And this seems to make sense. Why would the IRGC inflame tensions further and take a plane down needlessly? “Iranian military prosecutor: human error led to Ukrainian airliner downing,” Reuters, Jerusalem Post, June 29, 2020.
State-run media is reporting that Iran has sent the black box flight recorder from a Ukrainian passenger jet that it mistakenly shot down in January to France for further analysis following months of delays. But until we see the box actually delivered, this is “fake news.” See “Iran sends recorder from downed Ukrainian jetliner to France, according to Iranian news agency,” AP, June 29, 2020.
“At least 192 Iranian boats illegally fished in Somalia and Yemen’s territorial waters last year, depleting food supplies in countries where millions are facing acute shortages of food, a new report has said. Global Fishing Watch (GFW) and Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT) said in a report published on Monday that the “activity taking place is likely one of the largest illegal fishing operations occurring in the world”. The organisations said that Iranian vessels had been illegally operating in the countries’ territorial waters between January 2019 and April 2020, with the scale of the operation only uncovered after the ships began using a collision-avoidance system that allowed their locations to be susceptible to tracking.” See the article about this theft of fish in “Iranian ships conducted ‘world’s largest illegal fishing operations’ in Somali and Yemeni waters,” Middle East Eye, June 29, 2020.
Iran continues to refuse to make its football program independent from the government, meaning that it may be thrown out of FIFA. “Iran wants more time to meet FIFA’s requirements,” Tehran Times, June 29, 2020.
Gen. Soleimani’s daughter Zeinab Soleimani just married Hassan Nasrallah’s relative and son of the likely successor. “A match made in hell: Daughter of Iran’s terrorist mastermind weds Hezbollah heir,” Israel Hayom, June 29, 2020.
The 162 deaths were from Sunday, reported on Monday. “Iran records highest daily death toll from COVID-19,” Reuters, June 29, 2020.
Solid proof that Iran can submit itself to an international court. “The International Court of Arbitration (ICA) announced its verdict over the Iran-Turkmenistan gas row. IRNA said based on information from the Oil Ministry and the National Iranian Gas Company, Iran has been convicted for not paying for gas it bought from Turkmenistan from 2007 to 2013. As per the verdict, the details of which have not been disclosed yet, Iran should pay almost $2 billion to Ashgabat to settle its debt.” See “ICA Rules Iran Pay $2b to Turkmengaz,” Financial Tribune, June 29, 2020.
162 died on June 28. “Iran reveals its COVID-19 data for June 29,” Trend, June 29, 2020.
Another blow at the free flow of information and communication within the country of Iran. “Iran’s conservative parliament moves to ban Instagram,” Al Monitor, June 29, 2020.