WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 12 Pages Price 40,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 42nd year No.13660 Saturday MAY 9, 2020 Ordibehesht 20, 1399 Ramadan 15, 1441 Lavrov writes Zarif, Iran’s handicraft Sara Khadem Fajr Intl. Film Festival says sanctions hampers exports hit $427m in returns to Iran cancels 2020 edition coronavirus fight 2 11 months 8 national chess team 11 over coronavirus 12 Maximum pressure on Iran an ‘abject Copper projects worth failure’, Foreign Ministry says TEHRAN — Concurrent with the second agreement ‘Joint Comprehensive Plan of anniversary of the U.S. unilateral exit from Action’ (#JCPOA), endorsed by the UN the 2015 nuclear agreement, the Iranian Security Council Resolution 2231.” Foreign Ministry has said Washington’s “The ‘Max Pressure’ campaign, which maximum pressure campaign has ended went into full gear by US withdrawal from over $950m inaugurated up being an “abject failure”. #JCPOA, proved to be an abject failure in In a series of tweets on Friday, the For- terms of political gains; however if its aim eign Ministry wrote, “Two years ago today, was to impose pain on Iranian patients & See page 3 the American regime, in a vain attempt, to kill kids, then it has had achieved this. withdrew unlawfully from a multilateral #Never_Trust_Irresponsible_US” 3 Magnitude 5.1 quake in Tehran province kills 2, injures 33 TEHRAN — An earthquake measuring 5.1 Esmaeil Najjar, head of the Crisis Manage- on the Richter scale shook Tehran province ment Organization, said a 60-year-old man in early on Friday, killing two and injuring 33. Damavand lost his life due to a brain injury. The earthquake occurred at 00:48 a.m. Mansour Darajati, Tehran province’s at a depth of 7 kilometers near the city of Crisis Management Department director Damavand, 56km northeast of Tehran. general, told Mehr that a 21-year-old wom- The tremor was also felt in the sur- an has also died following a cardiac arrest. rounding provinces of Qom, Alborz, Moreover, 33 people were injured, of whom four Mazandaran, and Zanjan. have been hospitalized, IRNA reported. 9 UN Security Council to address Israel’s annexation plan later this month A high-ranking Palestinian official says the rotating President of the UN Security the UN Security Council is scheduled to Council, Sven Jürgenson, and President convene later this month to discuss Is- of the UN General Assembly, Tijjani Mu- rael’s controversial plan to annex much hammad-Bande, in attendance, Palestine’s of the occupied West Bank, and to rally official Wafa news agency reported. international pressure on the regime to Mansour highlighted that the State of abandon the decision. Palestine is resolved to form “a powerful Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad and broad international front of all com- Mansour told the official Voice of Palestine ponents of the international community radio station on Thursday that a meeting to confront the [Israeli] policies of annex- File photo will be held on the 20th of this month, with ation.” 10 ARTICLE Iraqi MPs approve al-Kadhimi’s cabinet, ending months of deadlock ARTICLE Mohammad Jafari Afshin Majlesi By staff & agencies On April 9, Iraqi President Barham Saleh Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Tehran Times journalist Tehran Times journalist The Iraqi parliament has approved the govern- officially tasked Kadhimi with forming a gov- phones Iraqi PM Kadhimi ment of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, ernment after the 53-year-old director of the Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mo- ending six months of political deadlock in the country’s National Intelligence Service received hammed bin Salman has phoned Iraq’s Prime Which Arab rulers Arab country. the endorsement of the majority of the top po- Minister Mustafa Kadhimi after Iraq formed a Iran, quakes, and In their Wednesday session, the lawmakers litical figures. new government, reiterating the Kingdom’s sup- trying hard to gave votes of confidence to Kadhimi’s picks for “I will work tirelessly to present Iraqis with port for Iraq in achieving stability and security, tourism the ministries of interior, defense, finance, and a program and cabinet that will work to serve according to an official statement. remain in power via electricity, among others. them, protect their rights and take Iraq towards a Kadhimi, Iraq’s intelligence chief and a former arly on Friday, an earthquake However, several ministerial candidates failed prosperous future,” Kadhimi wrote on his official journalist, will head the new government. He will of magnitude 5.1 struck Dama- appeasing Israel? to get the lawmakers’ approval, meaning Kadhimi Twitter page. begin his term without a full Cabinet, however, vand county, 56km northeast will begin his term without a full government. He will replace caretaker Prime Minister after several ministerial