Page 47 - IRANRptSep21

Torki made the comments at a ceremony where he was handing over his office to his successor. He offered no other details.
Tehran initially claimed the Boeing 737 crashed. After three days it conceded that Flight PS752, which was Kyiv-bound, was shot down "unintentionally" by an air defence unit on high alert for incoming missiles at a time of high tensions with the US following an Iranian missile strike on air bases hosting US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani ordered by then US president Donald Trump.
Iran's Civil Aviation Organization’s interim report blamed the tragedy on the misalignment of a radar system. It also cited a lack of communication between the air defence operator and his commanders.
Those who died in the crash included citizens of Afghanistan, Britain, Canada, Germany, Iran, Sweden and Ukraine.In February, a UN special rapporteur accused Iran of making misleading denials and conducting inadequate investigations into the tragedy.
9.1.4 Transport sector news
UNESCO adds Trans-Iranian Railway to World Heritage List
“Cyber-disruption” hits Iran’s transport ministry and railways
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has inscribed the Trans-Iranian Railway onto its World Heritage List.
An announcement from the committee on July 25 confirmed that the railway, which runs from the Caspian Sea in Iran’s northeast to the Persian Gulf in the southwest, has been added to the list.
“Started in 1927 and completed in 1938, the 1,394-kilometer-long railway was designed and executed in a successful collaboration between the Iranian government and 43 construction contractors from many countries,” UNESCO said in astatement.
The railway is remarkable for its scale and the engineering work that was required to overcome steep routes and other difficulties, UNESCO said. Its construction involved extensive mountain cutting. Rugged terrain in various areas meant it was necessary to construct 174 large bridges, 186 small bridges and 224 tunnels.
Unlike most early railway projects, construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway was funded by national taxes to avoid foreign investment and control, UNESCO noted.
The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization announced the additions to the World Heritage List after an online meeting in Fuzhou, China.
World Heritage sites can be examples of outstanding natural beauty or architecture, or they can be important geologically or ecologically or keys to human culture and tradition.
Iran’s Majlis (parliament) has passed the Iran-Afghanistan Rail Cooperation Agreement that aims for unhindered railway connections between the neighbouring countries, ICANA reported on May 31.
A “cyber-disruption” in computer systems took websites of Iran’s transport and urbanisation ministry out of service on July 10, according to official news agency IRNA.
The previous day, Iran’s railways appeared to suffer a cyber-attack. Local reports told how messages about train delays and cancellations were posted on display boards at stations across the country, while the electronic tracking of trains across Iran reportedly failed.
Fars news agency said in a report that was later deleted that there was “unprecedented chaos” at stations with hundreds of trains delayed or
47 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com