Iran · 28 July, 2026 · 2 min read
Iran’s Acting Defense Minister Sayed Majid Ibn al-Ridha Calls for Defense Industry Innovation
Acting Defense Minister Ibn al-Ridha highlights aviation industries as future defense power. He cites America's dependence on Iran in the drone domain.
Whether US expanded attacks on Iran.
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Same story, two versions
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BBC
“American media have reported that Donald Trump, the President of the United States, decided to delay broadening attacks against Iran”Read the original ↗
The Intercept
“Stocks of advanced air-defense missiles, like Patriot and THAAD interceptors, are so depleted”Read the original ↗
BBC emphasises stock uncertainty; The Intercept insists on major interceptor depletion.
Iran’s defense roadmap
Khabaronline reports that Brigadier General Sayed Majid Ibn al-Ridha, the Acting Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Support, visited the Ministry of Defense's Aviation Industries Organization and said the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense industry should be built on “universities, knowledge-based companies, and the country’s talented youth.”
““universities, knowledge-based companies, and the country’s talented youth””
In the same account, Ibn al-Ridha emphasized that “Innovation cannot take shape without accepting risk,” and he said defense industry managers must use “scientific audacity, risk-taking and bold decisions” to access future technologies.
He also argued that the “battlefield today” is not isolated by domain, saying technologies in “air, sea, land, space and electronic warfare” complement each other and that real power comes from their “intelligent integration.”
Khabaronline further quotes Ibn al-Ridha describing a roadmap in which each innovation should expand the “geographical scope of the armed forces’ operations” and make them “more agile, multidimensional and integrated.”
U.S. caution and interceptor strain
The BBC reports that Donald Trump decided to delay broadening attacks against Iran as discussions about reducing interceptor missile and air-defense ammunition stockpiles in Washington intensified, citing the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.B
In a statement sent to The Wall Street Journal, Trump rejected reports about a reduction in ammunition stocks and said: “We have far more ammunition than any other country; far more than we need.”
The BBC also describes how interceptor consumption has been driven by multiple fronts, saying the U.S. military has relied on these stockpiles “from countering Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, to defending Israel against Iranian missile attacks.”B
The BBC quotes researcher Kli Griko of the Stimson Center explaining that, under the usual procedure, “for each attacking ballistic missile two interceptors are fired” and that if those fail, “a third interceptor might also be fired.”B
Air defenses overwhelmed, retaliation
The Intercept says a leaked video shows U.S. troops at Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base taking shelter as warning sirens rang out during Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks on July 17 and 18, and it reports that three U.S. troops were killed there.T
““I have nothing for you on that,””
The Intercept quotes Maj. TEmma Thompson, the command’s media operations chief, saying, “I have nothing for you on that,” when asked about the number and scale of the strikes.
It also reports that Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson, said “Patriot systems have been weakened to such an extent that Iranian missiles and drones are reaching their targets without being intercepted.”
Separately, Khabaronline’s Ibn al-Ridha framed the defense industry’s response as staying “one step ahead of the enemy,” saying an examination of American strategies in the drone domain shows “a significant portion of their current approaches is influenced by the experiences and achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”