News Digest: Week of June 19

June 19 

Diplomacy: Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Iran for the first time in more than two decades. Mirziyoyev met with President Ebrahim Raisi, and the two signed 10 cooperation agreements on trade, transit, medicine, insurance, technology and agriculture.

International: The leaders of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad met with President Raisi and other top officials in Tehran. Raisi praised the leaders for their “resistance against Israel” and added that Israel is attempting to normalize relations with the Arab world in order to “discourage young Palestinians from liberating the occupied territories.”

Hamas
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and President Ebrahim Raisi

 

June 20

International: Ukraine’s armed forces reported that they had shot down 28 of 30 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia. 

Domestic: Iranian state media reported that 10 people died and more than 140 became ill after drinking homemade methanol liquor at a party in Alborz Province. Alcohol has been illegal in Iran since the 1979 revolution.  

 

June 21

Diplomacy: Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani met with Enrique Mora, the E.U. coordinator for the nuclear talks, in Qatar. "(I) had a serious and constructive meeting with Mora in Doha. We exchanged views and discussed a range of issues including negotiations on sanctions lifting," Bagheri tweeted.