candidates were rejected. E of the capital Tehran, killing two ertain Arab rulers, mainly along the The parliamentarians rejected the incoming Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who stepped down last ‘Iraqi territory won’t be used as and injuring 33. It made an excuse southern coast of the Persian Gulf, premier’s picks for justice, agriculture and trade November following demonstrations against launching ground against others’ for writing a note about the impact have resorted to propagating a series ministries. corruption, staggering youth unemployment Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi of natural disasters, specifically C They also postponed voting on the oil and and poor public services, which erupted in the of fake historical fables to pave the ground says his country would never allow outsiders to earthquakes, on tourism and cul- better than ever to normalize relations foreign ministries as political parties failed to capital Baghdad and then quickly spread to use the Arab country’s territory for any act of tural heritage. with Israel to enjoy more supports by the agree on candidates. other cities. aggression against others. 10 Regarding Tehran, it should be remind- Tel Aviv and its western allies, ignoring ed that the sprawling metropolis is situated the Palestinian cause and even their own on one of the world’s most active seismic people’s viewpoints. U.S. pulling Patriot missiles from Saudi oil facilities belts, which is thought to cause a severe Mohammad Ayesh, a senior journalist By staff & agencies on Saudi oil facilities. told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman earthquake in/or near the city in the span and analyst, has condemned approach of The United States is pulling its Patriot missile The developments come over two week that unless his country started cutting oil pro- every 150 years or so. a new generation of Arab rulers who try systems from Saudi soil as part of broader curbs after President Donald Trump said his ad- duction, he would be unable to stop lawmakers On a greater scale, the whole country is hard to resume all-out relations with Israel. on its military support for the Arab kingdom, a ministration will review a proposal to block from passing legislation to withdraw U.S. troops positioned in a region of active faults and “There is a significant shift in the Arab report says. Saudi crude oil shipments to the U.S. to try from the kingdom. hence high seismicity (some 80% of its world concerning relations with Israel. Citing unnamed U.S. officials, The Wall Street to save its struggling shale industry suffering Oil issue land), is one of the highest-seismic-hazard Jordan and Egypt previously signed peace Journal reported that four Patriot surface-to-air from an unprecedented slump in demand and It was recently revealed that the United areas in the world. agreements with Tel Aviv and established missile batteries and dozens of military personnel prices due to the novel coronavirus, and as fuel States military is in the process of removing In terms of tourism, as you know, it’s public and official relations with the oc- will be removed from Saudi oil facilities. storage runs short. the Patriot antimissile system it sent to Saudi a large and unique assemblage of indus- cupying power. However, the current The officials said the U.S. will also reduce its In mid-April, Frank Fannon, the U.S. assistant Arabia following the drone strike on Aramco trial sectors and related businesses that situation in the Arab region is unprece- Navy presence in the Persian Gulf soon, adding secretary of state for energy resources, said the facilities in September, 2019. According to tightly work together both in domestic dented. In the past, no one was trying to that two jet fighter squadrons have already left country could also impose tariffs on Saudi oil. reports, the military personnel who were de- and local scenes. pave the way for normalization with the the region. Trump had also warned Saudi Arabia earlier ployed to the region after the attacks are also Yet, tourism is a fairly vulnerable sector occupation through offending Palestinians The U.S. intensified its military presence in that month that he would end American military leaving, two U.S. jet fighter squadrons have that could easily be affected by a wide or demonizing them, nor trying to portray the region last year amid growing tensions with support for the kingdom if Riyadh did not end left and the U.S. military may soon decide to variety of disasters, instabilities, whether the occupation as a victim that must be Iran. Part of the military hardware was deployed its oil price war with Russia and cut production. cut back on U.S. naval presence in the Persian being political, social, monetary, or re- compensated for the years of deprivation in September last year after a series of attacks In a phone call on April 2, the U.S.