the United States, that the first step in step first the that States, United the liketosuggestthepresidentof would it againif theyhaveto. almost acentury laterandwilldo thing didthesame won thatwar,ashis disciples his people and Ali war.Rais in a winning loss.” That is how we define, losing, and from assets and our capital save war to invaders’ capitalandassets; we areinthis over win to not war this in are day.“We time stoodwiththenationtothis very the of slogan Ali’s War.Rais the during intruders whoignoredIran’s neutrality the Britishinvaders. Theystoppedthe Gulf,Persian defendedthecountryfrom group ofmen, fromatinyvillagenearthe a youngmanfromalongwithhissmall go towar; weonlyrespondtowar. for us,isnotanoption; wenever chooseto is theview weeachhavetowardwar.War President, andyourhawkish#Bteam. That ancient nationofIranwithyou,the Mr. sophisticated cultureofIranthatseparates to revilersandfoes. in ourneighborhoodoreven inresponse any othernations,either oppressed and We proudlyhaveneverinvaded, intruded initiating awarinthepast250years.not “terrorist nation”areproudandpleasedfor like . Iranians, thoseyoulabelasa culture andhistoryofanoldcivilization the study you suggest strongly veteran,I sary. Sir, asanexperiencedIranianwar any combatisunderstandingtheadver- for thatmatterhaseverreacheditsgoals. war other any and experience horrifying inYemen.Noneofthese engagement Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, andeven the the resultofAmericanwarsinVietnam, remind thepresidentofUnitedStates of warandlosing. Thereisnoneedto experiences bitter with filled is history to describeanywar. Besides, American him, neverusethewordwinandwinning of theUnitedStates. andresponsesforthepresident gestions bitterness ofwar, Ihaveacoupleofsug Iraq war with firsthand experience of the As aworldcitizen,andveteranofIran- P Iranians Trump, Zarifandwe ISNA/ Hadi Zand In 1915,amidtheWWI, RaisAliDelvary, Nonetheless, thereisadelicacyinthe As aveteran andapeaceactivist, I First, Iwouldliketorecommend war, but never lost a negotiation.” never losta war,but claims that“Iraniansnever wona resident Trump, inhislatestTweet, Novelist While in UNIwastold ARTICLE Habib Ahmadzadeh to go toWhite House nuclear commitments needs whendownscaling Iran considering technical 7 7 or be sanctioned WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM - Pages in a quagmire which it will be difficult to extricate humanrightsconcerns. despite countries’ continuedsupportfortheaggression war againsttheYemenipeopleandWestern’s ia, pointed to different aspects of Saudi-waged Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West Virgin S. Cavell, fullprofessorofpoliticalscienceat Saudi monarchy.”the on thecontinuationof will beadeathsentence reassert itshegemoniccontroloverYemen “to Colin S.CavellbelievesthatfailureofSaudiArabia (MNA)– United StatesfromIrannucleardeal, theHead controversies overthesuddenwithdrawalof services inthiscase. involvement ofAmericanandZionistintelligence of traces find to us lead might that happened with himleadingtheUNnuclearwatchdog. Washington and Tel Aviv were quite unsatisfied very suspicious, especiallyatatimewhenboth appearance ofsymptomsandhisquickdeathis sudden the natural,but seem death his make to trying now are officials Zionist and American ic EnergyAgency(IAEA)leftmanyinshock. the DirectorGeneralofInternationalAtom TEHRAN — 2 Tehran Times/ Mahmoud Khabbaz By MohammadAliHaqshenas By HanifGhaffari He noted that “Saudi Arabia is bogged down bogged is Arabia “Saudi that noted He In aninterviewwithMehrNewsAgency, Colin In May2018, rightatthepeakofinternational A yearbeforeAmano’sdeath, something Price40,000Rials Failure inYemen to ‘death be sentence’ of Saudi monarchy: Prof. Cavell The suddendeathofYukiyaAmano, Professor ofpoliticalscience 1.00EURO military deal sign classified Iran, Who on has the main Amano’s lead death? 4.00AED - - astating war onthepeopleofYemen.”astating Headded dev this stop to agree “cannot Council Security UN the why , are and US,UK including parate economicinterests”ofvarious countries, government.”peoples’ Healsonotedthat“dis of SaudiArabiatoriseupaninstallalegitimate population captive the for inspiration and hope of independencefromSaudiArabiawillprovide Saudi monarchy. AYemenivictoryintheirwar a deathsentenceonthecontinuationof be assert itshegemoniccontroloverYemenwill dom itself.” question thecontinuedexistenceofKing itself frombutinsteadwilleventually callinto Varjoranta himselfalsoneversaidanythingabout of hisresignation.media torevealthereasons the did notlet and resignation inlessthan24hours top officials of the IAEA accepted Varjoranta’s and inspections. Atthetime, Amanoandother heavy pressuresonIAEAtostartnewstudies came atatimethattheZionistregimewasputting nuclear deal.However, Varjoranta’s resignation mostly focusedonTrump’swithdrawalfromthe ceive muchmediacover,astheworldnewswere was majorlytaskedwithinspectingnuclearprojects. and IAEA the of General Deputy Director as worked from hisposition. ment abruptlyannouncedthatheisresigning IAEA’sof InspectionandSupervisionDepart 39thyear 3 Varjoranta’s sudden resignation did not re not did Varjoranta’sresignation sudden “Failure on the part of Saudi Arabia to re to Saudi Arabia of part the on “Failure Tero Varjoranta was a Finnish diplomat who Tero Varjoranta wasaFinnishdiplomatwho No.13455

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AUGUST Cadet World team win 2019 Iran Greco-Roman 6,2019 ------to theSaudi-ledcoalition? countries, theTrumpadministration, especially of thewestern arms sales to stop ports havefailed coalition withweaponry.Whythe allthesere seethatwesterncountriesarestillproviding we crimes. Despiteallthesehumanrightsreports, coalition forthethirdyearchild-killing the in 2018theYemenwar, decidingtoblacklist that theSaudi-ledcoalitionhaskilled729 children unparalleled deathanddestruction.” US industries are profitable despite resulting in in whether consists “morality forTrump that Americans andtheZionistsfortakingAmanodown. that heknowsmanythingsaboutthelobbiesof silence ornot,butwhatwedoknowforsureis of theproliferation ofnuclearweapons. verify countries’compliancewiththeprohibition andDirectorofIAEAInspectorswho Safeguards tor GeneralofIAEA, HeadoftheDepartment and SafetyinFinlandformanyyears. He alsoserved asDirectorofNuclearRecycle had 30yearsofexperienceinnuclearenergy. hands oftheFinishdiplomat.the Varjoranta led tohisresignation, mightcosthimhislife. worried thatrevealingtherealreasons be reasons behindhisresignation.Heseemsto the issued areportonFriday, July26, 2019noting See page2 See Since 2013, healsobecametheDeputyDirec Here isthefulltextofinterview: Anyway, we don’t know if he finally breaks his Now, themainleadofAmano’sdeathisin of Armycommanders. CEO Qolamhossein Mozaffari, and a group Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, KishFreeZone Rear Khanzadi,chief ArmyCoordination Navy CommanderRearAdmiral Hossein Island. was heldonSundayafternoon onKish Diving TournamentofWorld Armies Fourth Deepthe Opening Ceremonyof

Mordad 15,1398 UN Secretary-GeneralAnt?nio Guterres Tournament Deep Diving The openingceremonywasattended by Opening of the Fourth I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y of World

Armies 15 announced onMonday. Renovation Organization(IMIDRO) and MiningIndustriesDevelopment MinesIranian of relations department quarter ofthepreviousyear, thepublic (March 21-June 21) comparedtothefirst yearcalendar Iranian current of quarter firstthe during percent 20 rose ucts TEHRAN — his lawyer flown to India for proper medical attention,” medical care,hislawyersays. al-Zakzaky so that he can fly to India for bail to ed —ANigeriancourthasgrant- TEHRAN Jamil JabakinTehran. Minister Health ference withLebanese con press joint a in said humanity,”he in theareaofhealtharecrimeagainst need,andWashington’spressure tients sanctioning medicinethattheIranianpa humanity”. the U.S. sanctionsare“crimeagainst Saeed NamakisaidonMondaythat TEHRAN — sanctions crime against humanity “The judge has ordered that Zakzaky be “The judgehasorderedthatZakzakybe “The U.S.in “The administration’sactions Namakisaid theU.S.sanctions also Iran’s healthminister callsU.S. Zakzaky Steel products export up 20% in Steel products export up20% in

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Femi Falana Muslim clericSheikhIbrahim 7 7 Iran’s exportsofsteelprod- Iran’s HealthMinister

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on display in Tehran inscriptions fromCaucasus Photos ofhistorical Persian - - span ofthepastyear. from 1.854 milliontonsinthesametime quarter ofcurrentyear, falling23percent first the in tons million 1.425 at ingots this year. during thethree-monthperiodof ed 758,000 tonsofsteelproducts entire world. Depression of the 1930s, which affected the worst economiccontraction sincetheGreat the become may what with roost to home and thechickensaresoongoingto come ade-long orgy of misallocated fiat “capital” profits. Really, there has been almost a dec -- toboostquarterly(andannual)per share illegal until1982whenReaganwasPresident were buyingbacktheirshares--which was the stockmarketswhilemanycorporations into and creation (debt) “credit” to further alltheextramoneywentlargely and bust nesses andbanksthatoughttohavegone Bank printedtrillionsofdollarstobailoutbusi- crises of2008-09 isthattheFederalReserve The onlythingthathashappenedsincethe the U.S., too. Butallhisclaimsareachimera. exclusively inverylow-wagejobs) (almost unemployment low for responsible is he to all-timehighs,andhehasalsoclaimed caused themarkets intheU.S. torocket “great” heisandthathispolicieshave about how for twoyears crowing been he has “owns” themarketsnow,because or above itsrecentall-timehigh.Trump and tokeeptheU.S. equitymarketnear improve U.S.(and exports) the dollar en U.S.also inAsiaandEurope, andtoweak face ofslowlysouringeconomicdatainthe degree, itatall. significant any to anyone by off bought U.S. policies, anddon’t seemtohavebeen are consistent, recognizethefailuresof Hawaii. BoththeseDemocratcandidates of Gabbard VermontRep.Tulsi of and bomb Iran.areSen. TheyBernieSanders not does Trump assuming Trump beating anti-war posture, whohaveanychanceof an other for “socialist” policiesandthe his scornedthem often orignored,onefor areonlytwocandidates,bothof there win re-election.Andit’s alsolikelythat itmightily), Trumpwon’t to regret going militarily (theU.S. andtheworldare Joe Biden,orevenKamalaHarris. Democrats nominateaneoliberallike political pressureonChina, andifthe I patience lies incontinued Iran’s strength needs”. needs”. ordinarypeople’s“livesand targeted economic terrorism” becausetheyhave examples of“crimeagainsthumanityand U.S.the sanctionsagainstIranconstitute Lebanon tocooperatewithIran. Iran as“cruel”. “inhuman”. in theareaofmedicineare“illogical”and in hislefteye. which hewasbeatenandlostvision was raidedbyNigeria’sforces, during ter hisresidenceinthecityofZaria in detentionsinceDecember2015af Movement inNigeria(IMN), hasbeen As reported, thecountryexport IMIDRO alsoputtheexportofsteel Trump isabsolutelydesperateinthe But thereisacaveat,too. Conversely,U.S. iftheIran attacks President HassanRouhanisaidinJune He alsosaidthereisnorestrictionfor Zakzaky, thefounderofIslamic Jabak describedsanctionsagainst war with Iran, keeps up the tariff and win re-electionin2020ifheavoids t’s saidthatDonaldTrumpislikelyto

3 North Carolina North Political analystfrom ARTICLE Martin Love Martin 7 7

13

4 16 - - - - I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y POLITICS AUGUST 6, 2019

Iran to review nuclear Larijani lauds Zarif as a capable decision if other sides fulfil commitments: MP POLITICAL TEHRAN — Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, the and hard-working diplomat deskspokesman for the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, has said Iran will review its decision POLITICAL TEHRAN – To show wise enemies are aware of his intellect, skill, to reduce its nuclear commitments if other sides take practical desk actions to fulfill their obligations. strong support for Foreign his rare competence in negotiations, creating “Increasing purity of enriched uranium and using advanced Minister who has opportunities, and avoiding conflict and war.” centrifuges are Iran’s next steps on the issue of the JCPOA. How- been sanctioned by the Trump administration, “Sanctioning Zarif is another reason ever, Iran will review its decision to reduce nuclear commitments Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani met with for (U.S.) hypocrisy and lying in calling for if other sides take practical actions in fulfilling their obligations,” Zarif on Monday describing him as a “symbol negotiations,” Jahangiri wrote on his he tweeted on Monday, according to ISNA. of a seasoned and hard-working” diplomat. account. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said Iran will Larijani, who once was Iran’s chief nuclear On Wednesday, Zarif responded to take the next step in reducing commitments under the JCPOA negotiator with the West in the capacity of sanctions on himself in a tweet. if the remaining parties to the agreement do not honor their Supreme National Security Council secretary, “The US’ reason for designating me is that obligations. said Zarif has brought many achievements I am Iran’s ‘primary spokesperson around “It is the Islamic Republic of Iran who should take decision for the Islamic republic system through his the world’ in this respect. This step will be taken in continuation of previ- diplomatic competence. Is the truth really that painful?” Zarif wrote. ous actions if other sides do not fulfil their obligations,” he told “You, as chief of the country’s foreign Zarif said the move shows that Donald ICANA in an interview published on Saturday. policy, defend the national interests with Trump and his team consider him as a “huge He noted that Iran’s actions are within the framework of the determination and perseverance. Enemies threat” to their plots against Iran. JCPOA, the official name for the nuclear agreement. have sanctioned you because your efforts at “Thank you for considering me such a Paragraph 36 of the JCPOA has provided a mechanism to the international arena have been effective,” huge threat to your agenda.” resolve disputes and allows one side, under certain circum- Larijani remarked. Zarif added, “It has no effect on me or stances, to stop complying with the deal if the other side is For his part, Zarif said, “We will defend and my family, as I have no property or interests out of compliance. support national interests and the people’s outside of Iran.” Under the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to put limits on its rights at the international arena will all power.” Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and ‘Sanctioning Zarif shows U.S. Hossein-Ali Amiri said on Saturday that Zarif At home there was a huge torrent of financial sanctions. frustration’ In a televised address, Rouhani said, “They is “the Iranian people’s voice” and sanctioning support for Foreign Minister Zarif who is However, Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the UN-en- Ebrahim Raeisi, the Judiciary chief, said were claiming ever day ‘we want to talk, with him shows Washington’s weakness. liked by the people and even his moderate dorsed JCPOA in May 2018 and imposed the toughest ever on Monday that sanctioning Zarif shows no preconditions’ ... and then they sanction “Sanctioning the foreign minister of the opponents. They all consider him a highly sanctions against Iran in line with his administration’s “max- frustration at the White House. the foreign minister.” Islamic Republic of Iran by the U.S. indicates qualified diplomat and treasure him for his imum pressure” policy against Tehran. Downplaying the U.S. moves against the He also said the U.S. is “afraid” of Zarif. that all the enemy’s plots have been foiled. rationality. The remaining parties, particularly the European sides, have country and its latest sanctions against Zarif, “They are afraid of our foreign minister’s And the U.S. does not intend to sanction In a press conference at the Foreign failed to honor their commitments since the U.S. reimposed the top judge said “the future is bright”. interviews. It is completely clear that the Zarif but does not want the world hear the Ministry on Monday, Zarif said sanctions the sanctions. In separate statements on Wednesday, foundations of the White House have been Iranian people’s voice,” he told reporters. against foreign minister is synonymous with The remaining JCPOA parties held an emergency meeting the U.S. Treasury and State Department shaken by the words and logic of an informed, In an article published by LobeLog on “defeat in diplomacy”. in Vienna on July 28 to discuss Iran’s moves in reducing its announced imposition of sanctions against devoted and diplomatic individual,” the Thursday, Robert E. Hunter, a former U.S. President Rouhani has described the nuclear commitments and explore ways to save the nuclear deal. Zarif, a move which was interpreted as a total president pointed out. ambassador to NATO, said that Washington’s U.S. move against his foreign minister as a Abbas Araghchi, the deputy foreign minister and a top nu- rejection of diplomacy repeatedly claimed Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri lauded act in imposing sanctions on Zarif will “childish behavior”. clear negotiator who represented Iran in the meeting, called by the Trump administration. Zarif’s diplomatic capability, saying, “Even undermine U.S. diplomatic credibility. the talks “constructive”. However, he warned Iran would con- tinue to reduce its nuclear commitments if Europeans failed to salvage the pact. “The atmosphere was constructive. Discussions were good. I While in UN I was told to go to White House or be sanctioned cannot say that we resolved everything, I can say there are lots of commitments,” the senior nuclear negotiator told Reuters. U.S. isolated, unable to form alliance, Zarif asserts Helga Schmid, secretary general of the European External Zarif repeated Tehran’s condemnation ‘Countries embarrassed to have Action Service (EEAS), also issued a statement saying that By Mehdi Sepahvand of the UK seizure as an act of “piracy.” their names next to America’ “participants reaffirmed their continued commitment to pre- Iran has denied that the vessel was “Other countries are embarrassed to serving the JCPOA.” TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister heading for Syria, and Spain later said have their names on a list next to America,” She also said, “They recalled that both nuclear commitments Mohammad Javad Zarif told a press con- that had ordered the confiscation he said, adding that wherever the Amer- and sanctions-lifting are essential parts of the agreement.” ference on Monday that while he was in at the request of the United States. icans deployed their forces, they failed, On May 8, exactly one year after the U.S. abandoned the New York the Americans told him that if Washington has been trying to hamper like in Afghanistan. multi-nation nuclear agreement and reimposed sanctions on he did not accept to go to the White House Iran’s international oil sales since leaving Now, 18 years after they invaded Afghan- Iran, Tehran said its “strategic patience” is over and announced to meet President Donald Trump he will a multilateral nuclear agreement with the istan, they have been forced to negotiate a partial withdrawal from some aspects of the pact, saying that be sanctioned in two weeks. Islamic Republic and other countries last with the Taliban with humiliation, he noted. the country would no longer adhere to some of the limits on Zarif visited New York in mid-July to year and returning the sanctions that the His remarks came after reports in recent its nuclear activities. It also threatened to step up uranium participate at the annual session of the UN deal had lifted. days that the U.S. has found it difficult to enrichment if an agreement is not made within 60 days to Economic and Social Council (UNOSOC). “Economic terrorism is a reality today. build a maritime coalition in the Persian protect it from the sanctions’ effects. “In the trip to New York it was announced It equals targeting ordinary people in the Gulf, receiving a lukewarm response from In follow-up to that deadline, on July 7 Iran announced to me to accept the invitation of the White hope that they would implement your pol- European and Asian allies. that it has started enriching uranium to a higher purity than House for negotiations otherwise I would icies,” Zarif said. Australian Defense Minister Linda Reyn- the 3.67% as the Europeans missed the 60-day deadline to be sanctioned in two weeks,” Zarif said, Britain has dispatched three warships olds has said his country was carefully devise a concrete mechanism to protect the country from the marking Press Day in Iran. to the after Iranian forces weighing up the United States’ request U.S. sanctions. On Thursday, July 31, the United States declared sanctions on Zarif, a move which the country is a permanent member of detained a UK-flagged tanker that had to join the coalition. was interpreted as a declaration of sanctions the UN Security Council and for lifting collided with an Iranian fishing boat in On Friday, Japan said it would not join reiterates it will on diplomacy, which the Trump administra- the UN sanctions it was necessary that it the Strait of Hormuz and refused to heed the mission, adding that it may send its tion repeatedly claims it wants with Tehran. be included. its distress calls afterwards. warships independently to protect Japanese not take part in U.S.-led ‘Sanctions on me is failure of The chief diplomat also blamed the ‘Iran no longer turns blind eye ships in the world’s most important oil ar- diplomacy’ U.S. for fueling tension in the Persian Gulf. on maritime offenses’ tery, according to the Mainichi newspaper. naval coalition Zarif slammed the decision to impose The United States is seeking a maritime The top diplomat reminded that the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas sanctions on him, calling the move a “fail- coalition to guard what it calls “safe ship- Persian Gulf’s security is Iran’s responsi- also said recently that his country would By staff and agency ure” for diplomacy. ping” in the Persian Gulf and the Strait bility, and asserted that Iran will no longer not participate in the U.S.-proposed naval A German government spokeswoman said on Monday that Despite its calls for talks, Zarif said, of Hormuz. turn a blind eye to “maritime offences” in mission. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the whole German government the U.S. was not interested in diplomacy “The United States is responsible for the strategic waters. ‘JCPOA not a holy thing and if do not see Germany taking part in a U.S-led naval mission in to resolve the nuclear standoff. fueling fire in the Persian Gulf and it cannot ‘Superpower discourse and era necessary, we will quit it’ the Strait of Hormuz. “Imposing sanctions against a foreign be a firefighter,” Zarif noted. of bullying over’ During his Monday press conference, “The chancellor does not see a participation in a U.S-led minister means failure [for any efforts at In another part of his statements, Zarif In another part of the press conference, Iran’s foreign minister also said the coun- mission in the current situation and at the current time - every- negotiations],” said Zarif, adding that it criticized the UK for assisting the United Zarif said the United States has become try’s third step to limit its JCPOA commit- one in the German government agrees on that,” a government also meant the side imposing the measures States in “economic terrorism” against Iran, isolated from the international community ments will neither be its last step, nor will spokeswoman told a news conference, according to Reuters. was “opposing talks”. saying, “The British government has been because of its domineering attitude. “The it be a walkout from the deal. The U.S. has announced ‘I was sanctioned after I revealed complicit in America’s economic terrorism era when the discourse of superpowers and “The third step will neither be the last plans to form a Washing- intentions of the B-Team’ against Iran.” bullying would rule the world is over…. step, nor will it be quitting the JCPOA. ton-led maritime force to Zarif said the U.S. decided to sanction The Iranian top diplomat was referring Today, America is alone in the world.” The action will fall within the framework supposedly secure the Strait him when he revealed that the B-Team, to British naval forces’ seizure of an Ira- “Our discourse is one of companionship, of the JCPOA. But the JCPOA is not a of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, among them White House national secu- nian-operated supertanker in the Strait cooperation, and empathy. It is for this holy thing and if necessary, we will quit which hosts considerable in- rity advisor John Bolton and Israeli Prime of Gibraltar off Spain on July 4. The UK reason that America is alone in the world it. However, we do not see it necessary to ternational oil shipments. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is trying to seized the vessel on the allegation that it today,” he commented, adding, “America do so right now.” During a press conference lure Trump into a war with Iran. was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in viola- cannot form a coalition in areas that it He also warned the European Union on Wednesday, German For- “The U.S. decided to sanction me when tion of the European Union’s unilateral claims to be a superpower, such as the about their passivity in the face of U.S. eign Minister Heiko Maas I introduced the B-Team,” Zarif remarked. sanctions on the Arab country. military area.” excessive demands. said his country “would not However, Zarif said, he does not think “If the Europeans are worried about participate in the mission the that Trump is not seeking war with Iran. “If the Europeans are worried about their their future, they should stand up against United States plans to form.” On whether it was necessary that the future, they should stand up against such such bullying acts, because in the future the Madrid and Tokyo have United State be a party to the negotiations Americans may say they have no right to also rejected an official request that led to the conclusion of the JCPOA, bullying acts, because in the future the work with China or buy gas from Russia,” from Washington to partic- the official name for the 2015 nuclear deal, Americans may say they have no right to Zarif said, posing the question if the U.S. ipate in the naval coalition. Zarif said the involvement of the U.S. in has any right to tell a continent what to Spanish newspaper El Confidencial said on Thursday Ma- the JCPOA was a “necessary evil” because work with China or buy gas from Russia.” do or not to do. drid had received an official request from the United States to participate in these forces. However, the same sources said that “the Spanish government has currently no intention to participate in joint U.S.-led forces,” Middle East Monitor Iran considering technical needs when downscaling nuclear commitments: Kamalvandi reported. Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun also reported that Tokyo won’t By Mehdi Sepahvand surpassing the limit on 300 kilograms [of low-enriched likely exceed the uranium limit if the remaining signatories send ships to join the U.S.-led maritime force. uranium], disregard for the 130-ton limit [on heavy water to the nuclear deal — China, Germany, France, Britain Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been on the rise in the TEHRAN – Any time Iran decides to downscale its supply], and producing [uranium] at the level of 4.5 percent and Russia — failed to find a way for Tehran to receive past several months. commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, it will see what purity,” Kamalvandi explained. the economic benefits promised in exchange for limiting On 4 July, Royal Marines were involved in the seizure of it technically needs to decide on the kind of limitations “Based on the time we will look into what our needs its nuclear program. Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar, claiming that the it will overlook, the country’s nuclear spokesman says. are,” he added. Iran is allowed to enrich up to 300 kg of uranium to 3.67% ship was carrying oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. Iran Speaking to the Tehran Times on Monday, Behrooz On July 1, Tehran announced it was leaving the 300 under the terms of the JCPOA. Iran also went beyond the called it an act of “piracy”. Kamalvandi said this has been the case already since March kilograms of low-enriched uranium limit allowed under 3.67% enrichment level on July 7 as it had promised before. Days later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps seized Brit- 8 when Iran decided to limit its level of commitment to the the nuclear accord behind, no longer willing to stand by Falling back under the 300 kg is easily reversible, and ish-flagged Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz. Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in retaliation and be the sole party that has been putting into action its the remaining parties to the JCPOA would only become Nathalie Tocci, special adviser to European Union foreign for the U.S. official withdrawal from the deal. part of the deal. concerned if enrichment levels were ramped up to 20%, policy chief Federica Mogherini, has said that the Europeans “What we are doing is, if we feel there is need for some On the same day writing on Twitter, Foreign Minister Francois Nicoullaud, a former French ambassador to Iran, will opt for “dialogue” and “diplomacy” with Iran on the issue technical measures, and on the other side we are going Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted Iran was not violating told AFP last month. of security in the Persian Gulf region. to abandon some of our commitments, we go for the the deal, citing the “Dispute Resolution Mechanism” of “As long as Iran does not get close to a threshold of a ton “So long as [Europeans] see a chance of freedom of navi- option which can remove our technical problems as well,” the treaty, which Tehran believes the so-called E3+2 — of lightly enriched uranium, there is no pressing concern,” gation being secured through dialogue and diplomacy with Kamalvandi stated. Germany, France and the UK plus Russia and China — have Nicoullaud said. But if Iran “amassed, for example, a stock Iran, they will opt for this route,” Politico quoted her as saying “We decide based on our needs, which has been the case not brought to a successful conclusion. of 200 to 300 kilograms of uranium enriched to nearly on Friday. for the three measures we have already taken, including Iranian officials had warned that the country would 20% there would be cause for great concern.” TECHNOLOGY

