Much is said about the "small" intakes but they seem to appear near same-size to the F-5E, which makes sense for GE J85 powerplants. Why did they require a taxi test for a 60 year-old GE engine design using old factory cores? An engine stand would have sufficed.
It doesn't make sense designing an aircraft around a powerplant that's in severely restricted supply. Great lengths-- often illicit-- continue to be taken in acquiring cores for rebuild to "Owj specs." These are needed just to keep operational the remaining F-5 types.
Heavily bent wings on a fixed-winged aircraft often times signal an aerodynamic fix, as was the case with the F-4 development. Not sure if this is the case with the Qaher project as it has yet to fly.
And why put a FLIR and other doo-dads on a prototype that has yet to fly? Better to get the kinks out first, for such a radical aircraft design.
Light close air support role? A more intelligent course would have been to build a small force of Iranian-rendered Tucano aircraft. Far less development, easier parts acquisition, greater loiter time, etc. But it wouldn't have served the domestic audience with the same level of flash, I guess.
I'm a skeptic of this program.