WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 8 Pages Price 50,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 43rd year No.13940 Tuesday MAY 11, 2021 Ordibehesht 21, 1400 Ramadan 28, 1442 Backing Palestine is top Iran deserves to lead Iran’s annual Book on Gen. Soleimani’s foreign policy priority: International Kabaddi saffron exports role in regional developments Velayati Page 2 Federation: Avarsaji Page 3 exceed $190m Page 4 published Page 8 Extending deal with IAEA Iran-Iraq relations possible, Iran says TEHRAN – Iran on Monday voiced con- Iranian negotiator signaled a readiness ditional readiness to extend a deal with to extend the deal. the UN nuclear watchdog that is set to Khatibzadeh was referring to a Feb- expire in few weeks, saying the extension ruary deal between Iran and the IAEA of the temporary deal would depend on the which allowed the latter to continue its impervious to machination Vienna talks moving in the right direction. monitoring activities in Iran ahead of the See page 3 Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman for the implementation of a parliamentary nuclear Iranian Foreign Ministry, announced that law obligating the Iranian government to extending Iran’s cooperation deal with the strictly restrict cooperation with the IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency is in case the West failed to lift sanctions. one of the country’s options a day after top Continued on page 3 Lifting banking sanctions a must for nuclear negotiations to succeed: CBI TEHRAN – The Governor of the Central an interview with Bloomberg. Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemma- Hemmati noted that officials from the ti said on Saturday that guaranteed and central bank are directly involved in the conclusive lifting of sanctions against the negotiations to make sure that the lifting country’s banking system is a priority for of sanctions will be real and practical. Iran in order for the nuclear talks to proceed. Asked about the way in which the “The removal of sanctions against the practicality of the deal will be verified, central bank, Iranian banks, SWIFT, and Hemmati said: “We will make the verifi- any money transfer between them and cation in our own ways; personally, I am major foreign correspondent banks, hopeful about the trend of negotiations.” needs to be verified,” Hemmati said in Continued on page 4 Powerful explosions outside a high school The Taliban, however, did not claim in Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday killed responsibility for the blast. at least 80 people and wounded scores Some experts believe ISIL/ISIS (Islam- more, many of them teenage girls leaving ic State terrorist group) was responsible class, in a gruesome attack that under- for the attack. scored fears about the nation’s future. ISIS continues to recruit among radi- The blast occurred in front of a school in calized university students and disgruntled the Shia majority neighborhood of Dasht- Taliban, said a former Afghan security The beneficiaries of U.S.’s presence in Afghanistan, e-Barchi in western Kabul. official who spoke on condition of ano- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the nymity because he was not authorized hit the nation with another tragedy once again Taliban militant group was responsible to talk to reporters. for the attack. Continued on page 5 AP VAR; highest priority UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus Hundreds injured as Israeli forces attack for Iran football prepared for restoration Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque BY MASOUD HOSSEIN TEHRAN – A team of cultural heritage ex- Paying a visit to the tower, the official told Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque com- nessed a spike in Israeli atrocities in recent weeks. ootball Federation of the Is- perts has commenced a detailed examination reporters that the first serious restoration work pound on Monday morning, firing rubber-coated At least 17 people, including one Palestinian lamic Republic of Iran (FFI- of the UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus as on the monument took place in the [Iranian bullets, tear gas, and sound bombs at Palestinian paramedic, were injured during peaceful demon- RI) has failed to fulfill its a prerequisite for the restoration of the millen- calandar] year 1310 (1931), in which several worshippers, wounding hundreds. strations across the occupied East Jerusalem al- F nium-old tower. professional groups of experts took valuable There are hundreds of people injured from Quds on Sunday evening, the Palestinian Red promise for over a year for video assistant referee (VAR) implemen- Located in Iran’s Golestan province, the brick measures to preserve and restore this historical the clashes” and about 50 of them were hospital- Crescent reported. tation and the country’s football tower is of high architectural importance as an monument. ized,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a brief