclear and military institutions for more than a decade.

The Times of India quoted First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli saying, “We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion,” and it said Ghomi faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.