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A press release from the judiciary said an online court session was successfully piloted on a secure fourth-generation (4G) Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI) network, with people from 50 locations across the country appearing on screen. Judges, lawyers, plaintiffs and defendants took part in the virtual court session.
MCI said it would test the virtual court technology on behalf of 50 different courts in Iran. If the project proved successful, the technology would be made available to other branches of the judiciary, it added.
The system works with a 4G mobile SIM card and mobile router and connects to laptops.
Iran has the second worst COVID-19 outbreak in the Middle East, behind that of Turkey, according to official figures on infection numbers. The country’s health ministry has confirmed 87,026 cases and the deaths of 5,481 people who tested positive for the disease.
Officials of the ministry said 389,507 tests for the virus have been conducted in Iran. The country’s population stands at 83mn.
2.3 Sabre-rattling between US and Iran continues as IRGC general threatens targeting of American warships
The latest sabre-rattling exchange between Iran and the US continued on April 23 with the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying on state television that he had ordered his forces to target US warships or naval units that pose a threat.
"We have ordered our naval units at sea that if any warships or military units from the naval force of America's terrorist army wants to jeopardise our commercial vessels or our combat vessels, they must target those [US] warships or naval units," General Hossein Salami said.
He added: "Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran's strategic priorities." Salami’s warning came a day after US President Donald Trump, seemingly responding to the claimed harassment of US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf by Iranian gunboats last week, tweeted: “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”
Also on April 23, Iran summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, to complain about Trump's threat. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Musavi said that the Swiss envoy was given a message to pass on to Washington which stated that Iran would strongly defend its maritime rights in the Persian Gulf and respond to any threats, according to IRIB news agency.
The tweet from Trump came as Iran sparked more tensions with Washington with an announcement that it had successfully placed its first military satellite into orbit. Named “Noor”, or “Light”, it was launched on a two-stage rocket that took off from Iran’s Central Desert, an official statement added. There was no independent confirmation of the success of the mission said to have placed the
6 IRAN Country Report May 2020 www.intellinews.com
