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 38th year No.12769 Tuesday FFEBRUARYEBRUARY 114,4, 22017017 Bahman 26, 1395 Jumada Al Awwal 16, 1438 Saudi Arabia is Slovakian trade It’s a great honor a Japanese scholar’s studies on ‘delusional’, delegation to visit Tehran nominee of Laureus Award: Iranians injured by chemical Tehran says 2 on Mar. 17 4 Siamand Rahman 15 weapons published in Persian 16 Iran should Shamkhani: not put all Iran stresses ‘updating’ Silence on eggs in one Saudi atrocities basket: nuclear medicine centers in Yemen professor ‘complicity in INTERVIEW Mehdi Sepahvand, See page 2 genocide’ Katya Bohdan, Ali Kushki POLITICS TEHRAN — A top TEHRAN — Iran should not put all its deskIranian security offi- eggs in one basket and it is necessary cial chided on Monday the international to establish “good ties” with all coun- community for turning its eyes to atrocities tries, says Davoud Hermidas Bavand, committed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, em- a politics professor at the University of phasizing that it is no different from “com- Tehran. plicity” in those acts of violence. For example, Bavand says, Iran “Silence on crimes committed by “ought to have good relations with Saudi Arabia against defenseless Yem- Russia” but it is not in interest of Iran eni women and children amounts to to adopt a “strategic relationship with complicity in their genocide and de- Russia”. struction of the country’s resources The professor believes that Russia and infrastructures,” said Supreme Na- “utilizes Iran for the realization of its tional Security Council Ali Shamkhani political objectives.” in an appearance with visiting Luxem- Below is the first part of the Tehran bourgish Foreign Minister Jean Assel- Times’ interview with Bavand. born in Tehran. Iran has been hailing its ties Iran has been critical of a Saudi-led with Russia as strategic. How stra- invasion on Yemen, on for more than tegic do you think these relations 20 months now. are? Indiscriminate airstrikes by the coali- A: We should have good rela- tion have left thousands of people killed tionship with all countries. There’s and injured, and millions displaced. no doubt about that. But I do not At least more than 6,000 people take the current relations with Russia Hossein Esmaeili have been killed since the coalition as strategic. We are neighbors with campaign, according to one account. Russia, so we should have good rela- Multiple international hospitals run tionship with Russia. But at the same by the charity Médecins Sans Fron- time we have to bear in mind that Tehran Times/ Tehran tières, food factories and infrastruc- Russia uses and utilizes Iran, primar- tures have been damaged seriously, as ily as a means for realization of its Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi visits a nuclear technology exhibition on February 13 in Tehran. political objectives. 2 well. 2 Iraq forces foil Kuala Lumpur event explores Iran, Malay world cultural heritage bonds ARTICLE ISIL attempt to TOURISM TEHRAN — The Universi- understanding cultural commonalities between guo from the International Islamic University By Christian H. Cooper deskty of Nottingham Malaysia Iran and the Malay world, IRNA reported. Malaysia, Bastian Zulyeno from University of flee to Syria Campus in collaboration with the Iranian Em- Iranian Ambassador to Kuala Lumpur Indonesia, and Hamideh Molaei from Univer- We’ve created a monster bassy in Kuala Lumpur hosted a conference, Marzieh Afkham, for her part, referred to sity of Tehran. Iraqi forces have thwarted an attempt which addressed widespread interaction be- Iran as a country with a rich culture and civi- According to the event’s organizers, Iran for four full years by around 200 extremist fighters to tween Iran, Central Asia, the Indian subcon- lization in West Asia region which has main- has played a significant role in the spread of tinent and East Asia from China to Malaysia tained long-standing historical and trade re- Islam in Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent flee their bastion of Tal Afar toward aybe for you it was the first and Indonesia. lations with the Malay world. and East Asia from China to Malaysia and Syria, west of the city of Mosul, a secu- time you held your first-born rity spokesman said Monday. Titled “Civilization and Cultural Heritage Amongst the invited lecturers were Mu- Indonesia while Arab and Iranian traders, In- M child. Perhaps it was the first of Iran and the Malay World; A Cultural Dis- hammad Bukhari Lubis from the National dian Sufis introduced Islam to the Southeast Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi time you fell in love. For me, it was the course”, the talks convened officials, cultural University of Malaysia, Amir Hossein Zekr- Asia in the 13th century. (Popular Mobilization) said