WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y Pages Price 40,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13436 Monday JULY 15, 2019 Tir 24, 1398 Dhi Al Qada 12, 1440 All Washington’s Iran rejects Iran need to battle “Driving Lessons” anti-Iran plans have claims of talks for Olympic berth: named best short at ended in failure 2 with U.S. 2 Nikkhah Bahrami 15 Golden Apricot festival 16 Budget bill amendments Imam Reza (AS) Intl. Festival approved TEHRAN — The Iranian government cil of Economic Coordination convention approved on Saturday the amendments presided by Iranian President Hassan on the national Iranian budget plan for Rouhani. See page 16 the current Iranian calendar year (started The modifications consist of four ma- on March 21), ILNA reported. jor parts, which are “sustainable revenue honors cultural figures The generalities of a modified budget resources”, “effective expenditure”, “pro- plan which has been restructured in line moting stability, development and justice” with the country’s “resilient economy”, as well as “fundamental modifications of were approved during a Supreme Coun- budgetary system”. 4 UK failure to release tanker won’t be left unanswered: diplomat TEHRAN — Iranian Ambassador to lease the tanker and its cargo will NOT be London Hamid Baeidinejad has said left unanswered,” he tweeted on Saturday. that a failure by the British government On July 4, British Royal Marines in to release Iran’s oil tanker and its cargo Gibraltar stormed the Iran-operated su- will not be “left unanswered”. pertanker Grace 1 off the coast of Gibraltar, “Having miscalculated in its unlawful seizing the 300,000-ton vessel based on seizure of tanker, UK should not repeat its the accusation that it was carrying oil to miscalculation. Ship did NOT violate any Syria in possible violation of the European law or norm - but UK, through its illegal Union’s sanctions on the war-torn Arab piracy, most certainly has. Failure to re- country. 2 Biden on Iraq War vote: Mistake I made was trusting Bush TEHRAN — Former Vice President Joe using it for the purpose of getting inspectors Biden has gotten criticism on the campaign in to see what was going on, whether they trail for his 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq were producing nuclear weapons.” War. Whether or not it ends up as an issue Meanwhile, a new Fox News poll from for voters––a recent poll indicated it may South Carolina finds former Vice Presi- be for some––Biden addressed the issue. dent Joe Biden leading among Democratic Biden has previously expressed regret primary voters with 35%. Vermont Sen. Mohsen Bakhshandeh for his vote. When asked in New Hampshire Bernie Sanders is in a distant second place about it, he had this to say: with 14%, and Sen. Kamala Harris is near TIRNA/ “The mistake I made was trusting Pres- him at 12%. No other candidate reaches ident Bush, who gave me his word he was double digits. 13 ARTICLE Startups come to light with No-Afarin scheme REPORT Ebrahim Fallahi By Setareh Behroozi - privately held startup company valued at over are loss-making firms according to the assessment Ramin Hossein Abadian Tehran Times journalist TEHRAN — The No-Afarin scheme, developed by $1 billion - until the end of the sixth five-year of the National Tax Administration. Mehr News Agency the Information and Communication Technology national development plan (2021). However, this is the nature of this kind of journalist Ministry to support startups, was introduced He called the No-Afarin scheme the first step business that they should continue in order to during a ceremony on Wednesday. to transform the Information Technology Organi- reach profit after some years, he explained. Iran’s ‘oil for As the nature of startup as an emerging zation of Iran into a digital economy development The scheme tries to cover such gaps between Details of company founded by entrepreneurs to develop organization in the near future. startups and state-run organizations. execution’ plan: a product or service suggests, its future is unclear But how the scheme can be considered as a step Based on the nature of startup, it is a young Mogherini’s trip and this issue makes it different from companies toward brighter future? What is digital economy company founded by one or more entrepreneurs old ideas in a new and organizations. and how much Iran has provided infrastructure in order to develop a unique product or service to Baghdad: Iraq’s The scheme aims to deal with the problems to reach this goal? and bring it to market. wrapping startup ecosystem facing in relation with insurance First of all, it is better to know about details The scheme provides facilities for startups clear messages companies and the National Tax Administration. of the No-Afarin scheme, which can be known that were registered