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 IRAN IN FOCUS 3

Iran, Russia sign classified Academics urge govt. to cite ramifications of trusting the West

military deal: Navy chief POLITICAL TEHRAN – More than 2,000 Iranian univer- POLITICAL TEHRAN – Iranian and and the show that arrogant countries, most desksity professors and scholars have called on the deskRussian armed forces have importantly the U.S. and Britain, put on is Rouhani government to narrate the consequences of trusting the signed a “classified” agreement to expand only a big bluff and a dishonest act aimed Western countries. cooperation through a series of projects, to create the impression that the region is “Now that the trustworthy Iranian negotiators have realized the Chief of Iranian Navy Rear Admiral Hossein unsafe,” the admiral pointed out. disloyalty of the U.S. and its European accomplices, it is necessary Khanzadi announced on Sunday. “This is while the region is perfectly that they narrate the consequences of their misplaced trust to the Khanzadi made the announcement during safe,” the commander said, calling such West for the Iranian nation, who have shown great patience for the opening ceremony of an international efforts futile. six years,” the senior Iranian academics said in an open letter to military diving competition on the southern The United States has been pushing its Rouhani and Zarif, Mehr reported on Monday. Iranian Kish Island. regional allies to form a coalition force that He said one of the projects will be joint would supposedly ensure the safety of for- military drills in the Persian Gulf before the eign vessels sailing through the Strait of end of the year, Press TV reported. Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. The admiral said he signed the deal with Britain has also dispatched three war- the Russian Defense Ministry on behalf of ships to the Persian Gulf after Iranian forces the Iranian military during his trip to Mos- detained a British tanker that had collided cow last week. with a fishing boat in the Strait and refused “Some articles of this agreement are clas- to heed its distress calls afterwards. sified but overall; it is aimed at expanding Both Washington and London have been military cooperation between the two coun- trying to justify escalation in the strategic tries,” he said. between the two sides,” he said, describing recent actions by the United States and the waters by accusing Iran of trying to desta- “Of course, a large part of it includes the the agreement as a “turning point” in military United Kingdom to escalate tension in the bilize shipping activities in the Persian Gulf naval forces of the two countries and the ties between Iran and Russia. Persian Gulf region. in response to renewed American sanctions, They also urged the top officials to put self-sufficiency, instead agreement can be called the first of its kind Khanzadi also dismissed as insignificant “Nothing has happened in the region… especially on its exports. of relying on the West, high on their agenda to push the country’s development plans forward. On Wednesday, the U.S. government announced imposition of sanctions against Zarif, a move which was interpreted as a total rejec- Government: Zarif is a media outlet which is being silenced tion of diplomacy repeatedly claimed by the Trump administration. Ever since the announcement, there has been a huge torrent of POLITICAL TEHRAN – Government spokesman Ali selves of dialogue by sanctioning Zarif. support for the chief Iranian diplomat both at home and abroad. deskRabiei has highlighted the role Foreign “Zarif is in charge of the country’s foreign policy and U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif plays against U.S. hostilities diplomacy … By sanctioning Zarif, they (Americans) de- from the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA), reimposed the “harshest toward Iran, saying Zarif himself is a media outlet and was prived themselves of dialogue,” Rabiei told a press briefing sanctions” on Iran and at the same time pushed for talks with Tehran. targeted with U.S. sanctions for the important messages he on Sunday. According to experts, the new U.S. measure dealt a blow to the passes on to the world. He said it is utterly absurd that the U.S., which claims prospects of talks between Washington and Tehran and cast doubt “I’m glad to say that Zarif himself is a media [outlet], a to be an advocate of dialogue, has sanctioned Iran’s foreign over the Trump administration’s claims that it wants dialogue. producer of content and a message transfer tool,” Rabiei minister right after inviting him to hold talks at the White . said on Monday in an opening to Zarif’s press conference House. ahead of Journalist Day. “If this action is not ridiculous then what is it?” he added. He further pointed to the U.S. sanctions on Zarif, saying On Wednesday, the U.S. government announced imposi- Iran sympathizes the White House has never been as hostile as it is today tion of sanctions against Zarif, a move which was interpreted toward the Iranian nation and government, Mehr reported. as a total rejection of diplomacy repeatedly claimed by the with American people The spokesman deplored Washington for trying to silence Trump administration.The announcement has been met “childish behavior” and an act out of fear. the chief Iranian diplomat. with widespread condemnation in Iran and throughout the Zarif himself has scoffed at the act, saying he and his over mass shootings Rabiei has also said the Americans have deprived them- world, with President describing it as a family do not have any “property or interests outside of Iran.” POLITICAL TEHRAN – Tehran has sympathized with the deskAmerican people over the death of tens of people in the latest mass shootings in the United States. In a statement on Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Iran’s health minister calls U.S. sanctions crime against humanity Mousavi voiced her sympathy with the American people, especially families of the victims of the incidents, Tasnim reported. Lebanese health minister describes sanctions on as “cruel” Mousavi also wished speedy recovery for those wounded in the tragic incidents. 1 “It should not be said that the U.S. to be punished by the U.S. which also has imposed sanctions on us, because they impedes importing certain commodities are not sanctions. They are crime against such as food and medicine. humanity. They could be called sanctions if In a tweet on November 12, 2018 U.S. they targeted some of our sensitive indus- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed tries, but they are crime against humanity that “the U.S. does not, and never did, sanc- and economic terrorism when they target tion food and medicine. They are exempt the people’s lives and needs,” he said in a from sanctions.” cabinet meeting. Scientific Societies for Medical Sciences Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for in Iran wrote a letter to UN Secretary Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, told General António Guterres in March 2019 ISNA in an interview published on Novem- condemning the U.S. sanctions against ber 13, 2018 that the claim by Washington Iran, urging the international communi- ty to resist sanctions targeting “medical that medicine is exempt from sanctions is Within 13 hours on Saturday and Sunday, at least 29 people needs” and “humanitarian aid”. a “big clear lie”. were killed in mass shootings in the U.S. cities of El Paso, Texas “Scientific Societies for Medical Sanctions include food and medicine and Dayton, Ohio.Law enforcement officials arrested Patrick Cru- Sciences in Iran call on int’l communi- and the only point is that these two items sius, a 21-year-old white man from Allen, Texas, which is about a ty to: condemn U.S. sanctions on Iran; have not been mentioned in the sanctions 10-hour drive from the Walmart in El Paso where he opened fire strongly resist the targeting of medical list announced by the Trump administra- on Saturday and killed 20 people.Early Sunday in Dayton, police needs [and] humanitarian aid; and thwart tion, he said. killed the gunman within one minute of hearing shots fired into targeting of research [and] scientific ad- Farhad Ehteshamzad, the head of the a popular night-life spot in the city. The gunman, Connor Betts, vancement,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Iran Auto Importers Association, has also 24, was wearing a mask, body armor and hearing protection and Javad Zarif wrote on his twitter account told ISNA that foreign banks refrain from was carrying a high-capacity magazine that can hold 100 rounds of in March 2019. interacting with Iran, because they fear ammunition. Nine people were killed, including the gunman’s sister Astana group insists there is no military solution to Syria crisis 285kg of opium seized POLITICAL TEHRAN – Iran, Russia and Turkey - as designated by the UN Security Council. While deplor- the Astana format. They underscored that the Working in Semnan province deskguarantors of the Syrian peace process ing civilian casualties, they agreed to undertake concrete Group was a unique mechanism, that had proved to be POLITICAL TEHRAN – The police have confiscated 285kg – have issued a joint statement insisting that “there could measures, based on the previous agreements, to ensure the effective and necessary for building confidence between deskof opium in central province of Semnan, a pro- be no military solution to the Syrian conflict”. protection of the civilian population in accordance with the Syrian parties, and agreed to take measures to continue vincial police chief has announced. The statement was issued on Monday (August 5) as the the international humanitarian law as well as the safety and step up its work; Abdollah Hassani said on Monday the police forces seized the three countries held their 13the round of talks in Nursul- and security of the military personnel of the guarantors 9. Emphasized the need to increase humanitarian as- illicit drugs which were destined for Semnan province from Sis- tan, the new name of Kazakhstan’s capital, on August 1-2. present within and outside the Idlib de-escalation area; sistance to all Syrians throughout the country without tan-Baluchestan province, Mehr reported. Nursultan is the new name of Astana. It has been the 4. Discussed the situation in the north-east of Syria preconditions. In order to support the improvement of During the operation one smuggler was arrested, Hassani added. host of talks between the three countries as well as the and emphasized that long-term security and stability in the humanitarian situation in Syria and the progress in Iran, which has a 900-kilometer-long border with Afghanistan, United Nations and the warring sides in Syria. The talks this region can only be achieved on the basis of respect the process of the political settlement, they called upon has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to are known as the Astana process or format. for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country; the international community, the United Nations and its narcotics kingpins in . In this round of talks international bodies such as the 5. Rejected in this regard all attempts to create new humanitarian agencies, to enhance the assistance to Syria, UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross realities on the ground under the pretext of combating inter alia by developing early recovery projects, including were also present. terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives, and the restoration of basic infrastructure assets - water and The full text of the statement is as follows: expressed their determination to stand against separa- power supply facilities, schools and hospitals as well as The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation tist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and the humanitarian mine action. They also discussed the and the Republic of Turkey as guarantors of the Astana territorial integrity of Syria as well as threatening the idea and exchanged views on the perspectives of hold- format: national security of neighboring countries; ing the International Conference on the Humanitarian 1. Reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sover- 6. Expressed their conviction that there could be no Assistance to Syria; eignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the military solution to the Syrian conflict and reaffirmed 10. Highlighted the need to facilitate safe and voluntary Syrian Arab Republic and to the purposes and principles their commitment to advance the Syrian-led and Syri- return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the UN Charter; anowned, UN-facilitated political process in line with the to their original places of residence in Syria, ensuring their 2. Reaffirmed in this regard the respect for universally UN Security Council resolution 2254 and the decisions of right to return and right to be supported. In this regard recognized international legal decisions, including those the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in ; they called upon the international community to provide provisions of the relevant UN resolutions rejecting the 7. Held detailed consultations on the trilateral basis appropriate contributions and reaffirmed their readiness to In comments on July 9, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations occupation of Syrian Golan, first and foremost UN Security as well as with the representatives of the Office of the continue interaction with all relevant parties, including the Majid Takht Ravanchi said 3,815 Iranian law enforcement forces Council resolution 497; United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refu- have lost their lives and over 12,000 others have been wounded in 3. Reviewed in detail the situation in the Idlib de-es- Syria Geir O. Pedersen on the conclusion of formation gees (UNHCR) and other specialized international agencies; the war on drug trafficking over the past 40 years. calation area and highlighted the necessity to establish and launching of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, 11. Welcomed the participation of the delegations of Over the past three decades, Iran has seized approximately 11,000 calm on the ground by fully implementing all agreements in accordance with the decisions of the Syrian National Iraq and Lebanon as new observers of the Astana format. tons of different types of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, on Idlib, first and foremost the Memorandum of 17 Sep- Dialogue Congress in Sochi. They expressed satisfaction They expressed their conviction that the observers (Iraq, he added, saying that in 2018 alone, Iranian forces carried out 1,557 tember 2018. They expressed serious concern with the with the progress made on finalization of the composition Jordan and Lebanon) would contribute to the efforts to operations against drug traffickers, seizing approximately 807 tons increased presence of the terrorist organization “Hayat and the rules of procedure of the body and reiterated their bring peace and stability in Syria; of different types of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Tahrir al-Sham” in the area and reaffirmed the deter- readiness to facilitate the convening of the committee as 12. Expressed their sincere gratitude to the Kazakh According to the “World Drug Report 2019” of the United Nations mination to continue cooperation in order to ultimately soon as possible; authorities for hosting in Nur-Sultan the 13th Interna- Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2017 Iran had seized “the largest eliminate DAESH/ISIL, Al-Nusra Front and all other in- 8. Welcomed the fourth successful operation on mu- tional Meeting on Syria in the Astana format; quantity of opiates … accounting for 39 percent of the global total,” dividuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated tual release of detainees/abductees held on 31 July 2019 13. Decided to hold the next International Meeting on the envoy stated. with Al-Qaeda or DAESH/ISIL, and other terrorist groups, within the framework of the respective Working Group of Syria in the Astana format in Nur-Sultan in October 2019. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 4 ECONOMY AUGUST 6, 2019

