WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 16 Pages Price 20,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13313 Thursday JANUARY 24, 2019 Bahman 4, 1397 Jumada Al Awwal 17, 1440 Rouhani hopes money Forex market AFC Asian Cup 2019 Deputy Culture Minister laundering laws will under CBI’s Quarter-final: IR Iran Mohammad Soltanifar foil U.S. plots 2 full control 4 banking on experience 15 resigns 16 NIOC inks deals worth $1b with domestic companies ECONOMY TEHRAN — Subsidiar- “We wanted to create projects only for Leader pushes for steady desk ies of the National Irani- Iranian contractors.” an Oil Company (NIOC) signed nine deals The awarded projects are part of a wider worth $1 billion with domestic contractor plan covering 33 projects for enhancing the companies for maintaining and increasing production capacity at Iranian oil and gas fields. See page 2 the production capacity of the country’s As reported, a total of $6 billion is esti- scientific progress aging oil and gas fields, Shana reported. mated to be invested for these 33 projects The agreements were signed during a during a three-year period. ceremony attended by Iranian Oil Minister With an average investment worth of Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and senior oil $220 million for each project, the mentioned officials on Tuesday. projects are expected to add 300,000 barrels At the signing ceremony Zanganeh said, per day to the country’s oil output. 30 new biologic drugs to be produced HEALTH TEHRAN — Biotech produced from living organisms or contain deskDevelopment Center components of living organisms. Biologic (BioDC) aims to support the production drugs include a wide variety of products of 30 new biologic drugs in the country, derived from human, animal, or microor- said the center’s director, Mostafa Qanei. ganisms by using biotechnology. “Iranian experts are capable of pro- According to Qanei, there are currently ducing biologic drugs and helping them 146 biologic drugs in global market and toward this goal is among our top pri- 20 of them are available in the country, orities,” said Qanei, ISNA reported on out of which 4 ones are monoclonal an- Wednesday. tibodies and the remaining 16 ones are A biologic drug is a product that is Recombinant drugs. Syria warns of attack on Tel Aviv airport Syria has warned that it could use its right regime’s aggression. to respond in self-defense to recent Is- Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari raeli air raids against a civilian airport said on Tuesday that “the unlimited support” near Damascus by striking Tel Aviv’s Ben provided by some permanent members of Gurion airport if the United Nations Se- the Security Council, namely France, Brit- curity Council (UNSC) fails to shoulder ain and the U.S., has encouraged Israel to khamenei.ir its responsibilities and act against the continue its air raids on Syria, 13 ARTICLE Diplomats: Pompeo might cancel Warsaw conference REPORT Haniyeh Sadat Jafariyeh Fatemeh Salehi UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. said Tuesday that Rather, he said, it would be a “global brain- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Tehran Times Journalist Mehr News Agency a controversial conference on Middle East stability storming session” with an agenda on cyberse- in early January that the conference would focus journalist next month in Poland, jointly hosted by the State curity, humanitarian aid in Syria and Yemen on Iran as a destabilizing influence in the region, Department, won’t be focused on Iran and will have and extremism. but the U.S. failed to rally participation from a broader agenda the Wall Street Journal reported. Offering reassurances in response to interna- allied countries. European allies have balked at Will phoenix rise The acting U.S. ambassador to the UN, Jona- tional criticism of the conference, Mr. Cohen said the conference, concerned that it would serve as Sudan close ties from the ashes? than Cohen, told the Security Council the meeting that the meeting also would acknowledge Iran’s a session to criticize Iran and promote the U.S. with Qatar escalates in Poland wasn’t a “venue to demonize or attack missile activity and other destabilizing actions. But decision to exit from the nuclear deal, further ran has experienced an unprece- Iran” or to reopen arguments about the 2015 he added: “The scope of the discussion will be much aggravating European Union attempts to salvage Riyadh isolation in dented devaluation of its curren- Iran nuclear agreement. broader than any one country or set of issues.” the deal. 13 Icy, rial, during the current Iranian Arab world calendar year 1397, which is going to end on March 20, 2019. udanese President Omar al- The