less than three years ago his week Iranian Oil Ministry is going With the slogan ‘Smart Iran, brighter future’, as a practical step taken by the government to with making investment of maximum 2.5 trillion about Iran to officially start a new plan that is the scheme is a part of the digital economy de- strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Iran. rials (about $58,000) and having less than 50 ederica Mogherini, the high repre- Taimed to be a new way for selling oil velopment document and aims to create 68,000 The scheme in detail trillion rials (about $120,000) of income. sentative of the European Union for and tackling the pressures imposed by U.S. job opportunities. In a recent interview with the Digiato web- It facilitates the insurance and tax laws for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, sanctions on the country’s oil industry. ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahro- site, the secretary of the Association of Online startups and paves the way for attracting investors. F heading a diplomatic delegation, arrived in The plan is to execute a barter system mi said that with registration of 100,000 active Business, Reza Olfat-Nasab, announced that The startups are completely tax-exempted as far Baghdad on Saturday. This was Mogher- which allows domestic and foreign com- startups in the scheme, Iran can join five unicorns about 90 percent of online businesses in Iran as they provide services and products. 11 panies, investors and contractors to carry ini’s first trip to Iraq since 2014. out projects in Iran in exchange for oil (I Over her trip to Iraq, Mogherini visit- would like to call it “oil for execution”). China holds military drills after U.S. approves arms sale to Taiwan ed top Iraqi officials including President In this regard, as the official inaugu- Barham Salih. TEHRAN— China’s military has recently carried ident Tsai Ing-wen visited New York on a transit and met with other senators and members of ration of this new program, a business Over the meeting, the two sides dis- out air and naval drills along its southeast coast, stop to diplomatic allies in the Caribbean, a trip Congress, without naming them. contract will be signed within the next few cussed recent events in the Middle East and the defence ministry has said, in an announcement that has also infuriated Beijing, further straining Tsai said Taipei and Washington could forge days, under which a domestic company is methods to develop mutual relationships. that came after Beijing demanded the cancel- Sino-U.S. ties already affected by a bitter trade war. even closer ties, and also thanked the U.S. for going to receive crude oil in exchange for After the meeting, the Iraqi Presidency lation of a potential arms sale from the United Prior to leaving for the U.S., Tsai said the “the importance it attaches to the security of the funding a project to renovate a power plant released a statement. States to self-ruled Taiwan. island was facing threats from “overseas forces”, Taiwan Strait” and the recently announced arms in Rey county, near the capital Tehran. According to the statement, “in his In a brief statement on Sunday, the ministry in a veiled reference to China. sale, the statement said. At the first glance, the idea of offering meeting with Mogherini, the Iraqi Pres- described the exercises as “routine arrangements China, which claims self-ruled and democrat- The Taiwanese president has repeatedly warned oil in exchange for execution of industrial ident highlighted the importance of co- in accordance with annual plans for the military”. ic Taiwan as its own and views it as a wayward of the threat from its giant neighbour and has projects seems quite a new idea, however ordination and collaboration in order to It said they were held in “recent days”. province, had called on the U.S. not to allow Tsai vowed to defend Taiwan’s security, democracy unfortunately it is no more than the same address the current issues in the region.” On Friday, China said it would impose sanctions to transit there on her overseas tour. and way of life. old structure under a new façade. The statement added, “The Iraqi and on U.S. firms involved in a deal to sell $2.2bn In a statement on Sunday, Taiwan’s Presi- China has in recent years stepped up its mil- U.S. sanctions and Iran’s European sides agreed that there should worth of tanks, missiles and related equipment dential Office cited National Security Council itary drills around Taiwan, including regularly be joint plans and cooperation for saving coping tactics to Taiwan, saying it harmed China’s sovereignty Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Ming-yen as saying flying what Beijing calls “island encirclement” Since the U.S.’s withdrew from Iran’s the region from war and conflicts.” and national security.