STOCK MARKET Steel products export up TEDPIX 256698.2 IFX 3406.85 Sources: tse.ir, Ifb.ir 20% in a quarter on year 1 In a press conference on June 8, according to Sarqini. Iranian deputy industry, mining and trade Referring to the sanctions, the official CURRENCIES minister said the ministry has taken necessary said, “All those who have imposed sanctions USD 42,000 rials measures to maintain the country’s metal against Iran aim to destroy he country’s pro- exports despite U.S. sanctions. duction capabilities; therefore, the Ministry EUR 46,732 rials “We have established a special working of Industry, Mining and Trade prefer that GBP 51,032 rials group in the ministry which is closely as- the steel producers focus first on production sessing the situation and making necessary and in this due development projects with AED 11,437 rials arrangements to mitigate the impact of U.S. the physical progress of over 70 percent will Source: cbi.ir sanctions,” Jafar Sarqini told the Tehran also help achieve this target.” Times in the press conference. On June 15, the official had announced that The official noted that it is expected for the country’s annual crude steel production the exports from the country’s mining sector is planned to reach 30 million tons in the to, at least, reach the last year’s $8.5 billion current Iranian calendar year. COMMODITIES by the end of the current Iranian calendar He put Iran’s crude steel production at Brent $61.17/b year (March 2020). 25 million tons in the past year. Sarqini had also announced that Iran will WTI $55.07/b Also, during a meeting with the members proper self-reliance in steel industry. advantage, the minister further underscored. of Iran Steel Association on Sunday, Iranian Steel industry is one of the industries Iran’s annual steel production is planned inaugurate steel projects with the capacity OPEC Basket $63.79/b Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza in which some good investment has been to reach 45 million tons by the Iranian cal- of at least 10 million tons during the current Rahmani said the country has achieved a made and today it has become a production endar year 1400 (March 2021-March 2022), Iranian calendar year. Gold $1,459.70/oz Silver $16.52/oz Platinium $858.25/oz Private sector propelling economy during sanctions: industry min. Sources: oilprice.com, Moneymetals.com ECONOMY TEHRAN–Private sector is the main factor “Without private sector and ICCIMA we would have faced deskfor domestic economy to grow during the many problems under this condition”, Rahmani stressed. sanctions time, Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister He referred to the activity of unions and private sector as one stated. of the strategies to tackle the sanctions and economic invasion Making the remarks during the third session of the su- and said that activity of private sector should be facilitated and Private sector invests preme council of supervising Iran Chamber of Commerce, in this due the role and status of ICCIMA should be more in Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) on Sunday, the decision making and following up the affairs. over $269m in mining minister said that private sector should help the country pass To support his remarks, the minister also said, “We are projects since last December the sanctions and move toward development and progress, ready to transfer some authorities to the private sector’s unions ICCIMA portal published. and associations both in decision making and in enforcing”. ECONOMY TEHRAN – Head of Iranian Mines and Min- desking Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) said the country’s private sector has invested 11.3 trillion rials (about $269.04 million) in the mining Govt. introduces new rules Iran to hold intl. stone sector since the last December, Mehr news agency reported on expo in early October Monday. to regulate cryptocurrency market “This amount of investment is a turning point in the private ECONOMY TEHRAN – Iranian ECONOMY TEHRAN– The 12th edi- sector’s contribution to the development of the country’s mining deskgovernment has intro- desktion of Iran’s international industries,” Khodadad Gharibpour said in an IMIDRO deputies duced new rules for regulation of crypto- stone exhibition (Iran Stone Expo 2019) will meeting.The official noted that in the current situation when the currency market as more people enter the be held from October 8 to 11 in Mahallat and country is subject to unjust sanctions, such investments over this market to access international currencies Nimvar cities, in central province of Markazi, short period of time is a remarkable sign that the private sector in the sanctions era. Fars news agency reported. has a positive outlook for this sector.Gharibpour also stated that As reported by Press TV, according to a More than 6,000 businesspeople active in with the aim of removing barriers from the way of IMIDRO’s new bill approved by the cabinet and pub- the field of decorative stones from around the key sectors such as exploration and infrastructure, the budget lished on Sunday, any trade activity involving world will visit the exhibition, according to the ceiling for such areas is removed. cryprocurrencies inside the country is illegal. head of Markazi Province’s Trade Promotion “Unrestricted exploration budget means that we will fund as According to this bill, the government charged for the electricity, or the natural Department. top five decorative stone producer, he stated. many exploration projects as there are,” he explained. and the banking system would not recog- gas used to generate electricity, based on Some 400 Iranian and foreign companies Statistics show that the country is home to “In addition, the infrastructure budget has also quadrupled,” nize cryptocurrencies as legal coins and the prices applied for the electricity exports.It said have announced readiness to take part in Iran over 2,000 decorative-stone mines, he said, he added.The IMIDRO head further said that in the face of tough Central Bank of Iran would not guarantee mining farms would be taxed like industrial Stone Expo 2019, Mohammadreza Hajipour adding, “Of a sum of 2,000 mines, 1,200 are economic conditions, production has not slowed down but it their value. manufacturing units unless the owners return said on Saturday. active in the country.” has also increased, adding that during the first three months of However, the bill said mining digital cur- the money earned from the export of their “Representatives from India, Turkey, China He put the annual active production capacity this Iranian calendar year (March 21-May 21), the production of rencies would be allowed inside Iran under digital currencies back to Iran’s economic and announced that they will take part of mines in the country at 30 million tons, so steel products, sponge iron and steel ingot grew by 16 percent, certain conditions, including if miners obtain cycle.The bill said Iran’s ministry of industry at the exhibition,” he added. that decorative-stone mines of the country 10 percent and five percent, respectively. the approval of Iran’s industry ministry, do shall be free to devolve its powers to author- In June, Vice Chairman of Iran Stone As- have generated employment opportunities not mine the currencies inside a 30-kilometer ities in special economic zones if foreigners sociation (ISA) Malek Rahmati said that his for 380,000 job-seeking people directly and boundary of all provincial centers except for want to set up mining farms in those areas. country was among the top five producers in the indirectly.In March 2018, Head of Iran’s Mines Putin’s pledge to ditch the capital Tehran and the central city of The new rules come more than a month after world.He said Iran exported about 13 million House Mohammadreza Bahraman announced Isfahan where tougher restrictions apply. reports suggested that mining farms were tons of decorative and facade stones in the last that the country is ranked the second in the the dollar is slowly It said the miners should also observe mushrooming across Iran in places where Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2018- March production of decorative stones in the world. becoming a reality rules set by Iran’s standardization and subsidized electricity was on offer. 20, 2019).Rahmati said on June 18 that Iran “Data and information shows that Iran communications authorities for mining Authorities had hinted in the midst of a exported about $350 million worth of deco- annually produces 12 million tons of decora- machines, adding that certain fees will be crackdown on those farms that they would rative and facade stones last year, putting the tive stones which shows the capabilities in this Russia is acting on a pledge by President Vladimir Putin to shrink applied for the energy used for mining the recognize cryptocurrency mining as it could annual production volume of decorative and sector,” Bahraman said.In 2017, an executive the role of the dollar in international trade as tensions sour be- currencies.As for the energy prices, the bill ease government’s access to sources of foreign facade stones at 13 million tons. of Iran Stones Association said that the country tween Washington and . said authorized mining farms should be currency at a time of U.S. sanctions. Accordingly, Iran is among the world’s holds three billion tons of decorative stones. As per themoscowtimes.com, the shift is part of a strategy to “de-dollarize” the Russian economy and lower its vulnerability to the ongoing threat of U.S. sanctions. But while the central bank was able to quickly dump half of its dollar holdings last year, progress in trade has been slow due to ingrained use of the Damascus Int. Fair to host large number of Iranian exhibitors greenback for many transactions. ECONOMY TEHRAN– Figures show that the 61st es needed by the Syrian market.Meanwhile, Mohammadreza opportunities in Syria held at Tehran Permanent International The share of in Russian exports increased for a fourth deskDamascus International Fair will witness Modoudi, the acting head of the Trade Promotion Organization Fairgrounds on Sunday, the Syrian official said, “Our government straight quarter at the expense of the U.S. currency, according to wide-scale participation of Iranian firms, Mehr news agency re- (TPO), said this year will mark the biggest Iranian participation has prepared a post-war reconstruction plan in which all organ- central bank data. The common currency has almost overtaken ported.Bahman Hosseinzadeh, the managing director of Iran in the fair, with active participation by the state-run and private izations, universities and experts play some parts”.She invited the dollar in trade with the European Union and China, and trade International Exhibitions Company (IIEC), told SANA’s reporter sectors and companies and more cooperation.Set to be held from Iranian traders and businessmen to make investment in Syria in rubles with India has surged. The dollar’s share in import in Tehran that holding the 61st edition of Damascus International August 28 to September 6, Damascus International Fair in Syria and said, “We are going for attracting Iran’s investment for recon- transactions remained unchanged at about a third. Fair shows Syria’s recovery from the crisis, adding that Iran wants is an international exhibition held in Damascus annually since struction and we will provide the condition to make it possible.” “There’s been a strong incentive to change, not just for Russia to increase its investments in Syria. 1954 and is one of the oldest, majestic and largest internation- Addressing the same gathering, head of TPO said that Syr- but for its trading partners too,” said Dmitry Dolgin, an econo- Hosseinzadeh said the fair is an ideal opportunity for improving al exhibitions in the Middle East. The exhibition is attended by ia needs other countries’ cooperation for meeting some daily mist at ING Bank in Moscow. The “European Union is also now trade exchange, and that Iranian companies are eager to participate dozens of countries from different continents and hundreds of needs and also for its reconstruction and such condition offers facing trade pressure from the U.S.” pushing it to try to reduce in it, noting that a special company has been licensed to arrange Syrian, Arab and international companies distributed over 45 an opportunity for long-term presence of Iranian investors in dependence on the dollar, he said. Iranian participation in the fair. different wings. that country.“Given the current positive condition for activity in The came close to replacing the dollar as the currency Also, Mehdi Saeedozakerin, the CEO of Pars Rastak Company Syrian Deputy Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Rania the Syrian market, presence of Iranian traders and investors in of choice for Russian exports to the European Union, with its for organizing fairs and conferences, said that around 100 Iranian al-Ahmad has said that attraction of Iran’s investment and also that country and enjoying the available opportunities is of high share climbing to 42% in the first quarter from 32% a year earlier. companies will be participating in the fair, which represents an importing Iranian products is a priority for Syria in the process significance”, Mohammadreza Modoudi noted, adding, “We will Russia still relies on the dollar for more than half of its $687.5 important opportunity for them to showcase their products in of reconstructing the country. introduce the best projects for investment to the Iranian companies billion in annual trade, though less than 5% of those deals are the fields of infrastructure and technical and engineering servic- Making the remarks in a conference on investment and trade after investigating them”. with the U.S. Part of Russia’s motivation to shift is that companies suffer delays on as much as a third of international payments in dollars because Western companies have to check with the U.S. whether the transactions are allowed, Russian Finance Minister Take long-term view in Singapore’s economic strategies: Chan Chun Sing Anton Siluanov said in December. By Aw Cheng Wei honest with our people on our challenges, weaker external demand and a deepening longer-term success. Mr. Chan also cited the The euro’s share also increased opportunities,” he told grassroots leaders and slump in the global electronics cycle, he said, country’s progressive regulatory environment, The euro’s share also increased in Russia’s $108b in annual Singapore must maintain this approach even as residents gathered at the Tanjong Pagar Com- worsened in part by the uncertainty caused by its connections to markets in Asia and beyond, trade with China, jumping to more than a third of export set- it deals with current challenges, says minister. munity Club.He began his 40-minute speech the U.S.-China trade conflict.The downturn in its skilled workforce and tripartism. tlements in the first quarter from almost nothing at the start of Singapore has to adopt a targeted and long- by explaining the factors contributing to the electronics has also spilled over to sectors such These fundamentals are why Singapore has 2018. This shift, which covers commodity sales and big state term perspective in its economic strategies, uncertain external environment, and outlined as precision engineering and wholesale trade, managed to maintain its competitiveness and contracts, has been accelerated by the development of payment even as it tackles short-term headwinds posed the strategies Singapore is taking to stay ahead said Mr. Chan, who also spoke in Malay and attract high-quality investments from compa- infrastructure at the central bank and other lenders, according to by the challenging global environment, said in such a climate. Mandarin.“We have seen these cycles before, nies such as ExxonMobil and Linde, he added. Sofya Donets, an economist at Renaissance Capital in Moscow. Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing. Singapore’s economy growth and we should not panic. There are still bright He also said Singapore has to diversify Trade in yuan is difficult because of capital restrictions that The government is monitoring develop- Advance estimates have shown that Sin- sparks within our economy in the infocomm and deepen its access to markets, work with limit foreigners’ access to Chinese assets, Dmitry Timofeev, who ments closely as Singapore’s economic growth gapore’s economy grew by 0.1 percent in the industries, in the professional industries and like-minded countries to explore new areas heads the Finance Ministry’s sanctions department, told the RBC slows, and stands ready to support Singapore- second quarter of this year, the lowest in a so forth,” he added. of cooperation, and press on with efforts to newspaper.The “yuan isn’t completely convertible, which means ans - particularly the most vulnerable - should decade.Mr. Chan also flagged growing downside But concurrent structural changes are com- renew the domestic economy. it can’t play a significant role in world trade,” Timofeev said. conditions worsen, he said Sunday. risks arising from the latest round of tariffs by plicating matters, he said, pointing to longer- Rounding up, Mr. Chan expressed confi- The most dramatic shift is visible in Russia’s $11b in trade with But one has to first be clear about the cause the United States on China, the protests in term shifts in supply chains and productions dence that Singapore will be able to weather India. The ruble accounted for three quarters of total settlement of the “illness” to deliver the right medicine, he Hong Kong, as well as Japan and South Korea patterns, a pull-back from globalization and the uncertainties and achieve even more, if in exports between the two emerging markets after they agreed added, as he set out why the current downturn expelling each other from their trade white lists. an erosion of the multilateral trading system. Singaporeans can continue to work together on a new payment method through their national currencies for is unlike past financial crises.Speaking at a Na- He noted that during the Asian financial crisis It will take a much longer time for the global and build on the country’s core strengths.“So multi-billion-dollar defense deals. tional Day dinner, Mr. Chan also made the point in 1997 and the global financial crisis between economy to settle into a new equilibrium, he said. long as we work together, one united people The “trend is likely to continue because the infrastructure for that a key factor behind Singapore’s success is 2007 and 2008, Singapore’s economy experi- Pro-business environment with a cohesive society and a coherent govern- transactions in alternative currencies is improving,” Renais- that the country has constructive politics and enced sharp but short downturns triggered by Singapore, he added, has to build on its ment, we will continue to achieve even greater sance Capital’s Donets said. “Russia won’t be able to give up a government with coherent policies. a sudden loss of confidence in global financial fundamentals like its stable and pro-business heights for ourselves and our country,” he said. using the dollar completely though, especially for trade of oil.” “We have always been transparent and markets.The current downturn is driven by environment, to create the conditions for its (Source: elevenmyanmar.com) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 ENERGY 5 NIOC to begin new exploration Energy networks back operations in northeastern Iran to normal operation in ENERGY TEHRAN – The director The agreements include, a project for earthquake-hit region deskof National Iranian Oil quantitative interpretation (QI) of Abadan Company (NIOC)’s Exploration Department plain’s seismic cube, research studies on said plans are underway for beginning new ’s shale oil resources and ENERGYTEHRAN – Head of Iranian Energy Ministry’s exploration operations in northeast of the geochemical study of some hydrocarbon deskCrisis Management Office, Meisam Jafarzadeh, country, Shana reported on Monday. reservoirs in southern Iran as well as a said water and electricity networks are back in normal operation “Given the importance of energy sup- project for producing 10,000 barrels of a after an earthquake measuring 5.2 on Richter scale shook Choram ply in the region, exploration activities in High Pressure, High Temperature (HPHT) County in southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad the area are among NIOC’s top priorities,” . Province on Monday. Seyed Saleh Hendi said. Considering the challenges of exploring “The urban and rural water supply network is unharmed and The official noted that although explo- hydrocarbon resources in specific regions in stable after the earthquake,” IRNA quoted Jafarzadeh as saying. ration activities are costly and with more the country, NIOC’s Exploration Directorate “In the electricity network, however there were sporadic blackouts risks in this area but considering the region’s has identified various research projects and in the early hours, which is now completely resolved,” he added. great distance from the country’s energy created a roadmap based on the country’s The quake hit the area on 00:21 a.m. local time on Monday. resources in the center or south, NIOC has sixth five-year national development plan It was 10 kilometers beneath the earth’s surface. Rescue workers put it on the agenda to start such operations. (2016-2021) and in line with its organiza- were soon dispatched to the affected area. “We expect drilling equipment to start tional strategies. The closest cities to the earthquake were Choram, Doganbadan operation in the next Iranian calendar year Since the reimposition of U.S. sanctions, and Dehdasht in Kohgiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad Province. (March 2020-March 2021),” he said. Iran has been encouraging domestic com- Hendi further mentioned some unsuc- panies’ presence in its oil and gas projects, cessful drilling operations done in the re- mentioned new research agreements signed Last week, (NIOC)’s Exploration Di- both in exploration and in development gion, saying that “This time we will use between NIOC’s Exploration Directorate rectorate signed four agreements with sectors. cuts all new technologies and by more intensive and the country’s knowledge-based com- Iranian universities and knowledge-based In exploration sector, as there are many oil pricing for September studies we will take all the steps with more panies and universities and noted that such companies for research in various fields of blocks waiting for exploration, NIOC is precision.” agreements will lead to new technologies geophysics, geochemistry, unconventional seriously following up the plans to lay the sales to Asia Elsewhere in his remarks the official and knowledge in this industry. hydrocarbon resources and drilling. ground for the private sector’s contribution. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, lowered pricing for September sales of all crudes to Asia while raising prices to buyers Oil prices fall as trade war concerns hit demand outlook in northwest Europe and the Mediterranean region. As per Bloomberg, state-owned Saudi Aramco cut pricing for its Oil prices fell on Monday on renewed global economic growth while gold prices climbed as investors sought safe-haven assets. flagship Arab Light crude to buyers in Asia by 75 cents, to a $1.70 a concerns after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to Trump last week said he would impose a 10% tariff on $300 barrel premium over the Oman-Dubai Middle Eastern , escalate a trade war with China with more tariffs, which could billion of Chinese imports starting on Sept. 1 and said he could the company said on Sunday in an emailed statement. Traders limit fuel demand in the world’s two biggest crude consumers. raise duties further if China’s President Xi Jinping failed to and refiners that Bloomberg surveyed earlier had anticipated a futures LCOc1 were down 71 cents, or 1.15%, move more quickly towards a trade deal. premium of $1.80 a barrel to the benchmark. to $61.18 per barrel by 0840 GMT. The announcement extends U.S. tariffs to nearly all imported Saudi Arabia agreed in July to curb production for nine additional U.S. (WTI) crude futures CLc1 Chinese products. China on Friday vowed to fight back against months alongside its OPEC+ partners. Even so, the kingdom has were also down 71 cents, or 1.28%, to $54.95 a barrel. Trump’s decision, a move that ended a month-long trade truce. been able to export more to China than ever before, as increasing “One man, one tweet. That’s all it took for oil prices to suffer On Monday, China let the yuan tumble beyond the key volumes to Asia have been offset by declining sales to the U.S., their steepest daily decline in several years,” PVM Oil Associates 7-per-dollar level for the first time in more than a decade, in a where buyers are awash with domestic supplies. analyst Stephen Brennock said of Trump. sign Beijing may tolerate further currency weakness because Pricing for other grades to Asia, Aramco’s biggest regional Both crude benchmarks fell last week, with Brent down 2.5% of the trade dispute. market, declined to premiums ranging from $3.05 a barrel for and U.S. crude falling 1% after plummeting by more than 7% A lower yuan would raise the cost of dollar-denominated its Super Light grade to 65 cents for Heavy crude. on Thursday after Trump’s tweet to the lowest level in about oil imports in China, the world’s biggest crude oil importer. Aramco kept prices for all grades to U.S. buyers unchanged seven weeks. Signs of rising oil exports from the United States also pres- relative to the Argus Sour Crude Index, leaving Light at a premium The “scene is set for a ramped trade war between both sides. sured prices on Monday. U.S. shipments surged by 260,000 of $2.85 a barrel.For sales to northwestern Europe, the company The prospect of an escalating U.S.-China trade war will do no barrels per day (bpd) in June to a monthly record of 3.16 million fell for a fifth week in a row as most independent producers cut raised pricing for Light crude by $2.65 to a discount of 5 cents favors for the shaky global economic outlook.” bpd, U.S. Census Bureau data showed on Friday. spending even though majors were still pushing ahead with a barrel against benchmark Brent.Aramco increased prices for Asian equity markets dropped to a six-month low on Monday The U.S. weekly oil rig count, an indicator of future production, investments in new drilling. all grades to Mediterranean buyers, raising Light by $2.70 to a premium of 40 cents over the benchmark. Oil price correction triggers shale meltdown By Nick Cunningham incremental production at the expense of a contrarian opportunity right now,” Matt LNG carrier market is capital discipline,” Concho’s CEO Tim Leach Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, It was a rough week for the U.S. shale industry. told analysts on an earnings call. He said told CNBC. “This group has really been dead driven by improvement in A series of earnings reports came out in the company’s aiming for a “free cash flow money most of this year.” design of carriers recent days, and while some drillers beat inflection in 2020.”The company reported Investors are clearly souring on the sector. expectations, there were some huge misses a net loss of $792 million for the first six As Bloomberg notes, speculative positioning as well. months of 2019. As Liam Denning put it in from traders fell to the lowest level since Due to increasing population and improved standard of living, , for instance, its Bloomberg Opinion: “It’s sobering to think March 2013, a sign of “investor apathy” to- demand for energy is growing globally. Trading of natural gas is share price tumble 22 percent when it dis- that Concho, valued at more than $23 bil- wards crude oil and energy stocks. expected to grow at speeding rates. closed several problems at once. Profits fell lion in the spring of 2018 and having since While shale E&Ps languish, the oil majors Gas reserves are unevenly distributed across the globe. On the by 25 percent despite production increases. absorbed the $7.6 billion purchase of RSP are not slowing down. Exxon said that its oil other hand demand is expanding in every corner of the globe Concho conceded that it would slash spending Permian Inc., now sports a market cap of production rose by 7 percent, driven by the which makes transportation of natural gas a serious prerequisite. and slow the pace of drilling in the second less than $16 billion.” Permian. In fact, its production from the According to themarketplan.com, with the cryogenic liquefactions half of the year. The reason these results are important is The company announced that it would cut Permian rose 90 percent in the second quarter LNG is created which reduces the volume of gas as compared to It also said that one of its projects where because they may not be one-off problems its workforce by a third. from a year earlier. Earnings dropped by 21 its original volume, making it viable to transport in a specialized it tried to densely pack wells together, which for individual companies, but are more like- According to the Wall Street Journal and percent, however, and the company cited LNG carrier. The most opportune way to carry natural gas is a it called “Dominator,” the results were not as ly indicative of the problems plaguing the Wood Mackenzie, a basket of 7 shale drillers lower prices and poor downstream margins. pipeline which is subdivided into offshore and onshore pipelines good as they had hoped. The project had 23 whole sector. posted a combined $1.58 billion in negative But the majors aggressive bet on U.S. shale where onshore is for medium to short distance and offshore for wells, but production disappointed. The “30 “There is little doubt this is a big event cash flow in the first quarter, four times worse is a sign of the times. Small and medium long distance. Other means of carrying LNG is through vessels. and 60 day production rates were consistent for the sector and a brake of this nature will than the same period a year earlier. drillers are getting hammered and seeing their The oldest LNG carrying technology Moss-Rosenberg con- with our other projects in that area, but the create lasting impact,” Evercore analyst Ste- New tariffs on China access to capital close off, which is forcing tainment system (commonly known as Moss) is still in use for performance has declined,” Leach said. So, phen Richardson wrote in a note, referring While the results, in many cases, were budget cutbacks and otherwise leading to new vessel . the company will abandon the densely packed to Concho’s poor results. bad, the declines in share prices were hugely steep selloffs in their share prices. The second type of large-scale LNG carrying technology is well strategy and move forward with wider “How companies still, after all these years amplified by the announcement of new tar- The majors, on the other hand, are only in the membrane technology. spacing.In the second quarter the company we have wailed and gnashed our teeth, manage iffs on China, which caused a broad selloff the early stages of a multi-year bet on shale. The segmentation of LNG carrier market is on the basis of had 26 rigs in operation, but that has since to over-promise and under-deliver, remains not just in the energy sector, but for equities They can stomach losses on individual shale the demand and supply of LNG. The main exporters of LNG are fallen to 18. At the start of the year, the com- an infuriating mystery,” Paul Sankey wrote of all types. Here is a sampling of how the projects for years, scaling up while they earn Africa, , Malaysia and Australia. The main importers are pany had 33 active rigs. in a note for Mizuho Securities USA LLC. share prices of some oil companies fared on profits elsewhere. Japan, China and South Korea. Adjusting our drilling Whiting had an even worse Thursday:But the poor quarterly performanc- So, despite the widespread financial losses In North America, United States is expected to export shale “We made the decision to adjust our drill- week. Its stock melted down on Thursday, es were true before President Trump took for the shale sector, it’s not clear that pro- gas owing to huge domestic production. In spite of Japan being ing and completion schedule in the second falling by 38 percent after reporting a surprise to twitter. Even with oil down and stocks duction is set to grind to a halt. concerned over environmental issues, pattern of increment in half of the year to slow down and not chase quarterly loss that badly missed estimates. perhaps looking cheap, “it’s hard to call it (Source: oilprice.com) consumption of LNG in power sector can be seen in recent years. Australia, the United States, and Russia are key countries that will lead world LNG trade growth over the next few years. China and India are likely to come forward as key sources of prospects Taylor presses nuclear button, as energy wars enter dangerous new phase for natural gas consumption growth and hence affect demand for LNG carriers. By Giles Parkinson The common enemy of these people is wind and solar, and Increasing natural gas demand the shift from a centralized system based around “baseload” fossil Increasing natural gas demand globally as various gas reserves Australia’s energy minister Angus Taylor has campaigned against fuel generators to a renewable system that is largely decentralized are still unexplored. Natural gas is considered to be fuel of the 21st renewables since before he entered parliament in 2013, appearing (and democratized), and based around renewables, storage and century; improvement in design of carriers is the key driver in the LNG at anti-wind events organized by an anonymous and unpleasant demand management. carrier market. Restraints of LNG carrier market are infrastructure website, and vowing on many occasions to scrap the renewable At the forefront of regions issues and Supplies from North America and Russia. energy target. Australia is one of those regions – like Germany and Cali- Due to geopolitical issues LNG supplies to Asia Pacific are endan- He has been powerless to stop the build out of wind and so- fornia – that is at the forefront of this transition, and the fossil gered as Russia and North America are the key suppliers. lar, although he has complained about it often enough. But now fuel industry view is that it cannot be allowed to succeed. China is capable enough to diversify its natural gas supply from Taylor and the Coalition government have taken their war against So it is no coincidence that the biggest industry supporter of other countries and not become excessively dependent on countries wind and solar to its next inevitable phase: They’ve pressed the nuclear is the coal lobby itself, in the guise of the Minerals Council that are politically sensitive. vary radically between nuclear button. of Australia, which is also pushing for new coal generators and budding buyers and sellers of LNG. Taylor revealed late Friday that he had asked the Environment urging the government to do as little as possible on climate. LNG Carrier Demand is subjected to Natural gas quantity and and Energy Standing Committee to launch a new inquiry into The MCA is cosy with the Coalition – its former CEO and prices transported by pipelines. nuclear energy, including its costs and issues of waste etc. They’ve deputy CEOs are now key advisors in Prime Minister Scott Value of LNG carrier market is expected to increase exponentially got four months to produce a report. Morrison’s office, and its chair is the former Coalition minister in coming years resulting in an immense opportunity. Taylor insists that there is no intention to repeal the laws that Helen Coonan. LNG carrier market is expected to experience the growth in outlaw nuclear energy in Australia. But that beggars the question. Its current CEO, Tania Contable, was appointed by the coming years reaching record creation of vessel output and capital Why have the inquiry in the first place? Coalition government to the board of the ABC, over-riding expenditure. With the expansion of both LNG export and import The answer is simple. As Taylor revealed in an interview on independent recommendations. infrastructure and very strong supply-demand dynamics of natural ABC’s AM program, he simply doesn’t accept that renewables announced since the shock re-election of the coalition One of the noisiest opponents of renewable energy technologies gas market, more LNG carriers are required. can power the electricity grid. government in May, and comes after a major push by the far right is Trevor St Baker, pushing for new coal generators and whose Natural gas discoveries in North America are leading to LNG export The coal industry ideologues of this conservative government to reconsider the ban Vales Point coal generator in NSW – currently in the queue terminal expansion on the continent. In addition to such terminals A view that is loudly shared by many of his Coalition colleagues, on nuclear. to get federal government funding to remain open beyond its planned in Australia, will create more supply routes that need to be the Murdoch media, and of course the coal industry. And as we have noted before, the same Coalition MPs that schedule closure date – is also of a company SMR serviced by LNG vessels. Underpinning all this investment in LNG The timing of the announcement is interesting. It comes just have been pushing for nuclear are the very same Coalition MPs Nuclear that looking at new “modular” nuclear technologies carriers is the significant arbitrage opportunity that exists between a couple of days after the end of the parliamentary sitting week pushing for new coal generation, and the very same Coalition that Taylor suggests could be a focus of this inquiry.Like St supply and demand markets. As the LNG spot market expands, a (they won’t be back again until September) and just as the coun- MPs who reject the science of climate change, or make a mockery Baker, the likes of Constable argue that only nuclear is able to larger and more flexible LNG carrier fleet will be required. try’s far-right conservatives got ready to gather at the Australian of the urgings of young people that they should take it seriously. deliver 24/7 emissions free power. There is also a justifiable interest in smaller LNG carriers as the Conservative Political Action Conference. This is no co-incidence. This is not about carbon emissions, They insist it is “cheap”, but that is nonsense. economics of transporting LNG to isolated areas for power creation Tellingly, this is the first policy or initiative that Taylor has and it is certainly not about cheap energy. (Source: reneweconomy.com.au) or for use as a transportation fuel improves. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 6 INTERNATIONAL AUGUST 6, 2019

World More Vulnerable to Zarif Sanctioned after turning U.S.-Russia Nuclear War after INF Death: UK Pundit down Trump’s invitation: Report TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A political analyst based in London deplored Washington’s explanation for leaving the Intermedi- IFP–U.S. President Donald Trump’s deci- by 2023—potentially this year. The protocol, ate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Moscow as “a false- sion to blacklist Iranian Foreign Minister which has already been signed and ratified hood” and said the death of the treaty has made the world “more Mohammad Javad Zarif has come after the by a hundred and forty-six nations, allows vulnerable” to a nuclear war between U.S. and Russia. latter rejected the former’s invitation for a more intrusive international inspections—on “With the death of the INF Treaty, the world has become all meeting in the Oval Office in Washington both declared and undeclared nuclear sites the more vulnerable to a nuclear exchange between America and DC, a media report says. in member states—in perpetuity. Russia,” Marcus Papadopoulos said in an interview with Tasnim. Zarif has received an unexpected invi- In exchange, Zarif suggested, Trump tation to meet President Donald Trump in could go to Congress to lift sanctions on the Oval Office last month during his visit to Iran, as originally provided under the 2015 New York, a report by the New Yorker said. nuclear deal but not ratified in legislation. The American magazine has quoted US and Both sides would then feel more secure in Iranian sources and a well-informed diplomat the commitments sought in the original deal. as saying that the diplomatic overture was Paul proposed that the Iranian diplomat made by Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky lay out the same ideas to Trump in person. Republican, during a meeting with Zarif in The President, Paul said, had authorized New York on July 15th. him to extend an invitation to meet in the With President Trump’s blessing, Paul Oval Office as early as that week, the US, had been working on the idea for several Iranian, and diplomatic sources told New weeks, in consultation with the White House Yorker. and the State Department, the report said. On Wednesday, a senior Administration An intermediary had reached out to the official told reporters, in a teleconference Iranians on Paul’s behalf three weeks before briefing, “President Trump has been very Zarif was due in New York for meetings at open that he is ready to speak to the senior the United Nations. leadership in Tehran and that he has certainly On July 14th, the day before leaving for not prevented any of our friends or allies New York, Paul had a discussion about Iran from communicating with them as well.” with the President, while playing a round at “The President has placed no restrictions the Trump golf course in Sterling, Virginia. on elected officials having conversations On July 15th, Paul and his senior adviser, with foreign counterparts,” the official said. Doug Stafford, met Zarif at the elegant resi- the Persian Gulf, according to the sources. Iran’s Leader, originally in 2003 and again During its first two years, the Trump dence of Iran’s UN ambassador, on Fifth Ave- Paul’s mission was to break through the in 2010, that forbids the production or use Administration reached out to Iran about nue, a block from the Metropolitan Museum. messy layers of conflict and launch a direct of nuclear weapons. possible meetings at least eight times, in- In his decades as a diplomat, Zarif, who diplomatic channel, at the highest level. The “We consider the use of such weapons cluding twice when Trump and the Iranian studied under Condoleezza Rice’s PhD ad- overture was a miniature version of Trump’s as haraam [forbidden] and believe that it President, Hassan Rouhani, were both at viser, at the University of , has built tactic in circumventing traditional diplomacy is everyone’s duty to make efforts to secure the UN General Assembly, European and “And it is the U.S.’ insatiable lust for ever greater influence and a modest rolodex with the private numbers by dealing directly with the North Korean humanity against this great disaster,” Aya- Iranian diplomats told the New Yorker. power on the international stage that is responsible for having now of members of the House and Senate, the leadership. tollah Ali Khamenei said, in 2010. Zarif told Paul that the decision to meet increased the chances of a global thermonuclear war,” he added. report claimed. During an hour-long conversation, Zarif But, if Trump wanted more, he would Trump in the Oval Office was not his to Papadopoulos is a political expert and the publisher and editor of “I always see people from Congress,” Zarif offered Paul ideas about how to end the nu- also have to offer more, Zarif suggested. make; he would have to consult with Tehran. Politics First, a non-partisan publication for the UK Parliament. He told the New Yorker and a small group of clear impasse and address Trump’s concerns. Another possibility was moving forward He expressed concern that any meeting earned his MA in Modern History and his Ph.D. in Russian history journalists later that week, without naming He later outlined some of them to a group one of the later steps of the nuclear deal might end up as little more than a photo op, from Royal Holloway, University of London. names. But this was his first meeting with of journalists in the US and subsequently in brokered between Iran and the world’s six without substance, the sources told the New His comments and interviews have appeared in various news outlets, Paul, who is on the Senate Foreign Relations more detail to New Yorker. major powers in 2015—the accord that Trump Yorker.After his meeting with Paul, Zarif including RT, Al Jazeera, Rossiya 24, TASS and RIA Novosti. Committee. “As a diplomat, I have to always think about abandoned in May, 2018. relayed the overture to Iran’s leaders. They The following is the full text of the interview: The two men initially talked about alternatives,” he told New Yorker. Among Zarif said that Iran could bring forward did not approve a meeting—at this time. The US on Friday formally withdrew from the Intermedi- long-standing issues, notably Tehran’s nu- them was the idea that the Iranian Parlia- ratification of the so-called Additional Proto- Rouhani is due to attend the UN General ate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia. Washington clear program, and also recent flare-ups in ment could codify, in law, a fatwa issued by col, which is currently due to be implemented Assembly next month. said last year it would withdraw from the INF, accusing Russia of failing to comply with it. Moscow denies it has violated the treaty and says the Trump administration is pulling out because it wants to pursue a new arms race. Death of a nuclear arms treaty UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed con- TEHRAN (FNA)–It’s a grim tale of all-out regret, which a key element of the arms control framework limiting nuclear cerns over the expiration of the INF, saying, “The world will lose echoes strangely and deeply in the Trump era. On August weapons and arms racing. Often forward deployed and inter- an invaluable brake on nuclear war”. “This will likely heighten, 2, more than 31 years of history came to a swift end when mingled with other forces, the missiles the treaty prohibits not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles,” he said. What the United States officially withdrew from the Intermediate are among the weapons most likely to lead to miscalculation is your assessment of the developments? What do you think Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. or misadventure in a crisis. This is no longer simply being about the US claims? Signed in 1987, the INF Treaty prohibited the US and predicted. After US withdrawal, we are distinctly living it. A: The American Government’s explanation for withdrawing itself Russia from fielding ground-launched cruise missiles that The treaty highlights the ethical imperative to achieve a from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty is a falsehood. could fly between 310 and 3,400 miles. The agreement was nuclear weapons free world as well. It is designed to stimulate, Because it was during the tenure of George W. Bush that the INF supposed to improve bilateral relations toward the end of the support, and advance humanity’s quest for the security of a Treaty was severely weakened and, in effect, scuttled by the US. Cold War too. However, the two nations still built up cruise nuclear free world. With tensions growing among the two First, Washington withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, missiles and went their separate ways. Quite the consequence. nuclear-armed countries in potential flashpoints like Ukraine, with Russia, in 2002. This is not about who violated the landmark arms control it is long past time for the nuclear-armed states to negotiate And second, the American withdrawal from the ABM Treaty treaty’s terms or who didn’t come back into compliance, hence with each other. The best course would be to use the dispute paved the way for the Americans to proceed in the construction of putting the last nails in the coffin of INF Treaty. This is about over the INF Treaty as a moment to renew the negotiating a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, specifically in a hellish fight down the line, and another step backwards frameworks and institutions and avoid catastrophe. and in , as part of the US’ Missile Defense Agency, and for nuclear bombs going off in a new arms race, which could The problem is that Trump has expressed general hostility which is now in operation. doom humanity on a planetary scale. toward any international obligation that might limit US use Those two decisions by America delivered a fatal blow to the Thanks to the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw, of force or military capabilities. He sees negotiations as a INF Treaty. So the question is why did the Americans kill the there are now no on-site inspections: baseline, elimination, zero-sum game to be won or lost. He doesn’t seem capable of INF Treaty, which had constituted a cornerstone in arms control close-out, short notice, and perimeter portal monitoring. imagining international agreements that benefit all parties for 32 years? Well, the reason is that Washington, conscious Under such a horrifying scenario, the world community has and make the world a safer place. and anxious in the 1990s that Russia could one day resurrect a herculean task to make sure the U.S. and Russia still fulfill Now, to put this in the context of the moment: The United its superpower status, decided to press ahead with creating and their nuclear disarmament duties. If only. Nations and the global anti-nuclear movement must act installing a missile defense shield on the western borders of the Let’s get this straight: Arms control reduces the risk of and leave space for new diplomacy. There is a legitimate Russian Federation, in a bid to neutralize the Russian strategic nuclear war by limiting dangerous deployments and by question as to whether it is legal under international law nuclear deterrent and thereby derail any attempt by the Kremlin creating channels of communication and understanding. for Washington to withdraw from the UN-ratified treaty. environmental remediation, and acknowledge the dispro- to restore its Soviet-era influence and power. President Donald Trump and his National Security Advisor Despite Trump’s dangerous move, the US and Russia can portionate impact these weapons could have on humanity. However, what prevented the Americans from carrying out John Bolton appear to have forgotten, or never learned, still renegotiate agreements like the INF Treaty to address At their best, nuclear weapons don’t provide security. their objective was the INF Treaty hence this treaty had to be this Cold War era lesson. Instead, they are both fixated on the riskiest elements of their nuclear confrontation. The It is in the interests of all nuclear-armed states to reduce torpedoed by the US, which was achieved by Washington’s with- exploiting not just fears and phantasms from abroad but time to start building a new climate for negotiations is now. and eliminate the perceived value of their nuclear weapons, drawal from the ABM Treaty and the American construction of fears and phantasms about “the other” at home. The US and Russia must fulfil their disarmament duties decrease economic incentives for nuclear-weapon produc- a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. At some deep level, the INF Treaty further prohibited by either re-joining the INF Treaty and addressing its lim- tion, and reject nuclear weapons in their collective security The US president has said he wants a new nuclear pact to the two countries from deploying both nuclear and conven- itations of verification and other technical issues, or move doctrines. be signed by both Russia and China. tional missiles. The main reason cited for US withdrawal forward in the process of negotiating a new nuclear weapons The United Nations and the global anti-nuclear movement Do you think that countries like China would join the nuclear is that Russia tested and deployed ground-launched cruise convention. Withdrawal, sitting on their hands, or offering should also call on NATO member states to discuss chang- treaty that Trump is seeking to reach? missiles the treaty prohibits. Russia denies that the missiles no better way forward is inadequate and unacceptable. ing their doctrine away from reliance on nuclear weapons A: Donald Trump’s pledge is merely an attempt to deflect violated the treaty and has made its own accusations, fore- As long as Washington, which has put aside 1 trillion US and toward implementing their repeated commitments to attention away from the sheer magnitude of America’s decision most that US ballistic missile defense launchers installed dollars to modernize and expand its nuclear-weapon facilities nuclear disarmament. The existing security agreements for to withdraw from, and thereby kill, the INF Treaty. in Eastern Europe could be used to house treaty-prohibited and missile silos, refuses to adopt the treaty, there is no other NATO and other US allies do not prevent these states from As a result of the death of the INF Treaty, and how America cruise missiles. way to outlaw all nuclear weapon-related activities, set out joining the nuclear ban. The obstacles are not legal, they has installed a missile defense system in Eastern Europe and The treaty is still important for global stability. It remains measures for disarmament, address victim assistance and are consciously and programmatically political. also in the Far East, in South Korea, which is not only aimed at, again, neutralizing the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent but also China’s nuclear arsenal, neither Moscow nor Beijing will be hoodwinked by Trump’s insincere offer of concluding a new Paul Pillar: UAE recognized failure of military intervention in Yemen nuclear pact with them. For the Russian Federation, which is the predominant nuclear TEHRAN (FNA)–Paul R. Pillar, a retired was coming under increasing criticism in the never was identified with leaders of the UAE. power in the world, the quest will be to ensure that the American CIA officer, says the UAE has come to rec- United States. Insofar as Iran, as a backer Does the UAE retreat from Yemen missile defense system in Poland and in Romania, which could ognize that its military cooperation with the of the Houthis, is as another factor in the mean neglecting Saudi Arabia and its agenda? also be made into an offensive system, can never upset the existing Saudis in war on Yemen has failed to make war, the UAE move probably also reflects a A: There will still be an alliance between nuclear parity between itself and America because, otherwise, any achievement. judgment that constantly increasing tension Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Mohammed bin Russia would be at the mercy of a U.S. which is determined to Speaking in an exclusive interview with with Iran is in no one’s interests. Salman has close relations with UAE leader subjugate the Russian lands. FNA, Pillar, who is now a nonresident senior Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Mohammed bin Zayed. Expect to see some With the expiration of the treaty, do you not think that fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Emirates have started developing differences continuing differences in policy emphasis, the world order would be disrupted? In that case, who would Security Studies, said, “There was no sign that over Yemen. What do you think is their most however, including in dealings with Iran. be to blame? the Houthis were being militarily defeated.” important difference? Saudi Arabia will be more of an anti-Iranian A: With the death of the INF Treaty, the world has become Below is the full text of the interview: A: There are several differences in how hardliner than the UAE. all the more vulnerable to a nuclear exchange between America Why has the UAE decided to retreat the two allies were conducting the war and Why does Saudi Arabia insist on con- and Russia. from Yemen? Does this withdrawal mean relating to factions inside Yemen. The Sau- tinuing the war on Yemen despite its failure The potential for a nuclear arms race is, consequently, high, the Emirates defeat and failure? dis were operating mostly in the air, while in this war of attrition? though one could argue that such a race is already underway A: Quite simply, the UAE recognized that the Emiratis had more of a presence on the A: Mohammed bin Salman cannot just between Washington and Moscow, although nowhere near to the the military intervention in Yemen was not ground. The UAE has been more closely allied pull out of Yemen as the UAE is doing without scale of the arms race as seen during the Cold War. accomplishing anything. There was no sign with Southern secessionist elements than suffering a considerable loss of face, due to And it is the US’ insatiable lust for ever greater influence and that the Houthis were being militarily defeated. the Saudis ever were. But probably the most how much he is personally identified with the power on the international stage that is responsible for having The wars costs were adding up without com- important difference is that the war is closely war. He will look more than before, however, now increased the chances of a global thermonuclear war. parable results. The Emiratis also no doubt identified with Saudi leader Mohammed bin for some sort of negotiated settlement that took notice of how the Saudi-led war in Yemen Salman as his personal project, in a way that it would allow Saudi Arabia to . I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 ANALYSIS & INTERVIEW 7

