WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 16 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 39th year No.13209 Monday SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 Shahrivar 26, 1397 Muharram 7, 1440 Talks began after Obama MP calls on Foreign We want to beat Play on Persian poet accepted Iran’s right to Ministry to summon Al Duhail for our fans: Sadi to go on stage nuclear enrichment 2 French ambassador 2 Ivankovic 15 in Vancouver 16 Turkey proposes setting up joint bank with Iran ECONOMY TEHRAN — Turkey step for developing economic relations,” deskhas proposed establish- the Turkish Representative Chairman of ing a joint bank with Iran for facilitating Iran-Turkey Business Council, Ümit Kiler trade between the two countries, IRNA said on Saturday. reported citing an article published in the In his article, Kiler touched upon the re- Turkish newspaper “Dünya”. marks of the governor of the Central Bank of “Establishing a joint bank through Iran (CBI) regarding the elimination of U.S. which the two sides could conduct bi- dollar from trade between the two countries, lateral trade and businesses without the writing “on the sidelines of the trilateral meet- need for U.S. dollar would be the final ing among Iran, Turkey and Russia, 4 Neighbors prioritized for exporting knowledge-based ICT products TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN — Four Mehdi Faqihi said that Iran plans to deskneighboring countries boost the ICT market in those countries of Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman and Turkey were during the presence at the [Persian] Gulf given priority for knowledge-based product Information Technology Exhibition (GI- marketing of Information and Communication TEX) in Dubai. Technology (ICT) products and services, the Iranian knowledge-based companies Secretary General of the Information Technol- will attend the GITEX, which will be held ogy Organization of Iran (ITO) announced, from October 16 to 18 at the Dubai World Mehr reported on Saturday. Trade Center. 10 Syrian military downs Israeli See page 13 missiles fired at Damascus airport Syrian military has announced that its source told the agency, after reports said missile defense system successfully in- several explosions had been heard near tercepted and downed Israeli missiles the airport. fired at an airport in the capital Damascus. An Israeli military spokeswoman would The official SANA agency said late not comment on the report by SANA. March in Basra to deplore Saturday that the military had thwart- “We don’t comment on foreign re- ed an “Israeli aggression,” adding that a ports,” said the Israeli official, without number of “enemy missiles” fired at the elaborating. Damascus International Airport had been Israel has become increasingly involved dismantled. in the war in Syria with attacks on the “Our air defense systems thwarted country’s military and civilian infrastruc- AFP attack on Iran consulate an Israeli missile aggression,” a military tures over the past few months. 13 ARTICLE UN welcomes election of Iraqi parliament speaker and deputies Intensification By Mahmood Khaghani The Special Representative of the United Na- of the eminently qualified women made it to the development and reform, protect the interests of disputes in the Oil expert tions Secretary-General for Iraq, Mr. Ján Kubiš, CoR Speakership, and urges the MPs and polit- of Iraq, and ensure full respect for its sover- White House welcomes the election by the Council of Repre- ical leaders to be true to their pledges and elect eignty and independence. sentatives (CoR) of its Speaker and two deputies. women to other leadership positions in the CoR Lawmakers must next elect a new president By Saeed Sobhani He congratulates the elected officials, Speaker and to ministerial and other senior positions in and task the leader of the largest bloc to form a TEHRAN — Disputes between U.S. EU, Iran clearing Mohammed al-Halbousi and deputies Hassan the future government. government as prime minister. President Donald Trump and Secretary the way for al-Kaabi and Basheer al-Haddad. The United The Special Representative urges the polit- The country’s main political alliances of Defense James Mattis have increased. Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) ical forces and blocs to expeditiously proceed, led by Muqtada Sadr’s Sairoon bloc and Many media sources in the U.S. are re- business and trade looks forward to working with the new parlia- in adherence to the constitutional timelines, the Fatah Alliance led by commander Hadi porting the probable dismissal of Trump’s mentary leadership and the CoR and is ready to with the process of electing the President of al-Amiri are expected to cooperate to form Secretary of Defense in the coming days. offer any required assistance. the Republic then the Prime Minister, to be a new government. he news that Germany, France & UK Meanwhile, after the presence of people The Special representative appreciates followed by the formation of a pro-reform, Incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi are actively considering a “Clearing such as John Bolton and Mike Pumpeo the perseverance of the interim Speaker who non-sectarian patriotic national government has also announced that he is not seeking to serve House” to facilitate Iran’s global at the White House, Mattises’ power in T chaired the session and applauds the sense of that will be based on partnership cooperation a second term in office. the U.S. Department of Defense actually commerce is probably the most impor- responsibility that motivated the candidates to of diverse components and groups of Iraq, away Millions of Iraqis voted on May 12 in their first tant development in financial & energy dropped. compete for the leadership positions in the CoR. from the sectarian quotas and corruption. Only parliamentary election since the defeat of the markets for many years. As CNBC reported, The relationship While taking note of the results of the votes and such a government can regain the confidence of Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, but a contentious According to weekly Der Spiegel and between President Donald Trump and congratulating the elected officials, Mr. Kubiš the people, swiftly act to fulfill their demands recount process delayed the announcement of business daily Handelsblatt reports quoted Secretary of Defense James Mattis may expresses his deep disappointment that none for improved public services, jobs, economic final results until last month. 13 by international news media on 15 Sep- have “soured” to the point of no return, tember 2018, the three countries could The New York Times reported on Satur- set up a “Special Purpose Vehicle” (SPV) day — but the White House denied the -- a firm resembling a “clearing house” Currency slump gives rise to visits from neighbors, sanctions wane visits from EU former general is on the outs with his boss. that would cut their Iranian business By Marjohn Sheikhi Mohammad Sabet-Eghlidi said the figures cording to Sabet-Eghlidi, the visit of European In its report, The Times cited more have been obtained from the immigration po- tourists to Iran from March to August has declined than a dozen administration and con- partners out of the financial loop while TEHRAN (MNA) – The fall in Iran’s national lice, adding that the number of foreign tourists’ by 22 percent. gressional officials saying that national still allowing business and trade as usual. currency value has attracted a new wave of vis- arrival in Iran in the same period last year stood The major drop has occurred in the German security aides such as Mattis have effec- Italy is reportedly also is interested in itors from neighboring countries, particularly at 2,159,882. market. In the five-month period last year, nearly tively been iced out by Trump ahead of participating. Iraq. According to recent figures, the arrival of Iraq is in the lead with 1.263 million number 31,000 German tourists visited Iran, while the the 2018 congressional midterm elections. AFP has quoted an official from the foreign tourists to Iran has had a 45% increase of tourists having visited Iran in the five-month number has dropped to 21,000 this year, showing Trump is reportedly souring on Mattis German economy and finance ministries in a five-month period compared to last year. period, followed by Azerbaijan with 619,570 tour- a 32% decrease. based on policy differences on a number as saying that the scheme is one of several According to head of tourism development ists, Afghanistan with about 400,000 tourists Following the Germans are French tourists, of fronts, and appears resentful of un- options that EU capitals are discussing and planning office at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, and Turkey with 330,000 tourists, all showing a whose number of arrivals this year stands at flattering comparisons between the two with the European Commission to create Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICH- significant growth compared to the same period 16,000, while the number stood at 21,000 in men, the publication reported. “independent payment channels” for doing HTO), the arrival of foreign tourists to Iran has last year. the five-month period in 2017. The number of In addition, the president is reportedly business and trade with Iran. experienced a 45 percent increase in a five-month As the number of tourists’ arrival from neigh- tourists from the Netherlands visiting Iran dropped looking to replace the four star general European Commission spokeswoman period from March 20 to August 22, with the boring countries increase, visits from European from 12,000 to 9,000 this year, showing a 25 with someone “who would be more vo- Maja Kocijancic has said that Brussels figure standing at 3,140,003 visitors. wants “to make sure the effects of the countries have witnessed a significant drop.