Outside the Old City, at least 90 Palestinians pays the price for that. exemplar and innovative design of the early-Is- For years the World Heritage has suffered statement to journalists. were wounded a day earlier when Israeli police Last year, FFIRI acting president lamic-era architecture. from weeds growing on the surface. According Israeli soldiers in riot gear fired rubber bullets, stun attacked protesters. Another 200 Palestinians Heydar Baharvand had said they would “Up to the moment, a documentation plan to Nourtaqani, growing plants on the Qabus grenades and tear gas at the Palestinian protesters, sustained injuries on Friday when Israeli forces use VAR in the coming season but the of the monument has been completed, and we tower is not a new issue, and is witnessed in all who in turned responded by throwing objects at them. stormed al-Aqsa Mosque, Press TV reported. technology has never been used in Iran have also determined a proper approach for a brick buildings across the country, especially Based on some media reports, a number of The latest raids against Palestinians come as football. comprehensive restoration of the tower,” the in northern provinces, due to their climatic wounded Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli Israel is set to hold an incendiary march on Monday Sunday night, a football match between director of the World Heritage site, Abdolmajid conditions. forces outside the Lions’ Gate as they attempted to to mark what the regime calls Jerusalem Day – the Sepahan and Persepolis in Iran Profes- Nourtaqani, announced on Sunday. “The tower has also been facing such phe- flee the crackdown. The attack is an escalation of day East Jerusalem al-Quds was occupied in 1967 sional League was thrown into turmoil “So far, to prepare a comprehensive plan nomenon for more thousand years, though weeks of violence against Palestinians in Jerusalem and later illegally annexed by the Israeli regime. due to the refereeing decisions. for the restoration of this historical building, the issue has been intensified by [heavy] al-Quds that has reverberated across the region. The march, which usually brings together Bijan Heydari had to show the spot at least some technological steps such as one-by-one rainfalls earlier this year,” Abdolmajid The al-Aqsa Mosque and Bab al-Amoud (Da- thousands of extremist Israeli settlers chanting two times in the match but failed to make the examination of the bricks and their arrangement, Nourtaqani said. mascus) Gate in Jerusalem al-Quds’ Old City as anti-Palestinian slogans, is expected to spur further best decision since the Iranian stadiums have have been taken.” Continued on page 6 well as the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood have wit- violence in the occupied territories. not yet been equipped with VAR. The football federation has not yet been able to use this system due to financial and IRCS inaugurates 5,400 ‘crescent houses’ nationwide Islamic Ummah is infrastructural problems and it could harm TEHRAN – The Iranian Red Crescent Society as strengthening the spirit of advocacy in times of young volunteers, providing medical care in the football. In the 2020 AFC Champions (IRCS) inaugurated 5,400 “crescent hous- of peace and crisis. several countries, and producing pharmaceutical against occupation not League final match, Persepolis lost to Ul- es” across the country on Monday to expand Launched with a budget of 1.3 trillion rials products, medical and relief equipment. san Hyundai after the Korean team were Judaism: Lebanese services of volunteer members to the needy (about $31 million at the official rate of 42,000 Established in 1922, IRCS operates as a hu- awarded two penalties after VAR review. in normal and critical situations in urban rials), the centers were inaugurated by First manitarian organization in the fields of rescue If the VAR had been already imple- Islamic preacher and rural areas. Vice-President Is’haq Jahangiri, and IRCS Head and relief in disasters, health, treatment, and mented in Iran’s stadiums, Persepolis BY MOHAMMAD MAZHARI The Red Crescent Society houses are centers Karim Hemmati. rehabilitation, educating the public, youth, and would have won their first ever title in TEHRAN – A Lebanese Islamic preacher says Israel is with a volunteer structure in order to promote The Iranian Red Crescent Society is one of volunteers, as well as the production of medicine AFC Champions League. the enemy of Islamic nations due to its occupation of the culture of volunteerism, attention to peace the most effective and credible international re- and medical equipment. The Iranian players face problems the Palestinian land and not just because of Judaism. and friendship, human dignity in society as well lief organizations, having the largest number Continued on page 7 playing outside the country since they “The Zionist regime is the enemy of the Islamic are not familiar with the latest VAR de- Ummah and the enemy of all the justice seekers all velopments.