Failure in Yemen to be ‘death sentence’ Trump, Zarif and of Saudi monarchy: Prof. Cavell us Iranians 1 Mr. President, Iran has never initiated any war. Iran have utilized the Saudi monarchy as a cash 1 A: Currently, there are 193-mem- has never seized others’ resources, belongings, means, lives, machine to bail out their economies from ber states of the United Nations, an In- and existence to gain wealth and benefit of its own. Iran, only time to time, to launder their ill-gotten ternational Governmental Organization and of course, vigorously has and will defend its belonging, gains, and to police the Middle East to (IGO) set up in 1945 to prevent another resources, life, and identity. Iran has done that throughout its serve western hegemonic interests. With world war from killing millions of people four thousand years of history and will do it again if it has to. thousands dead, Yemen’s infrastructure as WWII did. While these 193 members Rais Ali and his team did it in 1915. People in my generation destroyed, financial costs to the Saudis now are technically sovereign states, in truth, did it in 1980-88. When the whole world stood behind Sadam well over $100 billion, with its internation- save for a handful of nations, most mem- Husain and helped him throughout the eight years of war, al reputation in tatters even amongst its bers are subservient to other, larger, more Iranians stood firmly and defended their home. powerful states. The UN is a three-tiered allies, with MbS’s leadership credibility organization with the 15-member Security a running joke, with the Yemeni people Council able to set policy for the entire stronger and more united than ever, Sau- organization with the five permanent mem- di Arabia is bogged down in a quagmire bers of this Council—the United States, which it will be difficult to extricate itself China, Russian Federation, France, and from but instead will eventually call into the United Kingdom—having a veto on all question the continued existence of the procedural issues, with ten non-permanent Kingdom itself. members who serve on the Council for two- Reports indicate that the UAE is plan- year terms (five elected each year), with ning to withdraw forces from Yemen in these ten non-permanent members elected several stages. Do you think this withdrawal by the third-tiered General Assembly of is a real one or just a tactical strategy? Why nations that comprise the majority of the has the UAE made this decision, and what UN. Given this organizational structure, the UN from stopping this war. However, manifesto from the nineteenth century are the consequences of such a move on and given the current differences between what does matter to the US president is which challenges the basis of all Abrahamic the future of Yemen? whether and how this conflict being waged religions that call on us all to serve each A: The United Arab Emirates is very the five permanent members and their veto Under the world’s watch, Sadam Husain dropped bombs by its two close allies in the Middle East, the other, to lift up the weak, the impoverished, worried that its participation in the Saudi power, it has been near impossible for this and used chemical weapons on civilians. In the end, he was not Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United the neglected and instead argues for the invasion of Yemen will open itself up as international body to agree on stopping able to seize even an inch of our homeland. Iranians became Arab Emirates, and which is urged on and rights of the strong, the mighty, the wealthy, a target of Yemeni attacks, just as Saudi the reckless and deadly Saudi-UAE war one body and stood and defended their home and their families. assisted by Israel, the US’s closest ally in the the powerful. Spurred on by the cultural Arabia is now being regularly attacked by on the people of Yemen. To this day, Iranian, despite their differences, they are all Middle East, can benefit the United States degeneration of President Trump, what Yemeni fighters, Yemeni missiles, and The truth-seeking citizen will thus in- proud of the eight years defending their home. Not sure if you economy. President Trump has concluded now reigns as morality for US leaders is Yemeni drones. But, as a junior part- quire why these five permanent members agree, but losing so many precious lives is a significant loss that the US will benefit if it is able to sell bullying, arrogance, bragging, excessive ner in the Saudi-led axis war against the cannot agree to stop this devastating war and the nation still mournes for the precious lives lost during as many weapons and military equipment pride, and denigration of all those who are Yemeni people, it is, in reducing its direct on the people of Yemen, and the answer those eight years. However, we stood firm in defending our as possible to these warring parties and not white, wealthy, male, and powerful. troop involvement in the war, following lies in the disparate economic interests of home and family. The country is proud and satisfied with the thus profit US military industries, which, Given this diametrically opposed sys- orders from the imperial directors of this the various states. Specifically, the western result, Iran is still Iran without losing an inch of its terrain. in turn, will fatten the campaign coffers tem of values, it is impossible to for the organized carnage situated in Washing- states, led by the United States, perceive Mr. President, that is the difference in Iran’s view of loss of President Trump and his Republican interested states to mutually recognize ton and London who are orchestrating that their national security interests, re- and win in a war. In our lexicon, the one who starts a war is Party members of Congress. what the problem is, much less how to the unfolding of this imperial drama. quire that they have secure and reliable the only loser. The one who plans to steal happiness, life, and In March of 2018, Trump effusively resolve the problem. Thus, it appears, at present, to be sole- access to energy resources to fuel their the being of others’ is the real loser. welcomed the heir-apparent to the Saudi What were the main aims of Saudi ly a tactical disengagement from direct industries, and they believe that by po- War is not our business, but negotiation and diplomacy throne and the architect of the Saudi-UAE- Arabia in the Yemen war? And are these fighting in Yemen. litically controlling the energy resources are. War is not our purpose. Peace is our mission. Peace is led war on Yemen, Mohammed bin Salman aims achieved up to now? There are also other reports outlining of Iraq and Iran (the two nations of the our philosophy in life, and you are right, diplomacy is our art. (MbS), on his first visit to the White House A:The Yemeni people rose up in January that Saudi Arabia may have plans to wrap Middle East with the largest stores of such Iran has proved its mastery in the art of diplomacy. and promised to push through Congress of 2015 after decades of existing under up the Yemen war by the end of 2019. Since reserves) will satisfy their national security Diplomacy and winning, forbearance and contentment arms deals worth billions of dollars in in- foreign rulers installed by their neighbor Mohammad bin Salman strongly supported objectives. Lacking such political control, are inclinations that cannot be achieved by billions of dol- vestment and additional jobs to the United Saudi Arabia and forced then-President aggressive policies of Saudi Arabia, such as then the US and its allies wish to deny the lars of weapons. The United States allies in the region; States. As Trump said at the time, “Saudi Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to resign. When in Yemen, do you think that a Saudi defeat viability of these and other large-energy Bin-Salman and Bibi Natanhayou both can testify to that. Arabia has been a very great friend and Saudi Crown Prince MbS decided to inter- in Yemen will change the political fate of reserve countries—like Venezuela—from Their loss to Iran with billions of dollars in arms sales are a big purchaser of equipment and lots of vene into Yemen in March of 2015 in an bin Salman and Saudi Arabia? being able to function properly. the testimony to that. other things.” attempt to restore their puppet, Hadi fled A:Failure on the part of Saudi Arabia Given this perspective, it matters not to Just be aware Mr. President, your friends the B team, Thus, morality for Trump consists in the country to the Saudi city of Riyadh, as to reassert its hegemonic control over current US President Donald J. Trump, a desperately are pushing you into the same dilemma they whether US industries are profitable de- the Saudi bombs rained down upon the Yemen will be a death sentence on the quintessential representative of the capi- have been dealing with in the past decades. Finally, the only spite resulting in unparalleled death and Yemeni revolutionaries forcing them to continuation of the Saudi monarchy. A talist economic system and default leader conclusion they got to was tiding the hands of the master destruction. Such a moral compass reflects organize against the imperial intervention Yemeni victory in their war of independ- of the western coalition of states, whether of diplomacy Mohammad Javad Zarif. Interestingly, they a pole shift in direct contradiction to the that has killed over 70,000 people in the ence from Saudi Arabia will provide hope the countries leading this assault on the must have learned their lesson by now that they might be morality espoused by either the Koran, last four years. Seeking to reassert their and inspiration for the captive population Yemeni people, namely Saudi Arabia and able to knot the hands of chess players, but they cannot the Bible, the Torah, or any other religious hegemony over the Arabian Peninsula, of Saudi Arabia to rise up an install a the United Arab Emirates, are engaged in control their mind and moves. A chess player with tiding text or philosophical code. It is the mo- Saudi Arabia denies the Yemeni people legitimate peoples’ government. Losing a systematic genocide against the Yemeni hands still can move the solders and the horses. And finally, rality of capitalism, an economic system have any legitimate grievances and instead its reliable source of energy and financial people, whether their attacks exhibit any last but not least, watch out not to playing checkers with which currently dominates much of the wants the outside world to believe that launderer in the Middle East is why the sort of proportionality or strategic logic, chess-players. whether supporting such odious unelected world and is centrally directed from the the Yemeni people are activated and in- western hegemons are so intent on ex- and undemocratic regimes serves long- United States. stigated by the country of Iran from across cusing the Kingdom of its crimes from term US interests, or even whether US On July 28, 2019, a gunman killed three the Persian Gulf. The United States, the the death and dismemberment of jour- aiding and abetting this calamitous war is non-white people attending an annual fes- United Kingdom, Israel, and other west- nalist Jamal Khashoggi to the financing in violation of international law, given that tival in Gilroy, California. Earlier in the ern powers have traditionally relied upon of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Iran’s strength lies in the US, the UK, and France—all US allies day, he posted on his Instagram account Saudi Arabia as a guarantor of reliable oil World Trade Center in New York and the continued patience on the UN Security Council--can prevent references to a fascist white supremacist and natural gas for western industries and Pentagon in Washington, DC. 1 Also, the world is being fed truckloads of propaganda by the Trump gang about China and the Federal Reserve as the scapegoats for systemic economic problems made worse by Stephen Lendman: U.S. Untrustworthiness Proved by Trump’s pullout from JCPOA the policies Trump pushed like financial heroin since taking office, but which originated during Barack Obama’s tenure TEHRAN (FNA) — US columnist Stephen Lendman They oppose Washington’s destructive imperial un- in the While House. says Trump’s abrogation of the nuclear deal with Iran, ipolar agenda. Indeed, U.S. hostility towards Iran, aside from the ev- also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Trump regime tactics against Iran risk things turning er-present, crude and greedy Zionist demands and the (JCPOA) in May 2018 was further proof that the US can hot by accident or design. White House hawks want war on Saudi fear of competition in West Asia, is sparked by what never be trusted. Iran, manipulating Trump to go along. appears to be a tide of growing solidarity between Asian “Dark forces in Washington want Iran transformed into He’s a geopolitical know-nothing. He showed profound countries, led by China, to create a world of secured and a US vassal state, restoring fascist tyranny eliminated by ignorance of the fallout from wars, telling Fox News on growing trade ties that, because of U.S. intransigence and the 1979 revolution,” Lendman told FNA in an exclusive Wednesday: paranoia, threatens to exclude the U.S. Iran has become interview. If his regime wages war on Iran, it “would not last one of the key countries in this tidal movement given its Stephen Lendman was born in 1934 in Boston, MA. very long” and won’t involve invading the country, location and size and its wealth of resources both human In 1956, he received a BA from Harvard University. Two adding: and natural. Moreover, the UNDP has designated Iran far years of US Army service followed, then an MBA from “We’re in a very strong position…(W)e’re (not) going to ahead of most other countries as “very high” on human the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in send a million soldiers. I’m just saying if something would development. Anyone with a scintilla of knowledge about 1960. After working seven years as a marketing research happen, it wouldn’t last very long.” Iran loves its cinema, its poetry and its deep culture -- one analyst, he joined the Lendman Group family business He also tweeted: “Any attack by Iran on anything Ameri- honed over thousands of years – and even its food. And in 1967. He remained there until retiring at year end can will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some there is no basis for the hostility except: solidarity with 1999. Writing on major world and national issues began areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.” other countries battered by Western imperialism, Iran’s in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. The Islamic Republic never preemptively attacked an- support of Syria under attack by Western funded terrorists Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour other country — what the US and its imperial partners do 2018 was further proof that the US can never be trusted. and mercenaries, and Iran’s moral support of Palestinians on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. repeatedly. Will Iran be next? The risk is high because Dark forces in Washington want Iran transformed into a living under a cruel apartheid system that makes South Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Trump’s sanctions war hasn’t worked and won’t likely US vassal state, restoring the fascist tyranny eliminated by Africa’s apartheid system before Nelson Mandela was freed Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award succeed ahead. the 1979 revolution. and rocketed from jail to the Presidency look like something recipient. Lendman lives in Chicago. His new book as It seems that following the shooting down of the Trump and hardliners surrounding him are militantly far milder but still reprehensible. editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: American surveillance drone, Trump has resorted to placing hostile toward Iran. Claiming he wishes to negotiate with Iran has been threatened by the U.S. and its “allies” US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” sanctions on senior Iranian officials in a reciprocal move to its officials is belied by his propaganda and sanctions war, in the Middle East with something at least a destructive What follows is FNA’s interview with author and writer soothe his pain. What do you think? along with Pompeo and Bolton seeking coalition partners as what the Mongols meted out to West Asia in the 13th Stephen Lendman. A: Russia confirmed Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s for war on the country. century, and it is stunningly bad as policy. But slowly and The United States recently imposed new sanctions information that the US spy plane was downed in Iranian Although Trump withdrew the United States from surely, counter moves are developing, and most recently against senior Iranian officials. What is the purpose of these airspace — ignoring multiple warnings before the IRGC the Iran nuclear deal last year, the suspension of some of one move involves deeper ties and potential military co- sanctions? acted in self-defense against the hostile intruder.Imposing Iran’s nuclear commitments has caused his discontent. How operation between Russia and Iran. A: The Trump regime is waging war on Iran by other further sanctions on high-ranking Iranian officials was can this discontent be explained? The Trump Administration witnesses this expansion of means, illegal sanctions and malicious propaganda are its symbolic alone because there’s virtually nothing more A: The world community opposes Trump’s abandonment cooperation between Russia and Iran along with other devel- main tactics. to be sanctioned.It was an offensive action drawing a of the JCPOA — except for Israel, the Saudis, UAE, and a opments across Asia and seems to be inadvertently pushing The aim of its hardliners is to make Iran’s economy sharp Iranian rebuke followed by an expected Trump few small Pacific islands controlled by the US. the U.S. into phase of its unsustainable “empire”, and immiserate its people, believing these tactics can topple Twitter reaction. European countries support the nuclear deal rhetorically, and this would only be hastened by any military attack on Iran. its legitimate government that the US wants replaced with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has recently but did little to observe its principles, showing they’re unre- Quite aside from the dangerous threats of climate change, for a pro-Western puppet rule it controls. offered unconditional talks with Iran in an apparent retreat liable partners, siding with the US on most issues — though example, it has even been suggested humanity itself may not Key for US hardliners is eliminating Israel’s main regional from his earlier policy that required a dozen prerequisites opposing war on Iran; Britain is a possible exception, of long survive if the U.S. and its “allies” start yet another war rival and gaining control over Iran’s vast oil and gas reserves, from Iran before any kind of talks could kick start. What is course.War on the Islamic Republic would make the region in the Middle East. along with its other resources.A major US geopolitical aim the reason behind this change of heart? boil over more than already.When the US goes to war or Iran, meanwhile, has been scaling back its commitments is gaining control over world oil and gas supplies to be able A: The US doesn’t negotiate. It demands, in return for plans one, it seeks coalition partners of the willing and public inherent in the more or less defunct and disrespected JCPOA, to control other nations globally if this objective is achieved. empty promises to be broken, why talks with its officials support, establishment media backing usually automatic.If which makes sense. Making no sense at all is Trump’s sanc- It’s a futile aim, never achieved before, and highly unlikely would accomplish nothing. Pompeo and Bolton fall way short of enlisting their goal of tioning of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif because, some have to be achieved ahead. The United States is speaking of negotiations and 20 coalition partners for war on Iran, Trump will be hard- opined, he “intimidated” with his deftness and smarts the Sanctions wars also fail to achieve their objectives. its intensifies sanctions simultaneously. How can this par- pressed to go this far. bully Mike Pompeo, who has become a laughing stock. If They haven’t worked against Cuba for nearly 60 years, adoxical attitude be explained? heir failure is the best chance to avoid it, but I’m greatly anything, this sanction tells you a lot about the fragility of the Iran for 40 years, nor against other countries target- A: Years of talks led to the establishment of the JCPOA, concerned about how things are moving in the wrong di- U.S. government under Trump and minions. This fragility ed.Washington’s agenda makes more enemies than an international agreement adopted by the Security Council rection.What’s unthinkable is possible because of US rage will be increasingly apparent, too, when the U.S. economy friends. Most nations support multi-world polarity. making it binding international law.Trump’s pullout in May to dominate other countries, especially resource rich ones. and markets unravel in the next year or two. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 8 ADVERTISEMENTS AUGUST 6, 2019

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Tel: Short- and Long-Term Rent 021 - 430 51 450 by Owner in Zafaranieh Super modern luxury 3-bedroom apartment, 200 sq.m, fully furnished with billiards and swimming pool. 3000 USD Ms. Rasti 09373648434 I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 SCIENCE 9 NASA scientists visit NT site which could An asteroid bigger than the Empire State Building will pass eventually blast rockets to the Moon Earth soon. But don’t worry.

