A research institute subordinate to the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL); associated with "possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

According to the U.S. Department of State, "primarily responsible for research in the field of nuclear weapons development"; "key personnel played a central role in the Iranian regime's past nuclear weapons effort," according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury; reportedly replaced the Amad Plan, which previously orchestrated Iran's covert efforts to develop nuclear weapons and was successor to the Physics Research Center.

Subordinate groups include:

• Abu Reihan Group
• Bu Ali Group
• Heidar Karar Research Group
• Sadra Research Center
• Shahid Avini Group
• Shahid Baba'i Group
• Shahid Chamran Group
• Shahid Fakhar Moghaddam Group
• Shahid Karimi Group
• Shahid Kazemi Group
• Shahid Movahhed Danesh Group
• Shahid Shokri Science and Technology Research Group
• Shahid Zeinoddin Group
• Sheikh Baha'i Science and Technology Research Center

Front companies include Kimiya Pakhsh Shargh, Paradise Medical Pioneers Company, and Pulse Niru.

Was reportedly visited by a delegation from the Iranian Science, Research, and Technology Ministry in 2016; reportedly collaborated with the Iranian Space Research Center on a space radiation laboratory in 2013; reportedly a sponsor of the Third National Conference on Nano-Sciences at the Imam Hussein University of the Revolutionary Guards in 2013; reportedly supplied x-ray machines to the Iran Customs Administration in 2016.

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), is composed of seven subdivisions located at 11 facilities; one of the subdivisions is the Center for Research and Expansion of Technologies on Explosions and Impact (METFAZ), which "works on the trigger and high-impact and non-conventional explosions"; according to the NCRI, has collaborated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force's Semnan Missile Center on the development of ballistic missiles; according to the NCRI, oversaw the installation of "an explosive chamber" at the Parchin Military Complex.

Officials include Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (director), Davoud Babaei (head of security); Mansur Asgari (head of the research and technology department), and Gholam Reza Eta'ati (senior manager); other officials include Mehdi Masoumian.

Established in 2011.

Sanctions

Designated by the U.S. Department of State on August 28, 2014, pursuant to Executive Order 13382; added on August 29, 2014 to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), freezing its assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting transactions with U.S. parties, pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems; foreign parties facilitating transactions for the entity or otherwise assisting the entity are subject to U.S. sanctions;[ also subject to the Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations; foreign financial institutions facilitating transactions for the entity may be prohibited from opening or maintaining correspondent or payable-through accounts in the United States.

Listed by the European Union on December 22, 2012, as an entity linked to Iran's proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or Iran's development of nuclear weapon delivery systems; with some exceptions, EU member states must freeze assets owned or controlled by the entity, directly or indirectly, and prevent assets from being made available to it.

Listed by the Japanese government in 2019 as an entity of concern for proliferation relating to missiles and nuclear weapons.