The current ccTLDs that have outlived their countries still exist because the retirement policy wasn’t finalized until 2022 and in all cases, ICANN has been moving towards retiring them.
You gave .su as an example for IANA not retiring ccTLDs, but the .su debacle is one of the major motivators behind their policy of retiring all ineligible ccTLDs.
ICANN could allow the .io domain to live on, but doing so would be a complete 180 from their current policy.
That is how it works.
The current ccTLDs that have outlived their countries still exist because the retirement policy wasn’t finalized until 2022 and in all cases, ICANN has been moving towards retiring them.
You gave .su as an example for IANA not retiring ccTLDs, but the .su debacle is one of the major motivators behind their policy of retiring all ineligible ccTLDs.
ICANN could allow the .io domain to live on, but doing so would be a complete 180 from their current policy.