NASA scientists famous for scouring the red “When I heard that NASA made a con- On Aug. 10, Asteroid 2006 QQ23 will fly within 0.049 astronomical planet on rovers have travelled to the red tract with ELA I just jumped up and down units (4.6 million miles) of Earth at about 10,400 mph (16,740 dirt of remote Northern Territory to an area … what an opportunity for NASA, what an km/h). This might not seem close, but it is close enough to classify where rockets are expected to be launched opportunity for the whole area here up in the object as a near-Earth asteroid. Additionally, because it is within the next year. Northern Territory,” Mr. Nolan said. within 0.05 astronomical units (4.65 million miles), it is close Todd Barber and Tom Nolan, both em- “NASA will have more places to launch, enough to be labeled as potentially hazardous. ployed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory but it’s not just about NASA, we need the The space rock measures about 1,870 feet in diameter, which (JPL) in California, were this week taken to whole international partners, all of industry is greater than the height of the Empire State Building, which land surrounding the now-named Gulkula to come and use this place for more and more stands 1,454 feet tall. Now, while it might seem unnerving that Launch Site, outside of Nhulunbuy, in north- and more launches.” a “potentially hazardous” asteroid about the size of a landmark east Land. Mr. Barber said he believed the space building is coming close to Earth (or relatively close by cosmic “When I first saw the land here and I saw center “could really fuel the local economy”. standards), we shouldn’t worry about the rock crashing into our the color, I said, ‘this is Mars’,” Mr. Nolan said. “From what I’ve seen today it just looks planet. The object is “more or less benign,” Lindley Johnson and “We have fake Mars at JPL to do things, like an excellent opportunity for future STEM Kelly Fast, who track near-Earth objects with NASA’s Planetary and this is exactly what it looks like … the [science, technology, engineering and maths] Defense Coordination Office, told CNN. color and the texture. We’re here.” careers,” Mr. Barber said. NASA tracks comets and asteroids that veer close to Earth, Earlier this year it was announced that “If this space port is built here, they’re not because they are imminent threats, but rather to ensure that NASA — the U.S. aeronautical agency respon- going to need so many kinds of jobs.” they do not become threats. Every year, about six space objects sible for putting man on the Moon — would No infrastructure has yet been built on about the size of Asteroid 2006 QQ23 pass by Earth, making this be shooting at least three suborbital rockets the site, as the companies await development close approach a routine event. from the site in 2020. proposals to be processed, but Gumatj chief Currently, there are about 900 near-Earth objects measuring Mr. Nolan said the site’s remoteness was executive Klaus Helms said he wanted to get more than 3,280 feet, much larger than Asteroid 2006 QQ23, a distinct advantage. started in 2019. in our solar system, according to NASA JPL’s Center for near- “We need remoteness. We can’t launch is a great advantage. It’s unpopulated. It’s It has been sub-leased to space venture “We hope that within this year I’d like to Earth object studies. out of — it’s not going to work,” a great opportunity.” Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) by the be able to put the roads in and start a clear- Now, while NASA doesn’t think that an asteroid will crash he said. The launch zone sits in a bushy, isolated Gumatj clan, which will then be loaned as a ing, if all the applications come through,” into Earth anytime soon, the agency does monitor near-Earth “So having the remote area is the begin- 65-hectare patch of Yolngu-owned land, not sub-orbital rocket launch site to aeronautical Mr. Helms said. objects and both NASA and other space agencies are developing ning … being out in the middle of nowhere far from the site of the annual Garma Festival. organizations including NASA. (Source: ABC.Net) efforts to deflect asteroids if they threaten to impact our planet. In fact, NASA is developing the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, which will be a planetary defense spacecraft. The agency plans to slam the spacecraft into asteroids that could potentially pose a threat to Earth. This is NASA’s first At the edge of chaos: New method for exoplanet stability analysis planetary-defense mission and the agency hopes that DART will keep Earth safe from rogue asteroids that might head our way. Exoplanets revolving around distant able to apply measures like transitivity, (Source: Live Science) stars are coming quickly into focus with average path length or others unique to advanced technology like the Kepler space that network.” telescope. Gaining a full understanding of Kovács tests the reliability of the method those systems is difficult, because the initial using a known system as a model, the Plant roots began following positions and velocities of the exoplanets three-body system of Saturn, Jupiter and are unknown. Determining whether the the sun, and then applies it to the Kepler gravity 350 million years ago system dynamics are quasi-periodic or 36b and 36c system. His Kepler system chaotic is cumbersome, expensive and results agree with what is known. To make the transition from sea to land, plant roots had to learn computationally demanding. “Earlier studies pointed out that Kepler to grow downward, to follow gravity. This ability, gravitropism, In this week’s Chaos, from AIP 36b and 36c is a very special system, helped plants anchor to the soil and retrieve water and nutrients. Publishing, Tamás Kovács delivers an because from the direct simulation and the New analysis of this vital adaptation suggests the ability first alternative method for stability analysis numerical integrations, we see the system emerged roughly 350 million years ago. of exoplanetary bodies using only the this case, it is called a recurrence network,” theorem as a starting point, Kovács uses is at the edge of the chaos,” Kovács said. Scientists have studied grav- observed time series data to deduce Kovács said. “This network holds all of the time delay embedding to reconstruct a “Sometimes, it shows regular dynamics, itropism in flowering plants, but dynamical measurements and quantify dynamical features of the underlying system high-dimensional trajectory and then and at other times, it seems to be chaotic.” until now researchers had not the unpredictability of exoplanet systems. we want to analyze.” identify recurrence points, where bodies The author plans to next apply his surveyed root growth patterns “If we don’t know the governing equations The paper draws on the work of physicist in the phase space are close to each other. methods to systems with more than three across the entirety of the plant of the motion of a system, and we only have Floris Takens, who proposed in 1981 that the “Those special points will be the vertices bodies, testing its scalability and exploring kingdom. The survey, published the time series -- what we measure with dynamics of a system could be reconstructed and the edges of the complex network,” its ability to handle longer time series and this week in the journal Nature the telescope -- then we want to transform using a series of observations about the state Kovács said. “Once you have the network, sharper datasets. Communications, offered scien- that time series into a complex network. In of the system. With Takens’ embedding you can reprogram this network to be (Source: Science Daily) tists new insights into the evolu- tionary origins of gravitropism. For the study, scientists observed the root growth of Mathematical model identifies acoustic If aliens are flashing laser beams at us, several different plant types, including mosses, ferns, conifers signal preceding seismic shake we now have a way to detect them and flowering plants. Research- ers watched as the roots grew horizontally, waiting for them to bend downward and follow gravity. The survey showed gravity-driven root growth is slowest among primitive plants like mosses and ferns. Gymnosperms and flow- ering plants, which emerged 350 million years ago, boasted more robust gravitropism. To determine when plants evolved gravity-driven root growth, scientists analyzed the underlying mechanisms: gravity percep- tion, gravitropic signaling and growth response. Scientists found plant organelles called amyloplasts, granules that synthesize and store starch, working like gravity sensors. The granules sediment in response to gravity, but they only do so in gymnosperms and flowering plants, where the granules are found concentrated at the root tips. Scientists also identified the hormone auxin as essential to the transportation of gravitropic signals. The hormone enables the production of PIN proteins, which encourages root production. Auxin and PIN proteins work together to direct root production in the proper location in response the gravity detection signals. When scientists genetically modified plants to disrupt the production of PIN proteins, the plants became less efficient at Researchers have identified a unique scientists are beginning to understand Are aliens using super powerful flashlights to optical pulses,” Andrew Siemion, the direc- directing root growth downward. acoustic signature that may precede what exactly they mean and how they can get our attention? Astronomers think there’s tor of Berkeley’s SETI Research Center, said «Now that we have started to understand what plants need seismic ruptures. be used to predict an impending rupture. a chance they are. in the statement. “Optical communication to grow stable anchorage in order to reach nutrients and water In the lab, scientists deployed an “Using the numerical model that we Since the invention of the radio, humans has already been used by NASA to transmit in deep layers of the soil, we may eventually be able to figure out earthquake machine to produce seis- developed at Los Alamos, we examine have been silently listening to the stars, won- high-definition images to Earth from the ways to improve the growth of crop and other plants in very arid mic waves. Researchers used numeri- and connect the dynamics in a granular dering if we are alone in the universe. But moon, so there’s a reason to believe that an areas,» Yuzhou Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute cal simulations to analyze the seismic system of fault gouge to signals detected if intelligent life does exist, the extra- advanced civilization might use a scaled-up of Science and Technology Austria, said in a news release. «Nature signatures produced by the synthetic on passive remote monitors,” Gao said. terrestrials could be using other forms of version of this technology for interstellar is much smarter than we are; there is so much we can learn from ruptures. To identify the stress-releated mech- technology to communicate. Astronomers communication.” plants that can eventually be of benefit to us.» Their analysis -- detailed this week anisms behind the signals, scientists are beginning to not only listen to the cosmos VERITAS has looked for such laser pulses (Source: UPI) in the journal Physical Review Letters relied on numerical models run by but also gaze toward it for other signs of alien from the mysteriously dimming Tabby’s Star -- revealed a unique acoustic signal supercomputers at Los Alamos. The tech: laser beams. after some had speculated there could be an preceding the seismic rupture. models were able to simulate grain- Breakthrough Listen, the most extensive alien megastructure surrounding it that caused “Previous machine-learning studies to-grain interactions and analyze how Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) the odd dimming. If the most powerful lasers on Chinese state agency found that the acoustic signals detected stress influences the acoustic signals program in history, announced that its team Earth were used at Tabby’s Star and pointed in to launch rocket for from an earthquake fault can be used produced by the granular system. will begin looking for new signs of alien tech- our direction, VERITAS could detect them. Of to predict when the next earthquake The models successfully simulated the nology using the Very Energetic Radiation the 1 million stars on the Breakthrough Listen commercial use in August will occur,” Ke Gao, a computational ways a fault’s evolution alters grain-to- Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) target list, most of them are 10 to 100 times geophysicist at Los Alamos National grain interactions. The simulations also at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory closer to Earth than Tabby’s Star, meaning A Chinese government space agency is expected to launch its first Laboratory, said in a news release. “This reproduced the formation and evolution in Amado, Arizona. even weaker laser flashes from intelligent rocket meant for commercial use in August, putting pressure on new modeling work shows us that the of stress chains. “When it comes to intelligent life beyond aliens could be detected. other domestic rocket firms to develop their own launch vehicles collapse of stress chains inside the Thanks to the simulations, scien- Earth, we don’t know where it exists or how it The array of four 12-meter optical telescopes ahead of an expected commercial satellite boom. earthquake gouge emits that signal in tists are beginning to understand how communicates,” Yuri Milner, billionaire particle is traditionally used to detect gamma rays A unit of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp the lab, pointing to mechanisms that acoustic signals can reveal the evolu- physicist and founder of Breakthrough Listen, — high-energy radiation emitted by extreme (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor, is working on the may also be important in Earth.” tion of stress within a fault structure. said in a statement. “So our philosophy is to cosmic objects like exploding stars and even final assembly of its Smart Dragon-1 rocket, with a maiden flight Stress chains are formed by a bridge Eventually, these acoustic signals could look in as many places, and in as many ways, black holes — in the night sky. When gamma expected in August, the State-owned Assets Supervision and of molecules linking each side of the be used to predict earthquakes many as we can. VERITAS expands our range of rays hit Earth’s atmosphere, they produce very Administration Commission (SASAC) said on Thursday. fault block. Stress can be transported hours, perhaps days, in advance. observation even further.” faint blue flashes of light called Cherenkov China envisions constellations of commercial satellites that from one side of the block to the other “The stress chains endow the layer Using VERITAS, astronomers will begin radiation, because the particles travel faster can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to via the molecular bridge. with resistance to shear and on failure scanning the night sky for nanosecond flashes than the speed of light through air. So the tracking coal shipments. Reliable, low-cost and frequent rocket According to the new research, launch broadcasts into the formation,” of light from nearby stars. Like a lighthouse blue flashes are the light equivalent of a sonic launches will be key. analysis of the acoustic signal can offer researchers wrote in their paper. “These beacon for the cosmos, these brief pulses boom. The telescope array’s ability to detect Last week, Beijing-based iSpace became the first private firm scientists a status update on the stress broadcasts, received as acoustic emis- of optical light would outshine any nearby and pinpoint the source of these short-lived to deliver a satellite into orbit on its rocket. Since late last year, present in the fault. Previous studies sion, provide a remote monitor of the stars and could indicate a method of alien blue flashes made it the perfect candidate two other startups have attempted but failed. have identified the same kind of acoustic state of the granular layer of the earth- communication. to search for laser beams from distant stars It would take just six months to produce a Smart Dragon rocket signals within real fault systems. quake system.” “With the addition of VERITAS, we’re sen- and galaxies. and 24 hours to for its launch, according to Chinese state By analyzing the signals in the lab, (Source: UPI) sitive to an important new class of signals: fast (Source: Live Science) media. (Source: Reuters) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 10 HERITAGE & TOURISM AUGUST 6, 2019

Thai baht’s strength weighs The ancient art of making ships on tourism and exports

Thailand’s economy is slowing, arrivals for its core tourism in- dustry are plateauing, and a drought is hurting a farming sector in southern Iran that employs millions — but the baht is holding up buoyantly. By Afshin Majlesi forests, attractive beaches and some 60 In a trend that would seem to contradict the key economic Bandari villages. indicators, the Thai baht has risen 5.4 percent against the dollar TEHRAN — Maritime trade, shipping and Qeshm features geologically eye-catching this year, making it south-east Asia’s best performing currency shipbuilding have long been practiced in canyons, hills, caves and valleys, most of and one of the strongest of any emerging market anywhere. Iran. There have been many small or big which are protected as part of the UNES- shipyards across the northern coasts of CO-tagged Qeshm Island Geopark, itself the Persian Gulf. a heaven for nature-lovers. If you are planning to travel to the south- According to UNESCO, the traditional ernmost parts of the country, we suggest to knowledge surrounding Lenjes includes oral visit the Persian Gulf in trace of seeing the literature, performing arts and festivals, process of crafting and sailing traditional in addition to the sailing and navigation Lenj boats, which has passed down from techniques and terminology and weather father to son. The hand-built vessels are forecasting that are closely associated with used for sea journeys, trading, fishing and sailing, and the skills of wooden boat-build- pearl diving. ing itself. Entering a shipyard is like stepping back Iranian navigators could locate the ship into the ancient times, with some local arti- according to the positions of the sun, moon sans working on gigantic timbers to shape and stars; they used special formulae to a reliable vessel. calculate latitudes and longitudes, as well as Such expertise of the Iranian shipbuild- water depth. Each wind was given a name, ers was registered on UNESCO Intangible which along with the color of water or the Foreign portfolio money is flowing into , analysts say, Cultural Heritage list in 2011 under the tile height of waves was used to help forecast because of the kingdom’s healthy current account surplus, an elec- “Traditional skills of building and sailing the weather. Specific music and rhythms tion in March that laid to rest investors’ worst fears about political Iranian Lenj boats in the Persian Gulf.” also constituted inseparable parts of sailing risk and the Bank of Thailand’s hawkish stance on interest rates. Lenjes were initially used for long routes, to go on a tour to the Qeshm Island, where Straits of Hormuz, a waterway separating in the Persian Gulf, with sailors singing Thai assets are yielding healthy returns relative to the rate at for instance to China and Africa, but now, traditional boat-makers are making a liv- Iran and Oman, the sun-scorched island is particular songs while working. which investors can borrow money elsewhere, at a time when locals usually embark on shorter journeys ing. Situated at the narrowest part of the fringed with biologically diverse mangrove The UN cultural body has mentioned many central banks are easing, with the most recent example in the Persian Gulf. Nowadays, many goods that heritage is “in need of urgent safe- being the U.S. Federal Reserve, which cut rates on Wednesday. such as electronics and home applianc- guarding”, meaning continuing this tra- However, the flow of hot money puts Thai policymakers in a tight es, textiles and foodstuff are transported dition of shipbuilding is not easy, and the spot: while the strong baht is hurting the competitiveness of Thailand’s between Iranian ports, Dubai and Oman. craftsmanship is still somewhere between tourism and goods exports, analysts say the central bank is avoid- It is said that a Lenj takes some two years tradition and modernity. ing cutting rates because of concerns about rising household debt. to build, depending on its size that reveals Over the past couple of years, U.S.-led “The Bank of Thailand think if they cut rates, it could encourage portions of its hardship, care and detail sanctions and its related economic boycott more risk-taking in the financial sector,” said Charnon Boonnuch, of the craftsmanship. Moreover, different of Iran has sharply increased the cost of south-east Asia economist with Nomura in Singapore. “That im- kinds of wood are needed for the various wood and engines. One more challenge plies that the rates differential in Thailand will widen further. components that are mainly imported from has been the sharp decline in the number This has also helped to marginally support the baht’s strength.” India and Africa as there are no forests in of locals with the knowledge of building The soaring baht is a paradox and a burden for an economy not southern Iran. and maintenance a Lenj. performing at its best. The resultant drag on competitiveness could Iran’s history of seagoing is deep rooted Nowadays, the community of such practi- further fuel the slowdown in south-east Asia’s second-largest economy. . As of nearly the sixth century BC, the tioners is getting smaller and smaller; mainly Central bank data showed manufacturing output fell by 5.5 northern sides of the Persian Gulf became comprising elderly people. Wooden Lenjes percent in June compared with a year ago, the sharpest drop in dominated by a succession of Persian em- are being replaced by cheaper industrial more than five years. pires including the Median, Achaemenid, vessels, yet Lenj construction shipyards Tourist arrivals rose just 1.5 percent year on year in the first Parthian and Sassanid empires. Under the are being transformed into repair yards half of this year, according to tourism ministry data. However, leadership of the Achaemenid king Darius for older Lenjes. the number of visitors from China — now the biggest source of the Great (Darius I), who reigned from 522 Some cultural heritage experts have tourists — dropped by 5 percent. to 486 BC, Persian ships found their way voiced wariness about the fate of tradi- The BoT has twice revised down its growth forecast of late, to the Persian Gulf, laying a strong foun- tional knowledge of sailing in the Persian most recently to 3.3 percent from 3.8 percent — an anaemic dation for maritime petrol and navigation Gulf, saying its associated philosophy, performance relative to most of Thailand’s neighboring econo- in the region. ritualistic background and culture may mies, giving support to some analysts’ claim that the country is For avid travelers, it is also recommended be fading away. the “sick man of south-east Asia”. But Thailand looks better when viewed from abroad. Global benchmark indices for stocks and bonds recently increased their weighting of Thai assets, and rating agencies upgraded their outlooks after the election. Shiraz named national city of handicrafts Prayuth Chan-ocha, the military dictator, was installed as prime HERITAGE TEHRAN — Iran’s Cultural Heritage, cities in the medieval Islamic world and was the Iranian minister in June in a vote that civil society groups widely dismissed deskHandicrafts and Tourism Organization capital during the Zand dynasty (1751–1794). as an undemocratic sham. But the election calmed investors’ nerves has recently designated Shiraz, the capital of southern Fars Over two million artisans are currently working in various about a return to the mass unrest seen in recent years. province, as the city of handicrafts, Mehr reported on Monday. fields of handicrafts across Iran, CHHTO deputy director Portfolio managers are now deciding how much weight to “We have put in a great deal of effort to earn such a title Pouya Mahmoudian, said in February. give assets as they evaluate the prospects for either an upward for Shiraz since Abadeh [a city in Fars province] gained the “Until now, some 400,000 craftspeople have been reg- or downward move in interest rates. same title for wood carving in 2018,” provincial tourism istered by the CHHTO,” she added. Mark Baker, fund manager for emerging markets debt at chief Mosayeb Amiri said. Handicrafts exports from the Islamic Republic reached Aberdeen Standard, said rate cuts were a poor way to weaken In the same year, Abadeh was also named a world crafts $289 million in the past Iranian calendar year 1397 (March the baht. The BoT’s single rate rise in December gave it far less city for woodcarving by the World Crafts Council - Asia 2018-March 2019), a three- percent growth year on year, leeway to ease than the U.S. Fed, which before Wednesday’s cut Pacific Region (WCC-APR). according to data compiled by the Organization. had tightened nine times since 2015. Currently over 20,000 craftspeople are active in Shiraz, Traditional ceramics, pottery vessels, handwoven (Source: Financial Times) of whom 12,872 have been granted production licenses, cloths as well as personal ornamentations with precious the official said. and semi-precious gemstones are among Iranian exports Celebrated as the heartland of Persian culture for over tion, nightingales, poetry and crafts skills passed down from to Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany, the U.S., the UK and ROUND THE GLOBE 2000 years, Shiraz has become synonymous with educa- generation to generation. It was one of the most important other countries. Sukur Cultural Landscape Archaeologists shed light on mysterious Neolithic society behind rise of ancient Egypt Sukur is an ancient settlement with a recorded history of iron smelting technology, flourishing trade, and strong political By Joel Irish, Czekaj- Zastawny Agnieszka, and Jacek Kabacinski and stone weapons for men. institution dating back to the 16th century. We learned that these people enjoyed low childhood To many, ancient Egypt is synonymous with the pharaohs mortality, tall stature and long life. Men averaged 170cm, The Sukur Cultural Landscape has been registered as a and pyramids of the Dynastic period starting about 3,100BC. UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated on a hill above the while women were about 160cm. Most men and women Yet long before that, about 9,300-4,000BC, enigmatic Ne- lived beyond 40 years, with some into their 50s – a long village of Sukur in the Adamawa State of Nigeria, along the olithic peoples flourished. Indeed, it was the lifestyles and country’s border line with Cameroon. time in those days. cultural innovations of these peoples that provided the very Strangely, in 2009-2016, we dug two more cemeteries that foundation for the advanced civilizations to come. were very different. After analyzing another 130 skeletons, But who were they? As it turns out, they haven’t actually we discovered that few artefacts accompanied them, and been studied much, at least relative to their successors. But that they suffered from higher childhood mortality as well our excavations of six burial sites – with some of the analyses as shorter lives and stature. recently published – have now provided important insights We’re talking several centimeters shorter and perhaps into their mysterious ways of life. ten years younger for adults of both sexes. One reason why we know so little about Neolithic Egypt is Astonishingly, the largest of these two cemeteries had a that the sites are often inaccessible, lying beneath the Nile’s separate burial area for children under three years of age, but former flood plain or in outlying deserts. mostly infants including late-term foetuses. Three women buried “reconstruct” the skeletons by replacing teeth that had fallen With permission from Egypt’s Supreme Council of An- with infants were also found, so perhaps they died in childbirth. out back into the skeleton – and not always correctly (see tiquities (SCA) we – members of the Combined Prehistor- In fact, this is the world’s earliest known infant cemetery. lead image). ic Expedition – explore Neolithic sites in Egypt’s western Interpreting the findings These behavioral indicators, together with the seem- desert. The sites we are currently excavating lie along the So what can this tell us about these peoples, let alone ingly innovative technological and ceremonial architecture former shores of an extinct seasonal lake near a place called their descendants? As it turns out, a lot. We can use the mentioned earlier, such as the calendar circles and shrines, Gebel Ramlah. findings to make interpretations about gender, life-stage, imply a level of sophistication well beyond that of simple Though not lush, the Neolithic was wetter than today, well-being, status and other things. herders. Taken together, the findings provide a glimpse of which allowed these ancient herders to populate what is For example, why were there such differences between the things yet to come in Ancient Egypt. The landscape is characterized by terraces on the farmlands, now the middle of nowhere. We focus on the Final Neolithic two grave sites? They could have been separate populations, Conservation of sites dry stone structures and stone paved walkways. The terraced (4,600-4,000BC), which was built on the success of the Late but it is unlikely based on overall physical similarities. So A key component of our work involves conservation of landscape at Sukur with its hierarchical structure and com- Neolithic (5,500-4,650BC) with domesticated cattle and perhaps they imply variation by status – with one graveyard Egyptian (and world) heritage. We found no evidence of bination of intensive and extensive farming is remarkable. goats, wild plant processing and cattle burials. being for the elite and the other for workers. This is the grave looting, unlike for sites in the Nile Valley. In addition, it has certain exceptional features that are not These people also made apparent megaliths, shrines and earliest such evidence in Egypt. The last people to touch Neolithic material at Gebel Ram- to be found elsewhere, notably the use of paved tracks and even calendar circles – which look a bit like a mini Stonehenge. The sites also shed light on the family structures of the lah lived during that time. However, wind-related erosion the spiritual content of the terraces, with their ritual features During the final part of the Neolithic period, people started time. The overall sex ratio across all cemeteries is three has reached a point where once-buried remains lie on or such as sacred trees. burying the dead in formal cemeteries. Skeletons provide women to each man, which may indicate polygamy. near the surface. The Palace of the Hidi (Chief) is nested on a hill dominating critical information because they are from once living people However, the total number of burials and a lack of ref- In fact, the pace of destruction has increased significantly the villages below. The revered position of the Hidi as the po- who interacted with the cultural and physical environments. erence to individual houses suggests these were extended since 2001. Once exposed, the context of these sites can be litical and spiritual head of the community is underscored by Health, relationships, diet and even psychological experiences family cemeteries. lost and organic material can get sandblasted to bits. the magnificent dry stone architectural work of his palace, in can leave telltale signs on teeth and bone. We also believe that attainment of “personhood” – the This means that if we hadn’t discovered these remains and around which is a concentration of shrines, some ceramic. In 2001-2003 we excavated three cemeteries from age children are socialized into being “people” – was from when we did, they would have soon been lost forever. But The villages situated on low lying ground below the Hidi this era – the first in the western desert – where we un- three years, given their inclusion in adult cemeteries. sadly this likely means that other sites from the time are Palace have their own characteristic indigenous architecture. covered and studied 68 skeletons. The graves were full There is also clear evidence of respect for previously buried literally disappearing. Among its features are dry stone walls, used as social markers of artefacts, with ornamental pottery, sea shells, stone people by later mourners reusing the graves to bury their For that reason, we and the SCA have decided that, when and defensive enclosures, sunken animal (principally bull) and ostrich eggshell jewellery. dead. When coming across old skeletons, they often carefully we have studied our material, all will be reburied on site to, pens, granaries, and threshing floors. We also discovered carved mica (a silicate mineral) and repositioned the bones of these ancestors. hopefully, survive for thousands more years. The Conversation (Source: UNESCO) animal remains, as well as elaborate cosmetic tools for women In some interesting cases, they even made attempts to (Source: Science Alert) TECHNOLOGY

I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 TECHNOLOGY 11

Blockchain and future of Team Cup to gather app developers for children, young adults digital marketing TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN – Team Cup, an android programing deskcompetition, has called Iranian programmers By Setareh Behroozi Honesty is the best policy and application developers for attending the event in order to You can share your expenses in different introduce their products for children and young adults. Blockchain, a term that you are hearing more stages of manufacturing your products via The competition will be held in seven stages in different parts of than ever these days, is a concept beyond blockchain, which makes your customers to the country with the motto of “entrepreneurship and job creation”. bitcoin. Blockchain is an advanced technology trust you more than ever. Applicants can submit their particulars and ideas until August and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin is a small As you know all financial transactions are 6 to the secretariat of the event, Tasnim reported on Monday. part of it. recorded in blockchain, which is available for Shanbeh, a startup mag, everybody. In this way, customers can be assured in an article has explained blockchain and its about quality and price of the product. widespread usage. This article is about the use CSR in the limelight of blockchain in digital marketing and content The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) marketing and how to get synchronized with of companies become transparent in blockchain this technology in businesses. system. Blockchain provides transparent Blockchain encompasses different aspects documents about the amount of money of business and communication, the most companies donate during crises. important part is banking and financial Branding and blockchain transaction. As you know, buying a service By using blockchain and cryptocurrencies in or product online is considered as a financial your business, you can introduce your products transaction and blockchain has a great effect and services in a modern way. As you know, on digital marketing, but how? innovative businesses have a high speed in No more data collection branding. Today, most of people have access to One should consider content strategy as well. Attractiveness, applicability, commercialization and market internet, which is actually possible with You can use this strategy in order to attract more size of the applications are some criteria considered by the jury. internet service providers (ISPs) and web customers today. A modern business has more Winners of the first stage are supported for development and browsers. As you may know, companies which computing network and app ecosystem that the advertiser the opportunity for their ads credit amongst customers. commercialization of their products. manage these items can monitor all of our puts users and apps protect your digital rights to appear alongside results for those search Content remains important in blockchain The first stage focuses on initial production, the second stage data. They can sell data to other companies and are powered by the stacks of blockchain. queries. These ads, often known by the term system as well. In the future, search engines will is aimed at attracting 2,000 users, the third stage is aimed at about what we buy online, websites we visit In this way, no company can collect data and pay-per-click ads, come in a variety of formats. use blockchain data to verify quality of products attracting 5,000 users, and the number of users should increase and even articles we read. sell them to others. As you see, Google is a middleman and services, which makes a great change in to 200,000 in the final (eighth) stage. They can analyze behaviors of citizens, No data breach and no one can misuse between the advertisers and host website. SEO we know today. In December 2018, the Education Ministry announced that their needs and interests and sell related data your data on internet. The Blockstack browser With blockchain, there is no need for any Probably the content quality is verified by the about 20 million internet users out of 56 million users in the to other companies or even politicians. Big allows you to create and manage Blockstack intervenes between advertisers and ad hosting readers not back links and keywords as blockchain country are below 18. advertising companies are the main official or IDs and explore decentralized apps. website. is a user-oriented system. By blockchain, fake In November 2018, the Information and Communication unofficial customers of the information. They No middleman for SEM Digital marketing via SEO and products are known very quickly and as you Technology (ICT) Ministry announced that it plans to introduce buy the data and set their advertising strategy According to wordstream.com, search content marketing see SEO techniques are not beneficial anymore. parental control applications in the near future. and even choose the words they need for their engine marketing, or SEM, is one of the Believe it or not, a world without The bottom line According to a survey conducted by the ICT Ministry, only eight advertising. They even set content strategy most effective ways to grow your business middlemen is very better place to live in. Were all the above mentioned just a percent of Iranian parents monitor their children’s online activity. and content marketing procedures for their in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Your success depends on your skills and there probability or it can be realized one day by The survey revealed that Iran is not very successful in content customers according to these data, which Search engine marketing is the practice is no middleman to pay for introducing your blockchain technology? No one knows how much creation for children and to control children’s online activity. may lead to selling of low-quality products of marketing a business using paid services and products anymore and no one of this technology would be available for the and services to customers. advertisements that appear on search engine can misuse your online data and content. public. However, entrepreneurs should regard But what can be the role of blockchain? results pages (or SERPs). Advertisers bid But how we can use blockchain to improve this emerging technology as a crucial event that Actually blockchain can solve this misusage of on keywords that users of services such as SEO and content marketing? You can use the can affect their businesses in the near future. Sharif University to hold data and data collection by using Blockstack Google and Bing might enter when looking untapped potentiality of digital marketing Maybe it changes lives of people who live in browser. Blockstack is a decentralized for certain products or services, which gives in blockchain focusing on mentioned items. the online world. interdisciplinary meeting on neuroscience

TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN — Sharif University of Technology deskwill host a meeting on “Neuroscience, Cogni- Iranian nanotech company exporting equipment to China tive Science and Philosophy: From Memory to Awareness” on TECHNOLOGY TEHRAN – An Iranian nanotechnology dents in China.” September 3 and 4, Mehr reported. deskcompany is exporting nanotech equipment The company has also signed an agreement with an Omani The event is cosponsored by the Department of Philosophy of and training packages to China, IRNA reported on Sunday. company in order to launch an educational portal in Oman, Science at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran University of The company signed a five-year deal in 2015 with the which is now available in Arabic and English languages. Medical Sciences, and Iran’s National Brain Mapping Laboratory. Chinese side and has so far exported 27 nanotech equip- The portal covers three stages of elementary, interme- According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, cognitive ment to China, the company’s managing director Faeqeh diate and advanced levels, useful for school and university science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence, Eslamipour announced. students, she explained. embracing philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neu- According to the agreement, the company will export 105 In July 2018, the second branch of Iran Nanotech China roscience, linguistics, and anthropology. Its intellectual origins pieces of equipment worth one million dollars to China by Center (INCC) opened in Guangzhou. The first branch of are in the mid-1950s when researchers in several fields began the end of the fifth year, she said. the INCC was set up in Suzhou in May 2015. to develop theories of mind based on complex representations Electrospinning, sputtering and exploding wire equip- The centers aim to facilitate cooperation between Iran and computational procedures. ment are amongst the items, she noted. and China in the field of nanotechnology and to boost coop- Its organizational origins are in the mid-1970s when the Cogni- The company has previously held educational workshops eration between Iranian and Chinese nanotech companies. tive Science Society was formed and the journal Cognitive Science in India, , Turkey and Oman and has attended Iran nanotechnology market ucts, which has increased to 580 types began. Since then, more than one hundred universities in North several related meetings and exhibitions in other countries, In May 2018, Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council Iran exported $65 million of nanotech products during America, Europe, Asia, and Australia have established cognitive she added. announced that during the past Iranian calendar year 1397 1397 and it is planned to increase the amount during the science programs and many others have instituted courses in “We have also held nanotechnology workshops for stu- (March 2018-March 2019), there were 180 nanotech prod- current year. cognitive science.

