TEHRAN— Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, said on Wednesday that Iran has advanced in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and has no other alternatives other than working on space programs.

Hajizadeh made the remarks during the visit of the chancellor, professors and highly talented students of Khajeh Nasiruddin Tusi University to the IRGC Aerospace Force National Science and Technology Park.

He said cooperation between universities and defense industry has been underway since the Sacred Defense era in a way that the first mapping group in the missile field during the Sacred Defense was from Khajeh Nasiruddin Tusi University.

The Sacred Defense refers to Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s, when Saddam Hussein was ruling Iraq. 

“We have achieved great success in the fields of university and defense cooperation, and we can safely say that we have gone from being an importer of barbed wire to an exporter of technology, and by crossing the borders of knowledge, we defeated the enemy from a distance of more than a thousand kilometers using artificial intelligence,” he said. 

The IRGC aerospace chief said this success has resulted from the bond between the universities and the IRGC. 

Hajizadeh also responded to the questions of a number of professors and elites from Khajeh Nasiruddin Tusi University.

In response to a question about space knowledge, he stated that considering the realities of today's world and the horizon ahead Iran is bound to work and research on space programs.

The commander labeled this as “one of the components of power in every country,” saying the results of these researches show themselves in various fields of agriculture, flood control and so on. 

Regarding the ecosystem, human health and environment, Hajizadeh described the interaction between universities and the IRGC aerospace force and the transfer of experiences, credibility and self-confidence to the elites as highly important.

He added, “The IRGC's aerospace division has very high standards both in technical and equipment aspects. There have been many studies in this field, including reducing the output power of indigenous radars compared to the output power of non-indigenous radars that were used in the past.”

The top commander further noted that university professors and talented students can prioritize practical projects and focus on them to achieve results.

Explaining the situation and developments in the region, Hajizadeh stated that today the situation in the region is very good. 

“We spent a decade full of challenges, which started with Obama's crippling sanctions, followed by escalating measures in the region, and Trump's ‘maximum pressure’ campaign and the brutal terror of Martyr Qassem Soleimani and the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA,” he said, adding Iran successfully left behind this decade through the wise strategies of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Commander-in-Chief Ayatollah Khamenei.

“In pursuing the strategy of active resistance, the enemy suffered a heavy blow and the balance of the region has changed so that in recent years, some regimes in the region, which have been looking for an alliance with the U.S. and recently the Zionist regime with an offensive approach against Iran, have changed their approach from offensive to defensive,” Hajizadeh continued.

Today the enemy admits that the “maximum pressure” has failed and that Iran has taken over their air superiority after 80 years and become an undisputed power, the IRGC commander noted.

Referring to the cowardly assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC Quds Force, in January 2020, he said, “Trump did not imagine that Iran would take action, but when he saw that the people and officials demanded revenge, he threatened to reciprocate in case of action and attack more than 52 vital points of Iran using psycho-op. But we hit their terrorist and military base in Iraq decisively and precisely, and in fact, with the operation of Ain al-Assad, the collapse of the United States and its false hegemony has been brought forward. This incident was recorded in history as a model for other independent and free-spirited countries.”

Hajizadeh emphasized that Iran's security is “indigenous” and is now at an “excellent level”. 

“We have gone through very difficult tasks in the field of defense and military. We are among the top 20 countries in the world and we are among the top powers in the field of drones and precision missiles. None of these accomplishments are accidental, but we achieved these with precise target-setting, systematic management, concentration and talent scouting. The universities of the country have achieved these results and with this formula the problems of the country can be solved in other fields as well and the origin of all these achievements are the universities and elites of this country. These elites are the people who must continue to work to meet the needs of the country,” he concluded.