On July 25, 2018, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) inaugurated the country’s first quantum entanglement laboratory at the Iran National Center of Laser Science and Technology (INCL) in Karaj. AEOI head Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Science Mansour Gholami, and Vice President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari attended the ceremony.
Salehi said AEOI had issued orders two years earlier to begin work on quantum technology and that Iranian scientists at the center had succeeded in establishing the entanglement laboratory and separating photons. He described Iran as the first Islamic country and likely the first developing country to achieve the capability. The Mehr News Agency reported that Salehi called quantum technology one of the fields the world had recently focused on and said reviewing developments in nuclear science was among AEOI’s responsibilities.
The Tehran Times reported that Salehi described the laboratory as the first of its kind in West Asia and the Islamic world, noting quantum technology applications in communications, computing, biology, sensors, and simulation.