Robots as a service: a Parents, sometimes you’re the problem when it comes to tech use technology trend every Elise Potts picked up her 17-month-old daughter, Eliza, from develop their own self-regulation skills,” she says. daycare recently. When they got home they were greeted by Use apps like Moment or Screen Time to track your business must consider a strange scene. screen use and block the phone from working at certain times “My husband ... he’s waving his arms around like a crazy — like during dinner. From all indicators, robots as a service (RaaS) is growing rapidly. man.” Potts says. “He has these things in his hands, he has Keep it out of sight and out of mind: Create a charging ABI Research predicts there will be 1.3 million installations a black box on his face ... and [Eliza] looks and she points, station near the front door; leave it in your bag during stress- of RaaS by 2026 generating $34 billion in revenue. Let’s look all confused, and she says, ‘Daddy?’ “ ful times like the morning or evening routine. at what robots as a service entails, the reasons for its growth Daddy, it turned out, had a new Oculus virtual reality Turn off notifications, so you decide when to check the and some companies that offer RaaS solutions and the tasks headset. phone. it can support. Potts, who lives in Seattle, can’t help but wonder what But life isn’t perfect, and sometimes we need to be in What is Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS)? her daughter is making of all the digital technology that sur- two places at once. If you do need to use your phone around Many are now familiar with the concept of software as a rounds her. Eliza’s reaction, she says, is “really cute, but it’s your kids: service (SaaS) or big data as a service (BDaaS), the pay-as-you-go also terrifying, because I think of it from her perspective. Wait for moments your kids are truly engaged and happy or subscription-based service model. In a similar set-up, those What does that mean to her?” and how much time they spent on them. doing something else. who sign up for robots as a service get the benefits of robotic It’s a good question. The mobile tech revolution is bare- If glancing at the phone is partly an unconscious habit, as Narrate what you are doing, says researcher danah boyd. process automation by leasing robotic devices and accessing ly a decade old, and it brings special challenges to parents Radesky’s study suggests, it could get dangerous. In at least “Let’s check the weather to see what you should wear to a cloud-based subscription service rather than purchasing and caregivers, says pediatrician Jenny Radesky, who sees two situations, distracted parenting can be a literal life or death school,” for instance, or, “Let’s ask Mom to pick up milk on the equipment outright. The headaches of ownership, such patients at the University of Michigan and is one of the top issue — when you are driving and when you are at the pool. her way home from work.” as paying off an expensive piece of equipment plus handling researchers in the field of parents, children and new media. But Radesky has insights about the more subtle, emotional If you are in the habit of using a screen to calm your child, maintenance issues that spring up, are avoided with RaaS. “The telephone took decades to reach 50 million global effects of this dynamic — what she calls the “micro-interactions” instead try a short video or audio track that teaches more What has caused RaaS to gain in popularity? users, and we had Pokémon Go do that within, like, two and among parents, kids and screens. mindful calming techniques. Radesky suggests an Elmo “belly Businesses are increasingly intrigued with RaaS because of a half weeks,” Radesky says. “So we all feel like we’ve been Potts frets over this situation with her daughter: “We’re breathing” video from Sesame Street. GoNoodle has similar its flexibility, scalability, and lower cost of entry than traditional blown over by a tidal wave of all this new stuff.” on a bus, we stayed out a little too long somewhere and we’re videos targeted to older kids. robotics programs. These attributes allow small- and medium- Most of us feel like we’re failing, at least at times, to manage going home and we’re late for nap time and she’s going to A British study found that parents share about 1,500 images sized businesses to benefit from robotics without the often the competing bids for attention that come from work, kids, have a meltdown ... so I pull out the phone.” of their children by the time they are 5. Stacey Steinberg, a cost-prohibitive initial investment. and partners and from our digital devices. She wants to know, “Is that a bad thing?” law professor at the University of Florida, believes we should Typically, robots are used to replace lower-paying jobs done While she doesn’t want to come off as “judgy of parents,” Radesky says this is incredibly common. Her research has think twice about this behavior, which she calls “sharenting.” by humans at companies. But, since robots are quite expensive, Radesky and other experts shared four takeaways from the found a correlation between behavior problems and screen Steinberg specializes in children’s rights. She’s also a pho- it can take years before companies do realize a return on their research that can guide parents who want to improve their use by children and by their parents. tographer and mother of three, and she started to wonder: investment. This reality has kept many smaller organizations relationships both with their kids and with technology. By following families over time, her research has documented “How could we balance our kids’ right to privacy with our from investing in robots. That’s one of the reasons RaaS is quite Put your phone away whenever possible when you’re what she calls a “bi-directional flow” between parents’ screen interest in sharing our stories?” appealing today. RaaS also gives organizations the ability to with your kids. use, kids’ screen use and kids’ emotional issues, whether Steinberg wants parents “to consider the well-being of their scale up and down rapidly and easily in response to changing Most of us would balk at a family member coming to the tantrums and acting out, or conversely, becoming more kids not only right now but years into the future if they were market conditions and client needs. It offers more predictable dinner table with headphones in, let alone a VR headset. withdrawn. to come across the information that had been being shared.” costs and less upfront capital to get started. But phones can be just as disruptive to small interactions In other words, the more kids act out, the more stressed What Families Need To Know About Screen Time This Globalization has also reduced the cost of hardware. It›s also with children — a phenomenon that some researchers have parents get. The more stressed parents get, the more they Summer easy to sign up and find powerful and cheap cloud computing dubbed “technoference.” turn to screens as a distraction — for themselves and for Give kids veto power over what you share as soon as they solutions that allow robots to be offered as a variable cost For Potts, like many parents, this is a point of contention. their kids. are old enough to grasp the concept of “sending Grandma service with subscription packages. Additionally, companies “It just really drives me crazy when we’re all sitting at the But, the more parents turn to screens, for themselves or this picture” — 3 or 4. are already comfortable with the business model, thanks to dinner table and [my husband] will get a notification on this their kids, the more their kids tend to act out. Don’t openly share personally identifiable information many of them already using the software as a service model. phone, and he thinks as long as he holds the phone out of Radesky adds that when you check out by pulling out your of your children, like their faces, names, birthdays or exact There are many companies in several industries that are [Eliza’s] eyesight that it’s OK.” phone in tough moments, you miss important information addresses. That can expose them to data brokers, who build benefitting from RaaS from warehouses and fulfillment centers Parents of young children pick up their phones an average that can help you be a better parent — and help prevent more profiles and sell them to marketers; or to hackers, who can to healthcare and security. As other sectors realize uses for of almost 70 times a day, according to a pilot study Radesky tough moments in the future. create fraudulent accounts and spoil kids’ credit before they robots, RaaS lowers the barrier to entry for them to test them recently published. But most of the parents in that study “We need to be watching, listening and gathering evidence start kindergarten. out and experiment with robotic solutions. underestimated both how often they picked up their phones so we can respond in the right way and help our children (Source: npr.org) (Source: euronews.com) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 12 SOCIETY AUGUST 6, 2019

Rare Baillon’s crake spotted in Will Iran experience above-normal wetland

ENVIRONMENT TEHRAN — Rare bird species of Baillon’s deskcrake have been spotted for the first time in rainfall during autumn? Gandoman wetland located in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, said Shahram Ahmadi, the provincial ENVIRONMENT TEHRAN — According country fluctuates from normal to above department of environment chief. deskto the forecasts, El Niño– normal, he explained. The Baillon’s crake (Porzana pusilla), or Marsh crake is a very Southern Oscillation (ENSO), is in a neutral The IOD is an irregular oscillation of small water bird of the family Rallidae, which are 16–18 cm in length, phase during autumn, not contributing to sea-surface temperatures in which the and have a short straight bill, yellow or green without a red base. a rise in precipitations in the country, es- western Indian Ocean becomes alter- pecially during autumn and winter, Iman nately warmer and then colder than the Babaeian, head of the climatological research eastern part of the ocean. It involves an institute affiliated to Iran’s Meteorological aperiodic oscillation of sea-surface tem- Organization has said. peratures, between “positive”, “neutral” The ENSO cycle has three phases called and “negative” phases. A positive phase the neutral phase, El Niño and La Niña. It is sees greater-than-average sea-surface a scientific term that describes the fluctua- temperatures and greater precipitation tions in temperature between the ocean and in the western Indian Ocean region, with atmosphere in the east-central Equatorial a corresponding cooling of waters in the Pacific (approximately between the Inter- eastern Indian Ocean, which tends to national Date Line and 120 degrees West). cause droughts in adjacent land areas In the neutral state (neither El Niño nor of Indonesia and Australia. Their breeding habitat is sedge beds in Europe, mainly in La Niña) trade winds blow east to west across Precipitation in western part of the the east, and across Asia. They used to breed in Great Britain up the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean, is expected to meet normal to the mid-19th century, but the western European population bringing warm moist air and warmer sur- or lower than normal averages over the declined through drainage. face waters towards the western Pacific and next month (August 23- September 22), Baillon’s crakes are listed as threatened on IUCN Red List keeping the central Pacific Ocean relatively while other parts of the country are fore- of threatened species 2016. However, their conservation status cool. The thermocline is deeper in the west casted to experience normal rainfall, he varies from state to state. than the east. The term El Niño refers to the large-scale explained. The bird has been sighted by a ranger and other rangers have The term El Niño refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction Also, during the next two months all identified it, IRNA quoted Ahmadi as saying on Monday. ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked linked to a periodic warming in sea surface provinces across the country will receive There have been no reports of the Baillon’s crakes in the province to a periodic warming in sea surface temper- normal rainfall except for Gilan province so far, he said. “Then, the bird was registered by the Bird Records atures across the central and east-central temperatures across the central and east- which is anticipated to experience below Committee. With the observation of this species, the number of Equatorial Pacific. central Equatorial Pacific. normal precipitation, he noted. identified species in the province reached 272,” he explained. La Niña is mainly referred to as the cold Temperature to rise nationwide Gandoman wetland, stretching to 1,070 hectares, is locat- phase of ENSO and El Niño as the warm phase Iran’s autumnal rainfall, Babaeian said contributing to a precipitation rise in the Elsewhere in his remarks, he stated ed in county. It is one of Iran’s top five birdwatching of ENSO. These deviations from normal that forecasting centers and models in country, especially during autumn and that temperature across Iran rises on sites and the country’s most important permanent habitat for surface temperatures can have large-scale Australia, the U.S. and Europe that have winter, he said, ISNA reported on Monday. average by 1.5 degrees Celsius during migratory birds. impacts not only on ocean processes, but been specially envisioning ENSO, have con- During the second month of autumn, this month and next month, while in- also on global weather and climate. sistently predicted in the past few months precipitation is expected to reach above creases by 2 degrees Celsius during the El Niño and La Niña episodes typically that ENSO will continue in weak El Niño normal averages in the northwest of the first month of autumn compared to the last nine to 12 months, but some prolonged phase until this winter. country, while other areas will experience long-term averages. Warm weather may make events may last for years. While their fre- El Niño led to an increase in precipitation below normal rainfall, he added. Sadeq Ziaeian, director of the national quency can be quite irregular, El Niño and in the Middle East and Iran in particular, Iran meets normal rainfall av- center for drought and crisis manage- 2019 a boom year for La Niña events occur on average every two but the latest forecast of these centers has erages ment, affiliated to the Meteorological butterflies, say experts to seven years. Typically, El Niño occurs emphasized that during autumn and winter This month, due to the eastern waves Organization has said that Iran expe- more frequently than La Niña. this year, ENSO will be in neutral phase, in the southern half of the country and rienced an average 1.7 degrees Celsius How ENSO affects autumnal he added. the positive phase of the Indian Ocean temperature rise during the past Iranian The common blue butterfly could be booming in the UK thanks to rainfall in Iran? According to the forecasts, ENSO is in Dipole (IOD), the average rainfall in the calendar month of Tir (June 22-July 22) recent spells of hot weather, according to a conservation charity. Referring to the impact of ENSO on a neutral phase during autumn, thus not southern and southeastern coasts of the compared to the long-term mean. Experts are predicting that the July heatwave and Met Of- fice forecasts for above-average temperatures in August might mean that the common blue has its “best ever summer”, Butterfly Conservation said. Melting Greenland ice sheet threatens coastal cities around The butterfly has been struggling for the last 40 years, accord- ing to the charity, but common blue populations increased by 104% in the summer of 2018 compared with the previous year, world, scientist warns thanks to warm weather. A Cambridge scientist has warned that the “decaying” lost from the Greenland sheet every year. Last summer, overall butterfly numbers were up 110% on of the Greenland ice sheet risks pushing up the sea level If the entire Greenland ice sheet melted the sea level 2017 in England and 94% in , according to the charity. and threatens coastal cities around the world. would rise by seven meters, flooding most of the world’s The top of the male common blue’s wings is bright blue and Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics and head coastal cities, the professor warned. unmarked, whereas females have orange crescents and dark spots of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at the University of “It’s decaying and decaying quite rapidly,” he said. near the edge of their wings that vary from purple to dark brown, Cambridge, said he had observed first hand changes WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said of global with a tinge of blue near to the body. to conditions in the Arctic. weather conditions: “This is not science fiction. It is the Dr Zoe Randle, Butterfly Conservation’s senior surveys officer, The 71-year-old, who has led 55 expeditions to the reality of climate change. said: “People should be able to spot these butterflies in national region during his career, compared flowing melt water “It is happening now and it will worsen in the future park areas as their caterpillars mainly feed on the wildflower to the “Niagara Falls” as ice in the region disappeared. without urgent climate action.” and common bird’s-foot trefoil.” It could also be a record year Speaking to the Press Association from near the settle- In Greenland, Mr Wadhams said there was now “a for the painted lady butterfly, which is covered in orange, brown ment of Kangerlussuaq on the south-west edge of Green- huge epidemic of icebergs being emitted” as water flow and white markings, she added. land, Mr Wadhams said there had been “large changes” drives glaciers out to sea. (Source: The Guardian) to the area since his last visit five years ago. “Most of the other glaciers in the world are already “It’s certainly a far more rapid rate of ice loss going more or less gone,” he said. WORDS IN THE NEWS on now than at any time in the past,” he said. “So there’s not much extra water to add from glaciers Mr Wadhams added: “The rate of global sea level tion (WMO), July 2019 had at least equaled and possibly from other parts of the world. Nepal in Crisis rise ... is really completely dependent now on the loss exceeded the record for the hottest month in history. “Greenland is now the driver for global sea level rise from the Greenland ice sheet, that’s going to be going It followed data showing the world had experienced and will be until the ice has gone from [the country].” (June 4, 2001) up quite rapidly. the warmest June on record. He described witnessing “a raging torrent” passing A new King has been crowned in Nepal. The second in three days. “The first time I was here 30 years ago, there was never Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the and beneath a bridge in Kangerlussuaq and the appearance of Elizabeth Blunt reports: any melt from the Greenland ice sheet even in summer.” the UK all saw new national temperature records on 25 July. “black ice” as centuries old dirt is left behind by melting ice. The professor, who first visited the Arctic in 1969, The Met Office said it took a recording of 38.7C at “Some of it is really dark, it means that it reflects less of The coronation ceremony inside Kathmandu›s old palace was said the melting of ice had moved from the low alti- Cambridge Botanic Garden, officially the highest tem- the radiation of the sun that falls on it,” the professor said. solemn and dignified. Gyanendra - King Birendra›s younger tude edges of the Greenland ice sheet to include its perature recorded in the UK. “That means it’s absorbing radiation and warming brother - was installed on a throne modelled on that of the surface at the centre.in global sea level after melting Wildfires struck areas of Siberia in Russia in July, it faster still.” god Vishnu, with a many-headed golden serpent on the back. of Greenland ice sheet with the plumes of smoke visible from space. Mr Wadhams is in Greenland to help scope out a suit- But when his carriage emerged into the streets of Kathmandu, “It’s coming down more or less like Niagara Falls, down According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Cen- able location for a new global electric car rally. the new King, still wearing his plumed crown, was jeered through holes all over the ice sheet,” he said. tre, the loss of ice extent in the Arctic in the first half of Extreme E will see teams race head-to-head in the and whistled at by the crowds. Prince Gyanendra - as he then His comments came after a period of record-breaking July matched rates from 2012, the year with the lowest Arctic, the Himalayas, the desert, the Amazon rainfor- was - managed to escape the palace massacre because he was temperatures that hit the world in recent months. September sea ice extent in the satellite record. est and an island in the Indian Ocean. out of Katmandu, in Western Nepal, at the time. But his wife According to the World Meteorological Organisa- Mr Wadhams said 300 cubic kilometers of ice was (Source: The Independent) and son were there, and his wife was wounded in the shooting. His son - Prince Paras - may be one reason for the new King›s unfriendly reception; he has the reputation of being a rich ENGLISH IN USE man who spends most of his time enjoying, and when a popular musician was killed in a road accident last year, the Nepalese LEARN NEWS TRANSLATION press carried reports that Prince Paras - who now becomes Crown Prince - had been at the wheel. In a curious twist, this is actually King Gyanendra›s second Persian literature Olympiad to be held المپياد ادبی از سال 98 به صورت جهانی coronation; he was briefly installed as king once before - as a three-year-old boy - when the rest of the royal family fled to internationally next calendar year برگزار میشود India amid threats of a revolution. But in his adult life he has to some extent managed to escape the hothouse atmosphere Persian literature Olympiad will be held internationally in Iran معــاون مرکــز ملــی پــرورش اســتعدادهای درخشــان گفــت: المپیــاد ادبــی از ســال of the royal family, and build an outside life for himself as a in the next Iranian calendar year (starting on March 21), deputy 1398 بــه صــورت جهانــی برگــزار می شــود. businessman and conservationist. This greater worldliness director at National Organization for Development of Exceptional may be his best asset as he attempts to establish himself as the Talents affiliated to Education Ministry has said. عنایــت ســاالریان در گفتوگــو بــا خبرگــزاری فــارس در تشــریح المپیادهــای علمــی new King of Nepal. In a collaborative attempt between National Library of Iran, ECO Words Cultural Institute, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Sa’di Foundation امســال اظهــار کــرد: المپیــاد ادبــی از ســال 1398 بــا کمــک تعــدادی از ســازمانهای coronation ceremony - a formal event where a King or Queen فرهنگــی مثــل کتابخانــه ملــی، موسســه فرهنگــی اکــو، دانشــگاه عالمــه طباطبایــی، بنیــاد is crowned and Academy of Persian Language and Literature, the Olympiad solemn - serious rather than cheerful will be held in Iran, Fars news agency quoted Enayat Salarian as ســعدی و فرهنگســتان ادب فارســی بــه صــورت جهانــی برگــزار می شــود. .dignified - calm and impressive saying on Wednesday ســاالریان ادامــه داد: همچنیــن در ســال 2020 اولیــن المپیــاد جهانــی ســلولهای a throne - a special chair used by a King or Queen Moreover, he added, the first international student Olympiad on modelled on - based on or inspired by بنیــادی بــه میزبانــی و بــا ابــداع ایــران برگــزار می شــود. stem cells and regenerative medicine in the name of Iran will be plume - a large bird’s feather held in 2020. jeer - if you jeer at someone you say rude or unfriendly things unfriendly reception - the way people react to the King is unfriendly at the wheel - driving PREFIX/SUFFIX PHRASAL VERB IDIOM In a curious twist - a twist in a story is an unexpected development to some extent - partially, not completely “-ectomy” Tell somebody off Packed (in) like sardines hothouse atmosphere - a hothouse is a heated glass building where plants grow. It is also used to describe a place where there Meaning: removal Meaning: if someone in authority tells you off, they speak Explanation: very tightly or snugly packed together, is a lot of intense intellectual or emotional activity going on For example: Remember, no two people undergoing to you angrily about something wrong that you have done especially in a small space worldliness - experience of life in the outside world an appendectomy are alike. For example: Shelley was one of those kids who For example: We didn’t want to take more than one asset - something that is useful or helpful to a person was always getting told off at school. car, so we had to drive for about four hours packed like (Source: BBC) sardines in Jeff’s little sedan. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 WORLD IN FOCUS 13

