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.13411 Saturday JUNE 15, 2019 Khordad 25, 1398 Shawwal 11, 1440 16 U.S. is serious ‘Turkey’s trade center in Iran among top 20 Finnish artists Carin Bengts, threat to international Iran completely active in FIFA ranking Iina Heiskanen display stability 2 despite U.S. sanctions’ 4 15 works at Tehran gallery 16 Iran calls suspicious nature of Leader to Abe: Trump not worthy attacks on oil tankers ‘alarming’ TEHRAN — Tehran on Friday categor- significantly raise the stakes. ically rejected accusations by U.S. Secre- “It is the assessment of the United States tary of State Mike Pompeo that Iran was government that the Islamic Republic of of exchanging messages with responsible for attacks on two oil tankers Iran is responsible for the attacks that in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday morning. occurred in the Gulf of Oman today,” Just over 12 hours after reports broke Pompeo said. See page 2 in slumbering Washington about the He cited intelligence, weapons used, new crisis in which two ships were left the required expertise and sophistication ablaze forcing their crews to abandon of the assault and previous attacks to con- their posts, Pompeo appeared in the clude it was the latest assault by Iran on State Department Briefing Room to “freedom-loving nations.” 2 Xi says China will promote steady ties with Iran TEHRAN — Chinese President Xi Jinping Xi said China is ready to expand co- told Iran’s president on Friday that China operation with Iran in order to promote will promote steady development of ties multilateralism. with Iran no matter how the situation The Chinese leader also said Beijing changes, Chinese state media said. is ready to promote cooperation with The official Xinhua news agency said Iran in fighting “terrorism and organ- Xi made the comment in a meeting with ized crimes”. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on The Chinese president also welcomed the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooper- Iran’s involvement in the new Silk Road ation Organization summit in Bishkek, project known as the Belt and Road Ini- Kyrgyzstan. tiative (BRI). 2 ‘War with Iran not in our strategic interest’: U.S. military The United States has “no interest “We have no interest in engaging in a in engaging in a new conflict in the new conflict in the Middle East,” Reuters Middle East”, the U.S. military said quoted Brown as saying. on Thursday. He added, “We will defend our interests, The remarks were made by Lieutenant but a war with Iran is not in our strategic khamenei.ir Colonel Earl Brown, a spokesman for the interest, nor in the best interest of the U.S. Central Command. international community.” EDITORIAL ’Iran welcomes Japan’s contribution to development of Chabahar Port’ PERSPECTIVE Mohammad Ghaderi TEHRAN — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani “Iran is keen on developing all-out relations satisfaction with traveling to Tehran for the Hanif Ghaffari Tehran Times editor-in-chief expressed satisfaction with Japan’s willingness with Japan, and we hope that this trip will be second time. Political analyst @ghaderi62 for expansion of banking and economic ties with a turning point in the relationship between He mentioned the impact of U.S. sanctions Iran and welcomed the Asian country’s contribu- Tehran and Tokyo.” on the financial and economic ties between the tion to the development of Iranian southeastern “We are interested in deep, friendly and long- two countries, and said: “We have had serious The White House Chabahar Port. term relations with Japan,” he said, pointing negotiations with the U.S. in order to maintain Why should Europe “Iran welcomes Japan’s cooperation and to the concurrence of Abe’s visit to Tehran and economic relations with Iran, including the im- get away from the promotional investment in Chabahar Port as well as the the 90th anniversary of the establishment of port of oil, and we will continue our efforts in Makran region and is ready to attract Japanese diplomatic relations between the two countries. this regard.” White House? campaign against investment,” Rouhani said during a meeting on “The relations between the two countries “We wish to maintain and expand our economic Iran is defeated Wednesday attended by high-ranking officials have been very strong in the past, and we have ties with Iran and to continue buying Iranian lthough less than a month has passed from both sides. had lasting cooperation in areas such as dam oil”, he emphasized. since the European Parliamentary he United States Secretary of State, In the meeting, the Iranian president un- construction, environment and energy,” Rou- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived elections, the traditional European derlined the significance of the Japanese