January 19, 2020.  According to this story from Pakistan (not the Swiss Embassy in Tehran), “Addressing a meeting in Indian city of Mumbai, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran is ready to give proposals regarding security in the region. Zarif said Iran has also presented proposals on ways to establish peace in the Strait of Hormuz. Later, according to reports in international media, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Tehran wants de-escalation in the region. According to AFP, he said that the Iranians “did not want to escalate things.” Qureshi met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, five days after seeing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Qureshi said he understood that the Iranians "did not want to escalate things." "They don't want war, they don't want further bloodshed," Qureshi told reporters in Washington.”  See “Iran ready to talks with Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries: Javad Zarif,” Daily Pakistan, January 19, 2020.

January 19, 2020.  France has deployed a radar system on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast that faces the Persian Gulf to help the Kingdom protect its vital oil infrastructure, which was hit by attacks in September from Iran.  “France Helps Saudi Arabia Protect Oil Facilities From New Attacks,” Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.com, January 17, 2020.

January 19, 2020.  Can’t keep their word.  Also, don’t want the world to know what happened to the plane according to the plane’s sensors.  “Denying previous report, Iran to examine downed plane’s black boxes itself,” Middle East Monitor, January 19, 2020; and “Iran reverses on sending doomed flight's black boxes to Ukraine,” AP, Washington Times, January 19, 2020.

“Influential Iranians break ranks with state after Ukrainian jet downing,” Saphora Smith, Michelle Gooden-Jones, and Dan De Luce, NBC, January 19, 2020.

January 19, 2020.  “These documents, if true, undermine the basis of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran deal, signed in 2015 by the US, Iran, France, the UK, Germany, China and Russia.”  See “Iranian nuclear weapon plans go back to 2002, secret documents reveal,” Yonah Jeremy Bob, Aaron Reich, Jerusalem Post, January 19, 2020.

January 19, 2020.  Whenever you hear “satellite test” in Iran media, think “ballistic missile test”, just like the ballistic missiles rained down in Iraq recently on U.S. troops.  See “After failed launch last year, Iran preparing to send satellites into space,” AP, January 19, 2020.

January 19, 2020.  Per Maloney, “The downing of a plane showed citizens what’s wrong with the Iranian government, but the regime has no plans to change.”  See “Iran’s Leaders Have a Problem They Can’t Fix,” Suzanne Maloney, The Atlantic, January 19, 2020.