India revokes disputed Kashmir’s Zakzaky granted bail for medical care abroad special status with rush decree 1 During the brutal crackdown, three of his sons lost their lives, his wife sustained serious wounds, and some 350 TEHRAN — The Indian government has 370 an aggression against the 7 million people of his followers were killed. rushed through a presidential decree to living in the disputed region. Since then, the government has been violently cracking scrap a special status for India-admin- The law dates to 1927, when an order down on the IMN and its members. istered Kashmir, the most far-reaching by the administration of the-then princely The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), based political move on the disputed region in state of Jammu and Kashmir gave the state’s in London, said last month that the cleric’s health condition nearly seven decades. subjects exclusive hereditary rights. had further deteriorated, since he was reportedly poisoned Home Minister Amit Shah told parlia- Two months after India won independ- in prison. ment on Monday that the president had ence from the British rule in August 1947, The cleric’s son, Mohammad, told Press TV on July 6 that signed a decree abolishing Article 370 of Maharaja Hari Singh, the ruler of Jammu and his father was in dire need of medical treatment, as “large the constitution that gave a measure of Kashmir, signed a Treaty of Accession for the and dangerous quantities of lead and cadmium have been autonomy to the Muslim-majority Him- state to join the rest of the union, formalized found in his blood.” He said that the authorities intended alayan region. in Article 370 of the Indian constitution. to murder his father since they refuse to take any measures. “The entire constitution will be applicable Further discussions culminated in the Recently, a Nigerian court granted the government per- to Jammu and Kashmir state,” Shah said 1952 Delhi Agreement, a presidential order mission to label the IMN as a “terrorist” group, a move that to loud protests from opposition legislators that extended Indian citizenship to the res- many believe would give the officials the opportunity to clamp who were against the repeal. idents of the state but left the maharaja’s down harder on it. Article 370 of the constitution forbid Indi- privileges for residents intact. According to Press TV, IMN members regularly take to ans outside the state from permanently set- Kashmir is divided between India and Pa- the streets of the Nigerian capital to call for the release of tling, buying land, holding local government kistan and both claim the region in its entirety. Zakzaky. jobs and securing education scholarships. The Indian-administered part of the In recent weeks, dozens of demonstrators have been killed The decree, which was issued hours after territory has been in the grip of a rebellion after Nigerian troops used live ammunition and tear gas. imposing a major security clampdown in Shah said the government also decided Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufi tweeted that for three decades that has left tens of thou- The IMN says it has lost at least 20 of its members during the disputed region, said the measure came to split the state into two union territories the government’s decision is “illegal” and sands dead. the clashes. into force “at once”. - Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a “unconstitutional”. Article 35A of India’s constitution per- Critics of such a measure say that in legislature, and Ladakh, which will be ruled “Today marks the darkest day in Indian mitted the local legislature in Kashmir to doing away with Article 370, the govern- directly by the central government without democracy,” Mufti wrote. define permanent residents of the region. ment hopes to change India-administered a legislature of its own. What is Article 370? The article came into being in 1954 by a Russia will be ‘forced’ to make Kashmir’s Muslim-majority demographics Despite the blackout on internet services Regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir presidential order under the constitution’s by allowing in a flood of new Hindu residents. in the region, Jammu and Kashmir’s former had earlier called attempts to revoke Article Article 370, Al Jazeera reported. new missiles if U.S. does same: Putin U.S. seeks to renew Pacific islands security pact to foil China TEHRAN— President Vladimir Putin Monday said Russia would be “forced” to develop new missiles if the U.S. does TEHRAN — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “I’m pleased to announce the United States has begun the same, after Washington pulled out of a Cold War-era Monday negotiations have begun with three Pacific island negotiations on extending our compacts ... they sustain de- nuclear arms deal last week. nations to renew a national security agreement that would mocracy in the face of Chinese efforts to redraw the Pacific.” “Russia will be forced to begin the full-scale develop- help Washington counter growing Chinese influence in Pompeo, who is the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit ment of similar missiles” if it receives information the United the region. Micronesia, spoke after meeting the leaders of Micronesia, States has completed new systems, the president said in a Under the terms of the deal, known as the Compact of the Marshall Islands and Palau. statement, AFP reported. Free Association, the U.S. military have exclusive access The three tiny Pacific nations have gained greater strategic to airspace and territorial waters of the Federated States of significance in recent years due a push by China into the Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. In exchange, region. During a visit to Sydney on Sunday, U.S. Defense the small islands receive financial assistance. Secretary Mark Esper described China’s actions as both Trump proposes tighter gun “Today, I am here to confirm the United States will help “aggressive” and “destabilizing.” you protect your sovereignty, your security, your right to Laying the foundations for negotiations, U.S. President control tied to immigration live in freedom and peace,” Pompeo told reporters in Pohn- Donald Trump in May hosted the leaders of the Federated pei State, one of four members of the Federated States of States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau - a reform Micronesia. rare state visit for such small countries< Reuters reported. TEHRAN — U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Monday that Republicans and Democrats agree on tighter gun control and link this to his pet project of immigration reform. “Republicans and Democrats must come together and get S. Korea, U.S. hold ‘war games’ despite North Korea warnings strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legisla- TEHRAN — South Korea and the United of its troops from Washington. It did not treaty, an American general will take com- Singapore last year, when the latter tion with desperately needed immigration reform,” Trump States were to begin a joint annual military confirm reports that the drills began on mand of their combined forces in the event signed a vague pledge to work towards tweeted as he prepared to address the nation on two weekend exercise on Monday, defying warnings Monday. of war, but Seoul has long sought to reverse “denuclearisation of the Korean Pen- mass shootings that left 29 dead and dozens wounded in from North Korea that the war games will The drills come after Pyongyang tested the position. insula”. Texas and Ohio. jeopardize nuclear negotiations between a series of short-range projectiles in re- Analysts say the military activities by A second summit in Hanoi in February “We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out Pyongyang and Washington. cent days, calling one of them a “solemn both sides could delay talks on the North’s broke up amid disagreement on sanctions of these two tragic events!” Trump wrote, AFP reported. “Our joint exercise to verify [Seoul’s] warning” to Seoul against pursuing the weapons programmes - which have seen relief and what the North might be willing capabilities for its envisioned retaking of mainly computer-simulated drills with it subject to multiple sets of the United to give up in return. wartime operational control is being pre- Washington. Nations Security Council sanctions - until Trump and Kim agreed to resume nu- pared,” a South Korean defense ministry The North had also warned that it might later this year. clear talks during their impromptu June Drone attack kills dozens at official said. call off its unilateral suspension of nuclear After a year of mutual threats and meeting in the Demilitarized Zone that The exercises will be focused on veri- and long-range missile tests if the drills mounting tensions, U.S. President Don- divides the peninsula, but that working-lev- wedding in Libya fying Seoul’s capabilities for its planned take place. ald Trump and the North’s leader Kim el dialogue has yet to begin, Al Jazeera TEHRN — At least 40 people have been reported killed and retaking of wartime operational control Under the U.S.-South Korea security Jong Un held an historic meeting in reported. dozens injured after an air attack hit a wedding ceremony in southwestern Libya, according to media reports. Reports said forces loyal to strongman Khalifa ‘Continuation of Yemen occupation perilous for UAE’ Haftar launched the attack on Sunday in the town of Murzuq. Al Jazeera learned that the victims were attending a wed- TEHRAN — The leader of the Houthi Ansarullah move- He added, “We do have troop levels that are down for Popular Committees would increase in case it presses ahead ding when the attack took place. ment has warned the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against reasons that are strategic in (the Red Sea city of) Hudaydah with its military aggression against Yemen. Nearly 1,100 people have been reported killed since Haftar, its continued occupation of Yemen, advising the Persian and reasons that are tactical” in other parts of the country. “We caution Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the based in eastern Libya, launched an offensive against the Gulf country to fully pull out its troops from the crisis-hit “It has very much to do with moving from what I would United States, against Yemeni mortal blows and their af- capital Tripoli on April 4. Arab country. call a military first strategy to a peace first strategy, and termath,” he said. On Saturday, Libya’s UN-recognised Government of Addressing his supporters via a televised speech broadcast this is I think what we are doing,” the Emirati official said. The Ansarullah head then stated that colonial powers National Accord (GNA) said it had downed an unmanned live from the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on Sunday afternoon, In late June, Western diplomatic sources said the UAE are seeking to advance divisive plots in the southern aerial vehicle (UAV) of Haftar’s forces. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi called on Abu Dhabi to cease its was mulling scaling back its military efforts in the war in Yemeni port city of Aden, emphasizing that stirring According to Al Jazeera, UN envoy Ghassan Salame has occupation of Yemen and to implement withdrawal plans. Yemen to focus on threats posed by the rising U.S.-Iran up insecurity in southern Yemen is aimed at such an proposed a ceasefire for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Houthi stated that the UAE should pull its military forc- tensions. objective. which starts around August 11, and has called for relaunching es out of Yemen, otherwise the situation would become Elsewhere in his remarks, the Ansarullah chief urged He called on all Yemeni factions to respect Islamic negotiations. perilous for the country. Saudi authorities to understand what is in their best teachings and work together in order to frustrate ene- On Friday, the European Union had also called for Libya’s An unnamed senior Emirati official told reporters on interests in the Middle East, and avoid stoking ten- mies’ schemes. warring sides to establish a permanent truce and return to July 8 that the Persian Gulf country was planning troop sions there. Houthi finally condemned Saudi Arabia’s politicization of UN-led talks to prepare for quick elections. draw-down in Yemen in what was claimed to be a shift from Houthi then warned the Riyadh regime that retaliatory Hajj pilgrimage and creating obstacles for Yemenis who On Sunday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron spoke a military strategy to a “peace” plan instead. attacks by Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied want to perform the Islamic ritual, Press TV reported. with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about the situa- tion in Libya calling for a ceasefire “very soon” between the Turkish, U.S. officials meet for talks on Syria safe zone warring sides. TEHRAN — Turkish and American military within Syria, east of the Euphrates River, on the safe zone stalled, and Turkish Presi- statement Monday saying that its military officials met Monday for negotiations about and wants no Syrian Kurdish forces there. dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened wing – the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Yemen forces launch drone establishing a safe zone in northeastern Syria Turkey sees the Syrian Kurdish fighters as a new military operation. Sunday, Erdogan Syrian Democratic Forces – is a “force to to address Ankara’s concerns about U.S.-allied terrorists aligned with a Kurdish insurgency renewed that threat. defend” Syria’s ethnic and cultural pluralism, attacks on two airports, Syrian Kurdish-led forces in that region. within Turkey. For their part, the Syrian Kurds say An- AP reported. airbase in Saudi Arabia The Turkish defense ministry tweeted that American troops are stationed in north- kara’s statements mask a grab of territory The council added that Ankara “is trying the meetings were taking place in Ankara. eastern Syria, along with the Kurdish forces, inside Syria that the Kurdish forces had to deceive the public” and to get the U.S. and TEHRAN — Yemeni forces have carried out drone attacks Turkey wants to control – in coordina- and have fought Daesh (ISIL) together. liberated from Daesh militants. other parties to “participate in the crimes that on two airports and an airbase in Saudi Arabia in retaliation tion with the U.S. – a 19-25 mile-deep zone In recent weeks, Turkish-U.S. negotiations The Syrian Democratic Council issued a Turkey is committing against humanity.” against the kingdom’s deadly aggression on their impover- ished country. The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier Hong Kong leader warns protesters trying to ‹destroy› city General Yahya Saree, said in a statement on Monday that in the first drone attack, domestically-developed Qasef-2K TEHRAN— The chief executive of Hong Kong has perity,” Lam said. doors open to stop trains from departing, causing long (Striker-2K) targeted Najran Regional Airport in the king- warned that pro-democracy protesters are trying to The Chinese-controlled city has been paralyzed by months queues and triggering sporadic scuffles between angry dom’s southwest. “destroy” the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city of anti-government protests in reaction to an extradition commuters and protesters. The air traffic came to a halt after the attack, he added. as the financial hub is rocked by two months of rallies bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent Hong Kong police said 44 people were taken into custody The second attack, Saree said, targeted military and strate- and clashes. to mainland China for trial, with demonstrators demand- and dozens more have already been charged with rioting, gic positions at King Khalid Air Base near the city of Khamis Carrie Lam said on Monday that anti-government pro- ing Lam’s resignation and a permanent withdrawal of the Press TV reported. Mushait in the southwestern province of Asir. tests and clashes with police over extradition laws have controversial bill. “Such extensive disruptions in the name of certain Also in Asir, the Yemeni drones attacked Abha Interna- pushed Hong Kong towards a “very dangerous situation.” Moreover, a general strike is underway in Hong Kong demands or uncooperative movement has seriously un- tional Airport on Monday, suspending flights. The pro-Beijing leader also accused protesters of using amid widespread protests and rallies, which have disrupt- dermined Hong Kong’s law and order and are pushing Saree noted that the attacks were in response to the chaos in the financial hub over the past months as a cover ed businesses, shut down government offices and blocked our city, the city that we all love and many of us helped crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition, referring to hide “ulterior motives.” roads in the Asian financial center. to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation,” to the 21 Saudi airstrikes that have hit Yemen over the “They say (they) want a revolution and to liberate Official reports state that over 100 flights were cancelled Lam said. past 48 hours. Hong Kong. These (actions) are already far beyond their at the city’s airport and rail operators also announced the The Hong Kong’s chief executive added that widespread According to Press TV, Saudi Arabia and a number of its original political demands, and challenge our nation- suspension of services in major districts. disruptions and violence were putting the residents “in a regional allies -- including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) al sovereignty. These illegal actions endanger the ‘one During the morning rush hour, activists descended on state of great anxiety” and she vowed to continue cracking -- launched a brutal war against Yemen in March 2015. country, two systems’, and destroy Hong Kong’s pros- key subway stations in Hing Kong and deliberately kept down on the violence and disorder. I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 14 WORLD SPORTS AUGUST 6, 2019

Barcelona skipper Messi out Man Utd make Maguire world’s of U.S. tour with calf strain

Barcelona skipper will not travel to the United States for the club’s pre-season tour after sustaining a calf problem on his most expensive defender return to training from a close season break, the La Liga champions said on Monday. The Argentine forward experienced discomfort in his right Manchester United signed Harry Maguire Red Devils finally paid the fee the Foxes’ leg during Monday’s training session and tests confirmed that from Leicester on Monday for a reported demanded. the 32-year-old had suffered a grade one calf strain, forcing him £80 million fee that makes the England Solskjaer had made strengthening out of the tour. centre-back the world’s most expensive central defence a priority, with that need “Messi will remain in Barcelona... his availability to come back defender. only becoming more acute when Eric Bailly to action will be dictated by his recovery,” Barcelona said in a United have secured Maguire on a six- suffered a knee injury during the pre-season statement on their website. year contract with an option for a further tour of China which is expected to keep him Barcelona are set to travel to the U.S. later on Monday, with 12-month extension. out for at least four months. two friendly matches scheduled against Italian Serie A side Napoli The £75 million Liverpool paid for Virgil Maguire’s arrival also continues the on Aug. 7 (Miami) and 10 (Michigan). van Dijk in 2018 was the previous record trend of United targeting young British (Source: Reuters) fee for a defender. talent rather than big-name foreign imports. However, Juventus’ capture of Van The English giants have already splashed Dijk’s Netherlands teammate Matthijs de nearly £70 million on promising youngsters Man City in talks to sign Ligt earlier this month (July) could rise to Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. 85.5 million euros (£77 million) in add-ons. Maguire started his career at Sheffield Juventus’ Cancelo in swap It is also a record fee between Premier United before making the leap into the League clubs, surpassing Van Dijk’s move Premier League with Hull in 2014. deal with Danilo to Anfield from Southampton and Romelu After impressing even as the Tigers were Manchester City are in talks with Juventus over a deal to sign Lukaku’s switch from Everton to Manchester relegated two years ago, he joined Leicester right-back Joao Cancelo with full-back Danilo United. in a £17 million deal. moving the other way. “I am delighted to have signed for this His England debut followed in October There is no agreement yet but City manager Pep Guardiola is great club. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time 2017 and he emerged as one of the unlikely keen to strengthen his options on the right. at Leicester and would like to thank everyone stars of the World Cup, where he featured in City, who also have £45m England right-back Kyle Walker in at the club. However, when Manchester all of the Three Lions’ seven games and scored their squad, are expected to pay a fee in addition to 28-year-old United come knocking on your door, it is “Harry is one of the best centre-backs in Sunday that the champions couldn’t afford in the quarter-final victory over . Danilo joining Juve. an incredible opportunity,” Maguire told the game today and I am delighted we have his huge fee. That signified a meteoric rise for Maguire Cancelo, 25, has also played further forward as well as at left-back. United’s website. secured his signature,” he said. Meteoric rise who just two years previously had travelled He joined Juventus from Valencia for £35m in 2018 after spend- “From my conversations with the “He is a great reader of the game and Maguire, 26, shot to prominence for his as a fan to support England at Euro 2016. ing a season on loan at Inter Milan. manager, I am excited about the vision and has a strong presence on the pitch, with performances at last year’s World Cup as Nicknamed “slab head” by former Cancelo was part of the Portugal squad that won the Nations plans he has for the team. It’s clear to see the ability to remain calm under pressure England reached the semi-finals for the first Leicester teammate Jamie Vardy for his League earlier this summer although he did not play. that Ole is building a team to win trophies. I - coupled with his composure on the ball time since 1990. physical prowess in the air, Maguire has City signed Danilo from Real Madrid for £26.5m in 2017. am now looking forward to meeting my new and a huge presence in both boxes - I can United were interested in his signature also impressed with his ability to play out He has been involved in the Blues’ back-to-back Premier League team-mates and getting the season started.” see he will fit well into this group both on last summer, but baulked at Leicester’s from the back. title wins but has rarely been viewed as a first-choice. Maguire, 26, could make his debut in his and off the pitch. asking price. However, City were less in need to break Danilo has made 60 appearances in all competitions but only new club’s Premier League opener at home “He has a great personality and is a A year on and with the heart of their the bank for the 26-year-old after winning 22 league starts, the last of which came against on 3 April. to Chelsea on Sunday and United manager fantastic addition to the club.” defence brutally exposed in finishing sixth the first ever domestic treble of trophies in (Source: BBC) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is confident he will Manchester City had been interested in in the Premier League last season to miss English football history. live up to his hefty price tag. Maguire, but Pepe Guardiola admitted on out on Champions League qualification, the (Source: AFP) Aussie swimmer Horton says no regrets over Sun podium protest Hamilton hunts down Verstappen ‘Smiling Cinderella’ Shibuno claims

Mack Horton said he would have carried out his anti-doping po- to win in Hungary stunning Women’s British Open triumph dium protest against China’s Sun Yang even if he had known fellow Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton hunted ‘Smiling Cinderella’ Hinako Shibuno Australian swimmer Shayna Jack failed a drugs test. down Max Verstappen to win the Hungarian completed a fairytale week by winning The Olympic 400 metres gold medallist snubbed Sun for a Grand Prix for a record-extending seventh the Women’s British Open in her first photo-call and refused to shake his hand after a medal ceremony time on Sunday and surge 62 points clear LPGA event at Milton Keynes on Sunday. at last month’s world championships in South Korea, following a in the championship standings. The 20-year-old Japanese rank drug-testing controversy involving the Chinese star. Dutch 21-year-old Verstappen, who had outsider, who earned her nickname His stance won support among fellow competitors but provoked started from pole position for the first time, because of her radiant smile, rammed a furious reaction in China, which only intensified when it emerged was runner-up after being reeled in and home a lengthy birdie putt of just under 20 Jack failed an out-of-competition test in the lead-up to the world titles. overtaken four laps from the end with his feet at the final hole to edge out American She returned home before the meet started and Horton only tyres worn to the limit. Lizette Salas by one stroke. learned of her positive result -- which she has vowed to fight -- after “That was definitely a tall order but Playing outside Japan for the first his protest. But he insisted it would not have affected his decision I’m grateful we did it,” said Hamilton of time as well as in her first major, Shibuno to take a stand. a strategy that left him with a gap of almost reacted with glee and astonishment, “It was hard. It’s really hard,” he told Channel Seven late on 20 seconds to close in the final 22 laps. covering her mouth with her hand after Sunday, describing his reaction on hearing about Jack’s positive test. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished third “It was difficult to get by, the defence the winning putt rattled in at Woburn “I feel like it’s better to be behind But Horton added that “nothing changes” about his podium protest. and more than a minute behind — an eter- was great, and I didn’t know if I could catch for a closing four-under-par 68. than leading. That was true today and “The difference being, as soon as she returns a positive sample, nity in Formula One terms — as the top that 19-second gap,” said the Briton of a She finished on 18-under 270 to become I was able to play easier when I was in she’s returned to Australia, she’s not competing at a world cham- two waged their own private battle in the battle with Verstappen that ebbed and the second Japanese woman to win a major, that position. pionships,” he said. heat of the Hungaroring. flowed throughout the race. after Hisako “Chako” Higuchi in 1977. “I was looking at the board all the time, “That gives me faith in the Australian system. We won’t let our Hamilton, who also triumphed in Hun- “I just kept my head down, and each Salas, two behind overnight, caught and knew my position, where I stood in the own athletes get away with it, (so) we can question and demand gary last year and is heading inexorably lap was like a qualifying lap. I know if (late Shibuno on the front nine and thought tournament. That was also true before the more from the rest of the world.” towards a sixth title, now has 250 points, Mercedes non-executive chairman and triple she had done enough with a seven-under putt on the 18th and I was also thinking (Source: France 24) with team mate Valtteri Bottas on 188 and champion) Niki (Lauda) was here today, 65 final round. about if I were to make this putt, how I Verstappen closing in fast on 181. he would take his hat off.” But Shibuno, ranked 559 in the world was going to celebrate.” The email that could prove The win in the last race before the August Verstappen, who made a late pitstop at the start of the year, found five birdies Runner-up Salas rued a five-foot birdie break was Hamilton’s eighth in 12 rounds after being passed and then made sure of on the way home. putt at the final hole that lipped out. Griezmann negotiated with this season and the 81st of his career — 10 an extra point for the fastest lap, crossed “I still feel like I’m going to vomit,” “I’m not going to lie, I was nervous,” short of seven-times champion Michael the line 17.7 seconds behind Hamilton. Shibuno said moments after her victory. she said. “I haven’t been in that position Barcelona in March Schumacher’s all-time record. “They rolled the dice and it worked for “I was more nervous on the front nine in a long time. I gave it a good stroke. I Bottas, starting on the front row, finished them, unfortunately. But you drove your but I was OK on the back nine. I felt like I controlled all my thoughts. It just didn’t Sevan Karian, one of ’s representatives, re- a forlorn eighth after a fight back from last heart out,” team boss Christian Horner was going to cry on the 18th but the tears drop, so congrats to our winner.” portedly sent an email to the player’s sister Maud and his father place following an early stop to change a told the youngster. didn’t come out.” South Korean Ko Jin-young (66) Alain in March. front wing damaged as he and Hamilton “I think Lewis today was on fire as well,” Shibuno, who started the day with a finished two shots behind in third This email is said to have contained information on Barcelona’s made light contact on the opening lap. Verstappen told reporters. two-shot lead, double-bogeyed the third place, completing a magnificent major offer for the Frenchman, as well as a draft containing salary proposals. Hamilton, using fresher and faster me- “We were just not fast enough but I tried hole, which perhaps was a blessing in campaign that included victories at the This is according to El Mundo, who have had access to the email dium tyres on a switched two-stop strategy everything I could on those hard tyres to disguise in that it relieved the pressure ANA Inspiration in April and last week’s and who report that Atletico Madrid chief executive Miguel Angel after starting third, lapped all but the three stay alive. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough of being the frontrunner. Evian Championship. Gil Marin also has a copy of the email. behind him in a complete turnaround but, to finish second with the fastest lap, “I don’t think many people, including “I had a little pressure, but I like that This document could, therefore, be a key piece of evidence in from his poor performance in Germany it was a good weekend overall.” me, like to be in a situation where you’re pressure,” world number one Ko said. Atletico Madrid’s case against Barcelona. the previous weekend. (Source: Reuters) leading,” she said. (Source: Eurosport) The capital city side are claiming that Barcelona should have paid 200 million euros for Griezmann because this was the amount stated in his release clause before it dropped on July 1 to 120m euros, the figure the Catalan club ended up paying. Their argument is that Barcelona were negotiating with their Malcom could leave Zenit just three days after move over racist abuse player before the release clause dropped, although the Blaugrana deny that a pre-contract agreement existed. Malcom could be forced out of Zenit St Petersburg just the club are looking to sell Malcom in January in a bid (Source: Marca) three days after joining the club, after supporters unveiled to appease supporters. a racist banner rejecting black players during his debut The 22-year-old, who joined Barcelona last season on Saturday. from French club Bordeaux, made just 24 appearances Kyrgios edges Medvedev to win The Brazilian winger moved to the Russian club from for Ernesto Valverde’s side in his debut campaign. Spanish giants Barcelona for an initial fee of £41million This is not the first time that the club’s supporters ATP Washington Open title only last week. have come under the microscope. However, when making his first appearance for his new Back in 2012, Zenit’s largest fans’ group, Landscrona, Shaking off back spasms to blast 18 aces, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios employers against Krasnodar on Saturday, fans displayed said in an open letter that black players are ‘forced down kept his composure and captured the ATP Washington Open title a banner that slammed the club for moving away from Zenit’s throat’. Sunday, defeating Russia’s 10th-ranked Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), the supporters’ wishes of not recruiting black players. They added that gay players are ‘unworthy of our great 7-6 (7/4). The controversial sign, that it is claimed was displayed city’. Dietmar Beiersdorfer, Zenit’s former director of The 24-year-old Aussie, who struggled through the opening set, for around 10 minutes, sarcastically read: ‘Thanks to sports, insisted at the time that players were selected claimed the $365,390 top prize and his sixth career ATP crown at the leadership for loyalty to the traditions’. ‘without any limitation regarding origin, religion or the US Open tuneup event. Another said ‘RIP Selection 12’, making reference skin colour’. “This is probably my best memory of a final,” Kyrgios said. “I to a manifesto created by Zenit fans that sets out their Zenit were the only top-flight Russian team without a left it all on the court.” desired recruitment policy. black player until the summer of 2012 when they signed Kyrgios, 5-1 this year against top-10 rivals, won his second title of A statement from the supporters in question insisted ‘Now, black players for Zenit are being forced almost Brazilian striker Hulk and Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel the season after Acapulco in March and will jump 25 positions to 27th the move was not racially motivated but that signing a by force, and this causes only backlash. Let us be what for £64m. in Monday’s new rankings, his first top-30 appearance in 43 weeks. black player would ‘cause only backlash’. we are.’ It is the latest racial incident to shame Russian “This has been one of the greatest weeks of my life. I’ve made It read: ‘We are not racist and for us the absence of Zenit also issued a statement denying that the banner football. Zenit’s Krestovsky Stadium was the scene of massive strides,” Kyrgios said. “This whole week has been amazing. black players is just an important tradition, emphasizing was racist. It read: ‘Zenit Football Club are aware a banner disgusting racial chants aimed at French duo It’s a week I won’t forget.” the identity of the club and nothing more. was revealed by a small number of individuals that read and Ousmane Dembele before the country hosted the Known for his fiery temperament and inconsistency, Kyrgios ‘We, as the northernmost club of the major European “Thank you leadership for believing in tradition” and that World Cup last summer. was resilient all week, breaking racquets but holding his emotions cities, have never been mentally connected with Africa, the meaning of this statement has been misrepresented Meanwhile, in January 2018 Spartak Moscow uploaded together -- “super proud” of his composure. however, as with South America or Australia or Oceania. in various parts of the media, and based on these a video of black players training outside with the message: “In the past six months, it’s crazy to think how much I’ve been ‘We have absolutely nothing against the inhabitants misrepresentations, incorrect conclusions have been ‘See how chocolate melts in the sun.’ The Twitter message able to turn it around,” Kyrgios said. “I’m working hard to be better of these or any other continents, but at the same time we drawn that have no basis in reality.’ was also accompanied by chocolate bar emojis. as a player and a person. (Source: AFP) want players who are close in spirit to speak for Zenit. It is now being reported by Spanish outlet AS that (Source: Daily Mail) I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y AUGUST 6, 2019 SPORTS 15

