Page 54 - IRANRptJul22

Sweden stating that they were abandoning a two-year effort to negotiate with Tehran over reparations for the victims of the tragedy and would pursue the matter through international legal channels.
Iran concedes that a unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) brought down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, killing all 176 people aboard, after a technical and human error. Tensions were heightened between Tehran and the US at the time and the unit was on alert for a possible US military attack.
"Despite certain countries' illegal actions and attempts to exploit this tragic event..., Iran remains ready to negotiate bilaterally with each of the relevant states," Iran's Foreign Ministry said via state media, without explaining what illegal actions it believed other nations had committed.
However, it added that any talks should respect "sovereignty, domestic laws, and international obligations."
More than 130 of the passengers had ties to Canada. Citizens or residents of Afghanistan, Britain, Iran, Ukraine and Sweden also lost their lives when the Kyiv-bound aircraft was downed.
A Canadian court last week awarded $84mn and interest to the families of six of the victims.
The Iranian government said separately on January 7 that it has begun paying compensation to the families of those killed.
"The Transport Ministry has made transfers to a certain number of [victims'] families," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian and Canadian officials strongly criticised the transfers, saying compensation should not be settled through unilateral declarations.
9.1.4 Transport sector news
Tehran, Nur-Sultan move to direct rail cargo on to Kazakhstan-Iran-Eur ope route to avoid Russia
Iran’s Guard reports seizing two vessels carrying 380,000 liters of smuggled fuel
The need to avoid Russia is an increasingly common objective found on the agendas of road and rail cargo operators and it was a somewhat unspoken but big topic as the railway chiefs of Iran and Kazakhstan on May 23 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on expanding rail cooperation and establishing preferential tariffs between their two countries. Since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in late February, triggering an economic response from the West that means Russia—rather than Iran—is now the world’s most sanctioned country, cargo hauliers have sought to avoid Russian territory. For many sending goods from East to West, sending consignments along the China-Kazakhstan-Iran-Europe (Turkey) rail route instead of the China-Russia-Europe rail route is now the better option. That was part of the background to the signing of the MoU.
Geopolitical realignments also mean Iran is seeing a surge of European goods transiting the country to reach the sole Iranian oceanic port, Chabahar, which provides access to the Indian Ocean, and other Iranian ports, located along the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on April 15 that they had seized two vessels carrying 380,000 litres of smuggled fuel, official news agency IRNA reported.
Iran has become self-sufficient in gasoline production and has some of the world’s cheapest pump prices due to heavy subsidies. Potential big margins make the temptation to smuggle fuel by land or sea to regional countries strong. Iran has long seized boats accused of smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman.
IRGC naval units reported 250,000 litres of fuel discovered on one of the ships
54 IRAN Country Report July 2022 www.intellinews.com