Prime hani added. in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon for talks with A who is one of the symbols of assas- parties are still in shock because of the Tsination, violence, killing and disre- Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Iran, saying Japan’s prime minister also expressed his top Iranian leaders. failure of the election. The failure of the gard for international law, has accused the traditional European parties in three Islamic Republic of Iran of recent attacks countries, Britain, Germany and France, in the Oman Sea. This charge comes from shows that European authorities will have Mike Pompeo to Iran, the nature of the TEHRAN—Hamas A senior official Hamas official, accuses Basem NaimIsrael incendiary of fabricating balloons when, inexcuses reality, they to are escalatecision is to tension abide by the termsagainst of the recent Gaza truce a difficult path to overcome social, political, Trump government has long been outlined accused Israel of “fabricating vague excuses” to mostly caused by hot weather or some farmers understandings “as long as the [Israeli] occupation economic and security crises. for the world’s public opinion! escalate against the Gaza Strip. who burn their crops due to financial reasons. is committed to them,” adding that Hamas has no On the other hand, if the Nationalist The reality is that the propaganda squad “The Israeli occupation bears responsibility “We are aware that this behavior is a failed intention to escalate tensions, Middle East Monitor parties are more likely to be at the head and the psychological warfare of U.S. offi- for the consequences of evading and retreating attempt to escape internal crises, especially the reported. “Therefore, we hold the [Israeli] occupation of the political and executive equations cials against Iran will fail this time. Recent from the implementation of the recent truce un- upcoming elections and the government formation, fully responsible for escalation and aggression on of the European countries, the future of statements by Mike Pompeo show that the derstandings in Gaza,” Naim said in a statement. and export them at the expense of the Palestinian some areas in Gaza, and we call on it to retreat from the European Union and the eurozone U.S. Secretary of State has been involved He went on to add that Israel claims that fires people, their freedom and life” he added. its clumsy decisions, which will only increase the will face a crisis. In such a situation, Eu- in a craft that he and other members of in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip are caused by Naim stressed that the Palestinian faction’s de- complexity and tension of the situation,” he said. ropean countries will have to change their the White House have created. approach and strategy. If this action is not “Taken as a whole, these unprovoked taken, the collapse of the European Union attacks present a clear threat to international and the euro zone will be quite possible. peace and security, a blatant assault on the TEHRAN – Iran swept past CanadaIran in straight extend five winning wins against run Italy, to Germany, six in China, 2019 Ar -FIVBor the VNLNations League to have the Final Round One of the issues that has led to the freedom of navigation, and an unacceptable sets (25-15, 26-24, 25-16) at the third competition gentina and Japan and lost to Brazil in the hosted in North America. frustration of European citizens from campaign of escalating tension by Iran,” week of the men’s 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations first two weeks. The 16 teams compete in a round-robin for- this collection is the European Union’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, vowing League in Urmia, West Azerbaijan province on The competition is being held between May mat with every core team hosting a pool at least dependence on the United States. While the U.S. would defend itself and its partners. Friday. and July 2019 and the final round will take once. The teams are divided into four pools of US National Security Advisor John Bolton Interestingly, Mike Pumpo called for Team Melli will face Poland and Russia on place in the Credit Union 1 Arena, Chicago, four teams at each week and compete five weeks and Trump have repeatedly expressed their the cooperation of the members of the Saturday and Sunday, respectively at the Ghadir United States. long, for 120 matches. The top five teams after opposition to the existence of the European UN Security Council in negotiations with Hall. Earlier on the day Russia defeated Poland 3-1. the preliminary round join the hosts of the final Union and the Eurozone, Europe has not our country! This comment comes as the Igor Kolakovic’s team have already seized This is the first edition of the World League round to compete in the final round.