The Iranian Parliament approved a 22-article bill on Sunday that will place every civilian drone in the Islamic Republic under a single, security-focused licensing program, require all operators to register their craft and flight plans, and ban foreign nationals from trading in drones or spare parts, according to the regime’s official IRNA news agency.
The Remote-Piloted Aircraft Regulation Bill was passed in Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly (the Majlis) article by article.
According to the IRNA, Article 5 alone, which stipulates that the “construction, import or even short-term lending of an unregistered drone is now a criminal offence,” passed by 242 votes with only two abstentions, while later clauses drew similarly lopsided majorities.
Under the new regulations, every non-military drone must carry a police-issued ownership document, and pilots will be required to file real-time flight plans through a national portal that the Civil Aviation Organization has been tasked with creating within six months.
Any unlicensed flight over what the bill called “security-sensitive areas” could result in offenders facing up to 10 years in jail during wartime.
In one of its toughest provisions, Articles 17-22 prohibit “any import, export, manufacture, sale or transfer” of civilian drones or components by foreign nationals, unless the Defense Ministry grants a specific exemption.
This measure was deemed by Tabnak, an Islamic Republic conservative news site, as closing “the last loophole our enemies could exploit.”
Although the text refers only to civilian use, enforcement will rest largely with Iran’s police, its Intelligence Ministry, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – bodies that have led a wave of arrests for alleged collaborations with the Mossad since this month’s Israel-Iran war.
That conflict saw more than 480 Iranian drones intercepted over Israel in 12 days of fighting.
Bill likely to pass constitutional review
The bill will now be reviewed by the Islamic Republic’s Guardian Council for constitutional review, a stage that rarely delays security-related legislation.
Once ratified, current drone owners will have a 90-day grace period to obtain the necessary deeds and licenses before penalties take effect, the IRNA reported.
Tehran’s move follows recent drone restrictions by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, but takes matters a step further by folding even hobbyist flights into the national-security sphere and handing primary oversight to military bodies rather than a civilian regulator.