ISIL ter- first time I approached the customs figures, academics and researchers from Iran, “Iranian influence is noticeable through rorist group used tanks in their bid to booth Khomeini airport at 2 in the Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia on Feb. 11 Participants also the Malay language, as well as Thai language break out of Tal Afar. morning and handed over my Ameri- and 12. laid great stress on (from 16th century and Ayutthaya time).” “The attack by the Daesh (ISIL) ter- can passport; that was how my fast my It touched upon variety of themes includ- In a final statement, the attendees called for rorist gangs started at around 7 p.m., promoting social and heart was racing. ing anthropology, sociology, religious and promotion of friendship and cooperation be- the fighting lasted around six hours,” After all, I was entering the Iranian “evil cultural studies, literature, history, philosophy, moral values among tween Iranians and Southeast Asian states with their spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi told empire” that “hated” Americans. I wanted linguistics, and geography amongst others. various cultures as a regard to cultural heritage they have in common. AFP. to visit Iran to learn Farsi and try and un- Addressing the opening ceremony, Syed Participants also laid great stress on pro- Hashed forces have been deployed step forward to help derstand the economy but, more impor- Farid al-Attas, the associate professor in the De- moting social and moral values among vari- establish peace and tantly, understand why so much mistrust in desert areas west of Mosul since partment of Sociology at the National Universi- ous cultures as a step forward to help estab- and miscommunication… but a people federal forces launched a massive op- ty of Singapore, attached great importance to prosperity in the world. lish peace and prosperity in the world. eration to retake the city from ISIL on who seemingly like each other so much. Oct. 17. Nothing could be further from the truth. Their main goals are to retake Tal Hand-cut lead glass vessels on show at CHTHO What Iranians, and the world, Afar, a Turkmen-majority city which is see and hear from the United States HERITAGE TEHRAN — Sets of hand- cups, fruit bowls and tea sets, CHTN reported CHTHO Exports Department, the showcase right now, from President Trump, is still held by ISIL, and to prevent the ex- deskcut lead glass and crystal on Sunday. comes to an end on Feb. 15. tremists from being able to move men not American. It doesn’t represent vessels created by a senior Iranian artisan are Nabati who is a native of Tabriz has held From the historical point of view, it is not our values as people or as a country, and equipment between Mosul and on display at the Cultural Heritage, Tourism several solo and group exhibits inside and certain in which of the civilizations of the an- their strongholds in Syria. and it certainly doesn’t represent our and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) in outside the country over the past two dec- cient Near East glass was first made. Howev- attitudes toward Islam and Muslims. “This was an attempt by Daesh to Tehran. ades. In 2015, the World Crafts Council an- er, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, the open a breach, flee to the Syria border Trump is temporary, people aren’t. Veteran glassblower Ebrahim Nabati has nounced his hometown as world city of earliest wholly glass objects from Egypt are Let’s start this story from the beginning. and exfiltrate some leaders and fight- selected eighty works for the exhibit, the ma- handicrafts. beads dating from some time after c. 2500 ers,” Assadi said. The United States supported the jority of them are in the forms of flower pots, Organized under the auspices of the BC. Pahlavi dynasty and overthrew a dem- He said that Hashed forces received ocratically elected government. support from army aviation helicop- The United States gave chemi- ters when ISIL attacked them. He add- cal weapons to Saddam Hussein and ed that the fighting left around 50 ISIL Asia’s first used them against your children who members killed and 17 of their vehicles were forced to defend your borders destroyed. snow volleyball against an existential threat. I saw your Assadi did not provide a casualty martyrs’ pictures everyday on build- figure for the Hashed al-Shaabi fol- tournament ings as I travelled by bus to my Farsi lowing the attack, which took place classes or drove around Tehran. It was around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south- sobering to see in person. 13 west of Tal Afar. kicks off in Iran ISIL are confined to a corridor be- tween Tal Afar and Mosul by tens of Asia’s first snow volleyball tourna- thousands of forces deployed on sev- ment got under way in Iran on Sun- eral fronts.