Page 48 - IRANRptJul20

potential tourists’ attention to the wonders of ancient sites in Iran including two dozen UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Despite the stringent head covering rules for all women, the country saw a huge spike in visitors to its cities and tourist sites prior to the election of US President Donald Trump in late 2016.
Other countries that like Iran are on routes of the ancient Silk Road have benefitted from the Islamic Republic falling out of favour. They include Uzbekistan, which boasts several ancient Persianate cities including Bukhara and Samarkand.
Following the news of spiking deaths from the deadly virus, Armenia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan reportedly joined the list of neighbours sealing up their borders with Iran.​ Azerbaijan gradually closed its borders, including in Bilarsavur and Astara, the latter closing later in the day.
Nurseries, schools and public events such as sports matches have all been cancelled until further notice, with the government and private businesses now warning people to not shake hands or be in close confines with each other. The news follows parliamentary elections which saw large crowds of people standing in line – some with masks – to vote on February 21.
On February 22, the Armenian Foreign Ministry called on citizens to halt travel to Iran. The ministry asked those who are on the Iranian side to contact the Armenian embassy.
By afternoon on February 23, Turkish Airlines announced it was cancelling all flights to and from Iran by the end of the day.
Flights via Iraqi Airways to Baghdad were officially “delayed” on the board; it is not known whether the return flight to the neighbour will carry passengers.
Tourism was one of the few ​sectors​ of Iran's economy that had not fallen prey to successive rounds of US economic sanctions unleashed by the Donald Trump administration. But now ​Iran​ is facing an even more formidable foe than Washington, as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps through the Islamic Republic. Nearly​ 7,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Iran, according to Iran's health ministry.
Iranian authorities have ordered all travel agencies, airlines and hotels to
refund all bookings and tickets and waive all cancellation fees.
Faced with a crisis of this magnitude, many businesses that depend on tourism
are either closing their doors or letting go of staff to cut costs.
9.1.6 ​TMT sector news
Telegram to create proxies to work in Iran
Co-founder of the encrypted Telegram instant messaging service, Pavel Durov, said on his channel on June 22 that the company plans to create proxy servers to work in Iran where it is hindered by official efforts to block it.
The mysterious Durov has previously said discussions took place with the Iranian government to get the app unblocked, but that the conversations ended when he refused to share user data with the Iranian Intelligence Service. Despite the current filtering of the app in Iran, it remains the most popular such application after WhatsApp, which is accessible but open to so-called man-in-the-middle snooping, according to Durov’s statements made on previous occasions.
Durov called on Telegram company employees to pay attention to "those countries where Telegram is still blocked at the state level, such as Iran and China."
48​ IRAN Country Report July 2020 www.intellinews.com