Iran Greco-Roman team win Modibo Maïga fails medical, Persepolis move called off

SPORTS TEHRAN — Malian forward Modibo Maïga 2019 Cadet World deskwill not be joining Persepolis after he failed SPORTS TEHRAN — Iran Greco-Roman team the mandatory medical exam. deskclaimed the title of the 2019 Cadet World The 31-year-old forward, Championships on Sunday night in Sofia, Bulgaria. who has most recently played Reza Saki from Iran, a 2019 Cadet Asian silver at Buriram United of Thailand, medalist, defeated Russian Stepan Starodubtsev, arrived in Tehran early Thurs- who was second at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, day to undergo a medical. for the crown at 71 kg. But he failed to pass the Starodubtsev led, 1-0, at the break, but just moments medical since the MRI con- into the second period, Saki scored on a four-point arm firmed that he broke his ankle throw. He held onto the lead for the remainder of the in the past. bout, winning gold with a 4-1 victory. A full international for Mali For the title at 51 kg, Saeid Esmaeili used a first-period since 2007, he was part of their takedown to give him an eventual 2-1 win over Elmir squads at the four Africa Cup of Aliyev from Azerbaijan. It was both wrestlers’ first World Nations tournaments, helping Championships. them to third place in the 2012 To open the night, 2019 Cadet Asian champion Sa- and 2013 editions. matbek IZIMGALI (KAZ) spent only 59 seconds on the Maïga’s Cheick Tidiane mat to claim the gold medal at 45 kg, defeating Asadbek Diabaté has recently joined Persepolis’s arch rivals Esteghlal. BAKHRAMAOV (UZB) by fall. Iran had previously won two gold medals in the opening day. Amiireza Dehbozorgi had defeated Ziya Babashov from Azerbaijan 3-1 in the 48kg final bout and Shahrokh Hadi Choopan denied U.S. Mikaeili emerged victorious over Armenian Razmik visa ahead of Olympia 2019 Kurdyan in the 110kg final. Securing two individual champions on Sunday, Iran won the team title with 148 points, followed by Azerbaijan Iranian bodybuilder Hadi Choopan still won’t have his U.S. visa, with 123 points and Russia with 99 points. preventing him from competing at the Olympia 2019. Finals matchups Choopan has again been denied his U.S. visa just one month 45 kg away from the Mr. Olympia 2019. This will prevent Choopan from GOLD - Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ) df. Asadbek BAKH- competing at the competition despite qualifying again this year. RAMAOV (UZB), fall 1:00 This comes shortly after Hadi Choopan had competed in the BRONZE - Tamazi GLONTI (GEO) df. Vladyslav GOLD - Maksim SKURATOV (RUS) df. Mert ILBARS Abdolreza ARGHASH (IRI), 5-3 Vancouver pro – with no difficulties applying and being accepted KURKURIN (UKR), 4-0 (TUR), 5-0 92 kg for a Canada visa. BRONZE - Farid SADIKHLI (AZE) df. Mahdi Kioumars BRONZE - Arman VARDANYAN (ARM) df. Zhanbolot GOLD - Lachin VALIYEV (AZE) dec. Muhammed EV- The difficulties may be stemmed from president Donald AHADI ZENAB (IRI), 8-1 TURATBEKOV (KGZ), 6-0 LOEV (RUS), 2-2 Trump’s travel ban since Choopan is from Iran. 48 kg BRONZE - Nika BROLADZE (GEO) df. Seyed Danial BRONZE - Oktay DEMIR (TUR) df. Maik HAIMOV (Source: New York Post) GOLD - Amirreza Mohammadreza DEHBOZORGI (IRI) Seyed Shamsollah SOHRABI (IRI), 8-6 (ISR), 8-0 dec. Ziya BABASHOV (AZE), 3-1 65 kg BRONZE - Richard KARELSON (EST) df. Laszlo Csaba BRONZE – Rupin RUPIN (IND) dec. Riehan BOTHA GOLD - Dzmitry BONKA (BLR) dec. Sheroz OCHILOV VARSANYI (HUN), 3-0 (RSA), 5-0 (TJK), 6-2 110 kg Iran’s Mes Sungun look to BRONZE - Yerbol KAMALIYEV (KAZ) dec. Alibek BRONZE – Arman KHACHIKYAN (ARM) dec. Hojat GOLD - Shahrokh Abouzar MIKAEILI (IRI) dec. Razmik defend title at AFC Futsal AMIROV (RUS), 6-1 Hassan REZAEI (IRI), 9-8 KURDYAN (ARM), 1-0 51 kg BRONZE – Attila Tamas TOESMAGI (HUN) df. Neeraj BRONZE – Mate GOKADZE (GEO) df. Dominik Tomasz Club C’ship GOLD - Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) dec. Elmir NEERAJ (IND), 10-2 KRAWCZYK (POL), 8-0 ALIYEV (AZE), 2-1 71 kg BRONZE – Adolf BAZSO (HUN) dec. Grigorios KON- Iranian futsal club Mes Sungun Varzeqan are going to defend BRONZE - Volodymyr VOITOVYCH (UKR) df. Denis GOLD - Reza SAKI (IRI) df. Stepan STARODUBTSEV TOVOUNISIOS (GRE), 4-0 their title at the 2019 AFC Futsal Club Championship. MIHAI (ROU), 12-9 (RUS), 4-1 Team results Reigning champions Mes Sungun Varzeqan are primed to BRONZE - Edmond Armen NAZARYAN (BUL) df. Arshad BRONZE - Furkan TAS (TUR) df. Aliaksei PIAKHOTA 1. Iran – 148 defend their title in but will have to navigate past three- ARSHAD (IND), fall 2:56 (BLR), 7-0 2. Azerbaijan – 123 time champions Nagoya Oceans of Japan, United Arab Emirates’ 55 kg BRONZE - Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) df. Rauf Abdulla 3. Russia – 99 Al Dhafra Sports & Cultural Club and debutants Kazma SC of GOLD - Nihat Zahid MAMMADLI (AZE) df. Pravin ALIYEV (AZE), 6-0 4. Kazakhstan – 73 in Group D, the-afc.com reported. Pandurang PATIL (IND), 9-0 80 kg 5. Armenia – 73 Mes Sungun Varzeqan will be aiming to win the AFC Futsal BRONZE – Abror ATABAEV (UZB) dec. Seyitcan GOLD - Mykyta ALIEKSIEIEV (UKR) df. Gabriel LU- 6. Turkey – 70 Club Championship title for the second time when the Iranian BEYTEKIN (TUR), 6-4 PASCO (MDA), 12-3 7. India – 63 club starts the 2019 edition at the Bangkok Arena. BRONZE – Firuz MIRZORAJABOV (TJK) dec. Omar BRONZE – Maksat SAILAU (KAZ) df. Jonni Kunnari 8. Georgia – 63 The defending champions returns to the competition with new BUDAEV (RUS), 6-5 SARKKINEN (FIN), 8-0 9. Ukraine – 62 additions - Italian forward Wesley Porfirio Machado and goal 60 kg BRONZE – Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM) dec. Kamran 10. Uzbekistan – 49 poacher Mahdi Javid, who was the 2018 MVP and top scorer. The 2019 AFC Futsal Club Championship is the 10th edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship, an annual international misses FIVB Intercontinental Olympic Qualification futsal club tournament in Asia organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). SPORTS TEHRAN — Iran opposite spiker Shah- Yali and Mohammadreza Hazratpour It will be held in Bangkok, Thailand between 7–17 August 2019. desk ram Mahmoudi will miss the 2019 FIVB Men’s pools: (Source: the-afc) Men’s Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Pool A: Brazil, Egypt, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico Tournament. Pool B: USA, Belgium, Netherlands, Korea He came out of retirement in July but is not fully prepared Pool C: Italy, , Australia, Cameroon for the competition which takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia. Pool D: Poland, France, Slovenia, Tunisia joins Iran coach Igor Kolakovic has announced his 14-man Pool E: Russia, Iran, Cuba, Mexico team for the 2019 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Intercontinental Pool F: Canada, Argentina, , China Qatar’s Al Kharaitiyat Olympic Qualification Tournament. The winners of these pools to be played in single round-rob- Iran will raise the curtain on the competition with a in format in August will join hosts Japan in the volleyball TASNIM — Iranian international defender Pejman Montazeri match against Cuba on Aug. 9 in St. Petersburg, Russia. competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. joined Qatari football club Al Kharaitiyat. Team Melli will play Mexico and Russia in the following The Olympic qualification process will continue in Jan- The 35-year-old defender has joined Al Kharaitiyat on a one- days, respectively. uary 2020 with each of the five continental confederations year contract for an undisclosed fee. Squad: (AVC, CAVB, CEV, CSV, NORCECA) organizing its own Montazeri has already played in Qatari teams. He played in , Mohammad Mousavi, , Olympic qualification tournament to advance one team Umm-Salal and Al-Ahli from 2014 to 2017. , Pouria Fayazi, , Mohammdja- each per gender to Tokyo 2020. Montazeri started his playing career in Foolad in 2004 and vad Manavinezhad, , Masoud Gholami, Aliasghar The Olympic Games in Tokyo are from July 24 to Au- joined Esteghlal after three years. Mojarad, , Mohammadreza Moazen, Porya gust 9, 2020. Al Kharaitiyat SC, based in the town of Al Kharaitiyat, are best known for their football team of the . Iran emerge victorious over Russia in friendly SPORTS TEHRAN – Iran na- Mehran Shahintab’s side have been drawn World Cup since 1967 that will not occur Renard targets teamwork desktional basketball team with world’s second-ranked Spain, Puerto in the same year as the FIFA World Cup, defeated Russia 91-84 in Moscow Sunday Rico and Tunisia in Group C of the FIBA but a year following the latter. and success for Saudi Arabia night as part of preparation for the 2019 World Cup. Also, the group stage will expand from FIBA Basketball World Cup. The competition will be held in China 24 to 32 teams. The top eight teams, includ- Iran had already defeated Jordan 82-70 from 31 Aug. to 15 Sept. ing Japan as the hosts of the 2020 Summer Newly appointed head coach Hervé Renard has declared on Saturday. The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Olympics (and the top two teams from each that a sense of unity will be key if Saudi Arabia are to have Team Melli will leave Russia on Tuesday will be the 18th tournament of the FIBA of the Americas and Europe; and the top a successful future. to participate in a tournament in Greece. Basketball World Cup for men›s national team from each of Africa, Asia and Ocean- The Frenchman joined the Green Falcons ahead of their im- Iran will also partake at a tournament in basketball teams. ia) in this competition will qualify for the minent FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China China, where they will face Nigeria, Monte- Rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, this men›s basketball event in the 2020 Olympic 2023 Asian Qualifiers campaign, which begins in early September. negro and Poland from Aug. 19 to 25. edition will be the first FIBA Basketball Games in Tokyo. Renard - who became the first coach in history to win the Africa Cup of Nations title with two different nations when he led Zambia to glory in 2012 and succeeded again with Côte d’Ivoire three years later – was appointed following his resignation as Iran eye podium at 2019 FIVB U19 Boy’s World C’ship: Coach Morocco national team head coach last month. “Qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 is one of our main MNA — Iran U19 volleyball coach Moham- of the world event. be classified from first to eighth while the targets that we will work to achieve,” said the 50-year-old who mad Vakili said that his team have the chance The team will depart for Tunisia on August losers of playoff match will play classifica- guided Morocco to last year’s World Cup in Russia. and potential to stand at the podium of 2019 21, one week earlier than the official start of tion matches, with similar a quarterfinals, “We want to write history, but success will only happen if there FIVB Boy’s World Championship, which is the competitions, he said, noting, “We have semifinals, and finals system, to be classified is teamwork. Reaching the World Cup is a great experience, and slated to be held in Tunisia. the chance to hold a mini-tournament with from ninth to 16th. I would like to repeat it again. “Generally, there are eight teams that teams like Brazil in Tunisia.” Iran are seeded in Pool B of competition “However, we have to recognize that this thing will not be enjoy the chance of podium in the world The 2019 edition of FIVB Boy’s World along with , Italy, Colombia, easy, and that we have to work together to achieve it.” events and Iran are among them,” he said, Championship will be held from August 21 and Bulgaria. Vakili’s boys will face Bulgaria With Saudi Arabia’s Asian Qualifiers campaign set to begin against adding that European teams have made a to 30 in Tunis, Tunisia. According to FIVB, on August 22, the Czech Republic on Au- Yemen on September 10, Renard has revealed he will leave no stone good investment on their youth generations. the 20 participating teams will be divided gust 23, Colombia on August 24 and Italy unturned in order to achieve the success he wants – starting with “We have tried to analyze our rivals but into four pools of five teams each and will on August 25. this week’s AFC Champions League Round of 16 fixtures. we don’t know them exactly since teams play a round-robin tournament. The bot- With two gold, two silver, and two bronze “What is important for any coach is to adapt to the environ- change dramatically in this age category tom-ranked team of each pool will play medals, Iran are the third most decorated ment they find themselves in, so it is important for me to spend in every edition of the competitions. We classification matches for 17th-20th place team in the event after Brazil and Russia. long periods of time in Saudi Arabia,” he said. are the reigning champions and have the in a round-robin system. Iranians won their first title in 2007 where “I am in Riyadh for AFC Champions League match between chance to win the title and we have to play The other 16 teams progress to the Eight they defeated China in the final. Iran have Al Nassr and Al Wahda and will then return to Jeddah to attend well because all teams will try to show their Finals which consists of a playoff (first of taken part in 11 out of 15 editions of the games under the guidance of Vakili, defeating Rus- Tuesday’s game between Al Ahli vs Al Hilal. best while facing off Iran.” Pool A against fourth of Pool B etc). The so far managing to advance to the semifinal sia 3-1 in the final match in Bahrain. Amir “These matches will give me and my technical staff a chance Vakili made the remarks on Sunday after winners of the playoff matches will advance in eight ones. Hossein Esfandiar was then awarded the to assess the players who can best help me during my role with the team’s training session in Tehran ahead to the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals to Iran won the 2017 edition of the event, Most Valuable Player of the event. the national team.” (Source: the-afc) Prayer Times Noon:13:10 Evening: 20:24 Dawn: 4:42 (tomorrow) Sunrise: 6:17 (tomorrow) AUGUST 6, 2019 ART&CULTURE I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y www.tehrantimes.com Managing Director: Ali Asgari Editor-in-Chief: Mohammad Ghaderi Photos of Editorial Dept.: Fax: (+98 21) 88808214 — 88808895 [email protected] Switchboard Operator: Tel: (+98 21) 43051000 Advertisements Dept.: Telefax: (+98 21) 43051450 historical Persian Public Relations Office: Tel: (+98 21) 88805807 Subscription & Distribution Dept.: Tel: (+98 21) 43051603 www.eshterak.ir Distributor: Padideh Novin Co. Tel: 88911433 Webmaster: [email protected] inscriptions from Printed at: Jame Jam Bartar Borna - 44197737 Tehrantimes79 Tehrantimesdaily Caucasus on No. 18, Bimeh Alley, Nejatollahi St., Tehran, Iran P.o. Box: 14155-4843 Zip Code: 1599814713 display in Tehran ARTTEHRAN — An Focus on Persian Inscriptions”. deskexhibition displaying He has traveled to China, Tanzania, Kenya, a large collection of photos of Persian Turkey, Azerbaijan, India, Armenia and Russia inscriptions decorating historical monuments at his own expense to carry out the research. and ancient sites in the Caucasus opened “The research began five years ago and Monday at the Lorzadeh Gallery of the Iranian is covering countries in Asia, Africa and Academy of Arts in Tehran. Europe,” Rezvanfar said in the press release. GUIDE TO The photos were taken over the past few “From eastern China in Asia to Egypt SPIRITUAL AWAKENING years by Iranian scholar Mortez Rezvanfar in Africa and some countries in Europe, who works for the Research Institute of we find monuments that demonstrate our When God abases a creature, He deprives Cultural Heritage & Tourism, the academy common history with these countries and this him of art and knowledge. announced in a press release. exhibition that is related to the inscriptions Imam Ali (AS) “The Inscriptions in the North Caucasus and architectural decorations in the Caucasus and the South Caucasus, which belong to is part of this extensive research,” he added. the religious monuments dating back to the “These inscriptions, which are in Persian, Safavid period (1501–1736) and the Qajar period are the best documents to prove the vast Iranian writers’ short stories (1789–1925), mostly read verses of Persian expanse of Iranian cultural civilization in poems and religious texts or give information the world,” he noted. on Syrian war published in about the construction and restoration of the A number of the inscriptions also date monuments,” the academy wrote. back to the Sassanid period (224–651). “I Love You Damascus” Rezvanfar took the photos for a The exhibition will run until August 11 research project named “The Common at the academy located on Vali-e Asr Street, CULTURE TEHRAN — Short stories on the Syrian A poster for a photo exhibition of Persian inscriptions from the Caucasus at the Heritage of Iran and the World with a near Taleqani Avenue intersection. deskwar from a number of young Iranian writers Lorzadeh Gallery of the Iranian Academy of Arts in Tehran. have recently been published in a book titled “I Love You Damascus” in Tehran. Iranian artists Pakdel, Darabian selected Imam Musa Sadr’s “Man of Heaven” up Published by Shahid Kazemi Publications, the collection for Piracicaba cartoon exhibit jury for review in Tehran contains 10 stories by 10 women writers, including Afsaneh ARTTEHRAN — The CULTURE TEHRAN — “Man desk desk Gudarzi, Sara Esmaeili, Zahra renowned Iranian of Heaven”, a Tabatabai, Roqiyeh Babai and cartoonist Alireza Pakdel and his wife book containing Lebanese-Iranian Zahra Akhlaqi. Saba Darabian, who is an illustrator, philosopher and Shia religious leader The stories try to narrate the have been selected as members of the Musa al-Sadr’s lectures and articles events which portray part of this jury for the 46th Piracicaba International about Imam Ali (AS), will be reviewed crisis in the region. Humor Exhibition in Brazil, Irancartoon during a session in Tehran on August 14. Women, Iranian soldiers announced on Monday. Imam Ali’s outlook on life, his killed by Daesh, the domestic Works by the Iranian artists Ali Mirai, martyrdom, and the story of Ghadir, Front cover of “I Love You war in Syria, lives of women Amir-Reza Torkaman-Rahmani, Arash the day on which Imam Ali (AS) was Damascus” published by and children in captivity, and Forughi, Abbas Nasseri, Emad Salehi, appointed as successor to the Prophet Shahid Kazemi Publications. the Daesh 2017 attack on the Esmaeil Babai, Rahim Baqqal-Asghari Muhammad (S), are among the major Iranian parliament are among the main topics of the stories. Baghmisheh and Yassan Delfan will go topics of the book. on display in various categories of the The Islamic science scholar Mohsen exhibition, which will be held in Piracicaba Esmaeili who is also a member of from August 10 to October 27. the Assembly of Experts will deliver University of Toronto hosts Over 200 artists from 35 countries will a speech at the session, which is be participating in event. scheduled to be organized at the Imam Iranian film program Pakdel and Darabian are scheduled Musa Sadr Cultural Research Institute to hold workshops on illustration and located at 10 Abdolkarim Shariati Lane, ARTTEHRAN — The Iranian Association at the cartoon at the COTIP Technical College Iranian cartoonist Alireza Pakdel visits Hafte Tir Square. deskUniversity of Toronto (IAUT) is reviewing a of Piracicaba on Wednesday. Published by the Imam Musa Sadr Front cover of “Man of Heaven” lineup of Iranian films during a special program named “Didar”. the 46th Piracicaba International written by Imam Musa Sadr. Pakdel has received several awards Humor Exhibition in Piracicaba, Brazil Cultural Research Institute, the book Gaddafi’s ascent to power. for his works in various Iranian and on August 5, 2019. (Irancartoon). has been translated into Persian by international events, including the Golden Ahmad Nazem. When he was not seen in Tripoli, Hithi Award at the 1st Ferizaj International Contest and Exhibition in Norway. In August 1978, Musa al-Sadr, it was said he had left for Italy. While Cartoon Contest in Kosovo, first prize at He also won the Grand Prix of the World also known as Imam Musa Sadr, his fate is not known, it was widely the PAPB International Cartoon Festival Press Cartoon, one of the world’s largest disappeared with two aides on suspected that he was kidnapped at in Indonesia and third prize at A Colorful and most prestigious annual press cartoon his way to attend ceremonies the behest of Gaddafi, who may have Human World International Cartoon contests in Lisbon, Portugal in 2017. commemorating Libya’s Muammar viewed him as a religious rival. Afghan Mahmudi brothers to make their new movie in Iran ARTTEHRAN — Tehran-based Afghan to the 91st Academy Awards in the best foreign language deskbrothers Jamshid and Navid Mahmudi film category in 2018, however, it did not make the plan to make their new movie “To Die in the Pure Water” shortlist. on Afghan immigrants’ issues in The Mahmudi brothers’ other film “Parting”, which Iran, a public relations team for the film announced is another Afghan-Iranian co-production about love A scene from “Pale Mirrors” by Salem Salavati. on Monday. and migration, was Afghanistan’s submission to the Fourteen feature, short and documentary films have been selected The Mahmudi brothers’ latest film “Rona, Azim’s 89th Annual Academy Awards in 2017. to be screened in the program, which opened on July 24 and will Mother”, a co-production between Afghanistan and The film tells the story of teenage lovers Nabi and be running until August 28, IAUT has announced on its website. Iran, is scheduled to go on screen at Iranian theaters Fereshteh who are separated by her family’s flight from “Foruzan” by Mir Abbas Khosravinejad, “Vision” by Soheil Amir- in September. Afghanistan. After years apart, Nabi decides to find Sharifi, “You Are Still Here” by Katayun Parmar and Mohammad Starring Iranian actors Mohsen Tanabandeh and Fereshteh and risk the hardships of flight and resettlement Nurbakhsh, “Parviz” by Majid Barzegar, “Pale Mirrors” by Salem Mojtaba Pirzadeh, the film is about Azim, an Afghan in Europe with a hope for a better life. Salavati and “Invasion” by Shahram Mokri are among the films. refugee who works as a janitor in Tehran. While helping “Parting” was acclaimed at several international events, with his mother and his brother’s family plan to smuggle including the 9th Afghan International Film Festival Afghan filmmakers Navid (L) and Jamshid Mahmudi in themselves into Germany, he feels betrayed by his brother in and the Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon. an undated photo. when he abandons their mother. Their 2014 film “A Few Cubic Meters of Love”, a Ariana Grande returns to The film has received several awards in Iranian and 2018 and best film award at the Sharm el-Sheikh Asian love story between an Iranian worker and an Afghan acting roots in “Kidding” international events, including Kim Ji-seok Award at Film Festival in Egypt in March 2019. immigrant, was also acclaimed by film critics and was the 22nd Busan International Film Festival in October “Rona, Azim’s Mother” was Afghanistan’s submission awarded in several Iranian and international events.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Ariana Grande returns to her acting roots with an appearance in Jim Carrey’s series “Kidding.” The Grammy-winning singer “Hobbs & Shaw” is No. 1 but trails pace of “Fast & Furious” with the big vocal range guests NEW YORK (AP) — The first spinoff of the The opening for “Hobbs & Shaw”, while weekend with $38.2 million. The Disney remake In limited openings, Neon’s “Luce” (a per- in season two of the Showtime 18-year-old “Fast & Furious” franchise, “Hobbs right on expectations, is the smallest domestic earlier this week crossed $1 billion worldwide, theater average of $26,583 in five locations) series that returns on Nov. 3. & Shaw,” sped away with $180.8 million in debut for a “Fast & Furious” film since 2006?s becoming the fourth Disney movie this year to and IFC’s “The Nightingale” ($40,000 at two And yes, she sings. its worldwide debut, including $60.8 million “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.” do so. It joins “Avengers: Endgame,” ?” theaters) both started out well. Carrey told a TV critics domestically — a strong opening that dethroned But the $200 million release is aiming to do and “Captain Marvel” in that club, with “Toy While there are significant releases to gathering on Friday that Grande “” after a two-week reign at No. its largest damage abroad; it grossed $120 Story 4? ($959.3 million) poised to soon join come, “Hobbs & Shaw” marks the last major was game to be silly and have 1 but couldn’t match the box-office pace of million internationally over the weekend. them. Not accounting for inflation, this “Lion tentpole of the summer. After some ups and fun. Carrey plays children’s recent “Fast & Furious” films. That’s without China, where “Fast & Furious” King” ($1.195 billion) has now out-grossed the downs, the season is running only 1.1% behind TV host Mr. Pickles who has a “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” films have excelled. It opens there August 23. 1994 original ($968.5 million). last year, according to data firm Comscore, difficult family life off-screen. was crafted as a buddy-movie left turn for the Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal, In its second weekend of release, Quentin a deficit that has been shrunk in large part Carrey joked that he’s sure car-mad franchise. It teams two franchise pointed to strong audience response, across Tarantino’s 1969 fable “Once Upon a Time ... by Disney’s juggernauts. Grande was nervous singing regulars, Dwayne Johnson’s federal agent demographics, to “Hobbs & Shaw” as evidence in Hollywood” held strong with $20 million. “While the summer has kind of taking with him. He calls Grande “a Luke Hobbs and mercenary Deckard Shaw of its widespread support and playability as The Sony Pictures release, which cost $90 a drubbing, critically and analytically, it Jim Carrey participates in the singular artist” whose vocal (Jason Statham), for an adventure outside a crowd-pleaser through the doldrums of million to make, has a way to go before it’s has made a huge comeback,” said Paul Showtime “Kidding” panel dur- ability is like magic while he says the previous eight films. Those will resume August. While the film scored a 67% fresh profitable. But the film’s glowing reviews and Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for ing the Summer 2019 Television he croaked out his performance. in May with “Fast & Furious 9.” rating on , audiences gave early Oscar buzz should lead to a long run. Comscore. “We need to get it in perspective. Critics Association Press Tour In an Instagram post, Grande The deviation came with a slight risk for it a 90%. The CinemaScore was A-minus. The weekend’s other notables were But it ain’t over ’til it’s over.” at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on called it “the most special Universal Pictures. The “Fast & Furious” “It’s super encouraging and really tells smaller releases. In China, the locally produced big-budget Friday, Aug. 2, 2019, in Beverly experience of my life.” She said films have developed into one of the most about how broad this franchise plays,” said Lulu Wang’s acclaimed family drama “The animated film “Ne Zha” continued to pack Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard she’s been a fan of Carrey since bankable series in Hollywood. The last two Orr. “We are obviously all extraordinarily Farewell” expanded to 409 theaters and grossed theaters. With $122.8 million in ticket sales Shotwell/Invision/AP) childhood. entries each grossed more than $1 billion. excited to see this homegrown ‘Fast & Furious’ a hefty $2.4 million, firmly establishing the in its second week, it has quickly become the Grande began her career as an actress, appearing on Broadway “” took in $1.2 billion franchise break out down another avenue.” A24 release, starring Awkwafina, as one of the biggest animated box-office success in China, in the musical “13” and two Nickelodeon TV series. in 2017. “” made $1.5 billion in 2015. “The Lion King” slid to second in its third year’s indie breakouts. overtaking Disney’s “.”