occurred depreciation has had an ‘Russia and U.S., including conspiracies and interference’ Bashir left Tuesday for a two- inflationary and in result a recessionary By Giovanni Sorbello A: Let’s look to the enemy of Trump in the that had supported Hillary Rodham Clinton, ac- Sday visit to Qatar amid ongoing effect on the country’s economy. It has On the delicate and critical relations between 2016 elections: Hillary Rodham Clinton, a pol- cuse Trump, the winner of 2016 election, to have anti-government protests at home, also negatively impressed the nation’s the United States and Russia, we interviewed itician involved as Secretary of State in the 2011 been supported by Putin. Whatever the truth the state-run Qatar News Agency life. Professor Claudio Moffa, professor of History of anglo-french aggression to Libya, interested in is, these strong powers are the enemy of peace. reported. President al-Bashir was Iranians’ loaves of bread are much International Relations at the Faculty of Political capturing Gheddafi’s gold, and ready to set off a And the election of Trump was the right choice. scheduled to meet with the emirate’s smaller than before and the decrease Sciences of the University of Teramo. war even against Russia. A danger for Moscow and Robert Mueller is Republican. So his defi- ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al- in their purchasing power has become Shall we think of Russia collusion case as a the world peace. So, it was obvious that Russia was ance against Trump might show that the disaster Thani to discuss “brotherly relations more remarkable than ever. mere political plot to destroy Trump or Russian interested in avoiding her election. And today it is even beyond the imagination. What’s your and ways to bolster them” as well as The conditions were exacerbated, interference in the 2016 US elections is a fact? is normal that the same bellicose strong powers opinion on this matter? 7 issues of mutual interest. when the last round of U.S. sanctions This is the Sudanese President’s was imposed on Iran on November first trip abroad since the beginning 5 hitting its crude oil exports, banks, of widespread unrest and internal shipping industry and airlines. Why Yemen matters to Saudi Arabia and the West crisis in Sudan. But what Iran has experienced by By Farzad Farhadi From the viewpoint of the Saudi authorities, Laden’s bodyguards were recruited from Yemen. Qatar has offered al-Bashir help as the time is said to be mainly and merely TEHRAN — Yemen is one of the most pop- such a wide border is seen as the main point of Since 9/11, the Saudis have invested heavily in he faces protests initially sparked by the psychological result of rial devalua- ulous countries on the Arabian Peninsula. penetration for extremists and terrorists such stamping out the threat at home from al Qaeda, the country’s economic woes. tion and the imposed sanctions, in the With a population that is 35 percent Shia, as al-Qaeda into Saudi Arabia. You only have to and the last thing they want is contagion seeping In a December 22 telephone call short-run. During the first six months of Saudi Arabia has also been concerned by look at the list of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in from next door and it made a major investment to al-Bashir, Qatar’s ruler stated his 1397 (ending September 21, 2018), the what it sees as Iranian meddling in Yemen. to know that Yemen has been a fruitful recruiting in Yemen in term of development and advance- country’s readiness to “provide all that administration could earn its intended Saudi Arabia has worried that the presence of ground for al-Qaeda. ment. Therefore, military and financial support is needed” to help Sudan get through amount of foreign currency revenues Iran in Yemen could be risky for Sunni order, A majority of the 800 prisoners listed in from the central government of Yemen is not its crisis, according to a report by the from selling oil with oil prices ranging especially along part of its 1,800-kilometer recently published detainee assessments were only wise but necessary to its national security official Sudanese news agency. from $55 to $75 per barrel, enjoying border with Yemen. Yemenis. Back in the 1990s, most of Osama bin and military strategy. 7 In fact, Sudan is more than willing pre-sanctions atmosphere. to go to Qatar than Saudi Arabia to re- The inflationary effect of rial depre- solve internal crisis, because Khartoum ciation besides the restrictive impact considers Doha’s promise honest and of the U.S.-led sanctions would appear Protesters out of goodwill. According to media incrementally and are probable to lead reports, Qatar has provided $1 billion into a deep stagnation. The current year condemn to Sudan.