Page 45 - IRANRptMay21

suffered in the past year, Eqtesad Iran reported on January 31.
IKCO and SAIPA, part state-owned companies that are the two largest automakers in Iran, have haemorrhaged cash amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, which has seen car sales plummet and belts tightened across the country.
The loans are to be provided through a newly developed financial instrument known as “GAM” by its Iranian acronym, put together to support industry in Iran impacted by the pandemic and US sanctions.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei previously ordered authorities to help the loss-making auto giants increase local auto output by 50%, including by pushing ahead with launching new car models.
Recently released production data shows that IKCO, SAIPA and third largest automaker in Iran Pars Khodro (previously GM Iran) together manufactured and assembled 730,787 cars during the first 10 months of the current Persian calendar year (March 20, 2020 – January 19, 2021).
According to the data, IKCO manufactured 388,094 vehicles, SAIPA 262,038 vehicles and Pars Khodro 80,655.
In the same time, the companies exported 1,300 vehicles to nine countries, including South Africa, Azerbaijan, Spain, UAE and Iraq.
Based on previous data released by the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade, 468,699 units (including cars, vans and trucks) were manufactured in Iran during the first half of the current Persian year (March—September).
9.1.3 Aviation sector news
Iran charges 10 over Ukraine International Jet Airlines tragedy
Iran bans travellers from 32 countries as death toll surpasses 60,000
Iran has charged 10 officials over the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) passenger aircraft shot down in January last year, killing all 176 people on board.
Gholam Abbas Torki, the former military prosecutor for Tehran Province, announced on April 6 that the 10 have been "brought to responsibility". They would face trial to determine "the necessary conclusions" over the incident, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported him as adding.
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.
Iran has imposed travel bans on passengers from 32 high-risk countries to tackle the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and its various strains, Iran Aviation reported on February 28.
The announcement of the new restrictions came via the Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO) of Iran as part of efforts to quell the spread of the virus, which has seen variants including the so-called “British” highly infectious
45 IRAN Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com