Iran’s car output hikes Iranian female carpet Naft Tehran marches Iranian artist Javad Alizadeh 41516above 39% 12 weaver works her way into Iran’s Hazfi Cup honored at UN/Ranan Lurie through entrepreneurship final Political Cartoon Awards WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y MP:MP: NetNetanyahu-a AbbaAbbas talks doomeddoom to fail 2 16 Pages Price 10,000 Rials 38th year No.12731 Saturday DECEMBER 31, 2016 Dey 11, 1395 Rabi’ Al Thani 1, 1438 Zarif, Lavrov Daelim welcome Iran marks 2009 rallies wins $1.9b truce in Syria Hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets People rallied in various cities, including the cap- dential election in June of the same year. refinery POLITICS TEHRAN — Irani- across the country on Thursday to mark the seventh ital Tehran to celebrate “Dey 9 epic” which restored Hojjatoleslam Abdollah Haji Sadeqi, the deputy represent- deskan Foreign Minis- anniversary of mass rallies staged on December 30, tranquility to the nation after months of political ative of the Leader in the IRGC, said the massive participation construction ter Mohammad Javad Zarif and his 2009 to guard the principles of the Islamic Revolution. wrangling and unrest that had ensued the presi- of people on December 30, 2009 was a “divine miracle”. Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, deal in Iran held a phone conversation on Thurs- See page 2 day welcoming a nationwide truce in Daelim Industrial Co., a major South Syria. Korean construction firm, said Thurs- The two sides agreed to hold day that it has secured a 2.3-tril- constant consultations in line with lion-won ($1.9 billion) deal to expand coordination between Iran, Russia refinery facilities in Iran. and Turkey to arrange dialogue be- Daelim said it has received a letter tween the Syrian government and of award on the contract to improve opposition groups in in Astana, Ka- and expand the facilities of Iran’s Isfa- zakhstan. han Oil Refinery, located around 400 Russia and Turkey brokered a truce kilometers south of Tehran. across Syria despite initial efforts to vi- The two sides plan to sign a formal olate it. The truce took effect on Friday. contract next month for the four-year In a post on his Twitter Zarif said, construction project. “Ceasefire in Syria is a major achieve- It marks the largest-ever construc- ment. Let’s build on it by tackling the tion deal with Iran by a South Korean roots of extremist terror.” company, according to Daelim. The deal was announced by Rus- The firm’s share price jumped 2.66 sian President Vladimir Putin and percent to 84,900 won as of 10 a.m. confirmed by Turkey. The two nations, Daelim is South Korea’s which back opposing sides, will act as front-runner in construction busi- guarantors. ness in the Middle Eastern country Syria’s military said it halted op- which forged diplomatic ties with erations at midnight, except against Seoul in 1962. ISIS and other terror groups, state-run Since its first contract with Iran in news agency SANA reported. 1975, Daelim has carried out more A Syrian opposition group based than two dozen construction pro- in the UK said indications were there jects there worth a total of $4.55 were pockets of violence, but large ar- billion. eas of the country were calm. Company officials expect additional The High Negotiations Committee Kazem Qane contracts with Iran, which is rich in nat- (HNC), regarded by the UN as Syria’s ural resources such as oil and natural main opposition body, confirmed the IRNA/ gas. deal. 2 (Source: Yonhap) Indian FM looks into Narges Ashtari case Nearing exit, U.S. must On Thursday, in a tweeter text message Sush- Over the past few months a big online the online campaign for freedom of Narges. Obama seeks ma Swaraj, India’s minister of external affairs, campaign has begun in the support of Narg- In a letter, the top Iranian celebrities asked ‘make the stated that she will look into the case of Narg- es, the benevolent Iranian-British woman Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad to tie Trump’s es Kalbasi Ashtari. who left the comfort of West to help the un- Zarif to help resolve the Narges case. hands Russians feel “I have asked for a report from Government derprivileged children in India. To that letter Zarif responded: “I, too, have of Odisha regarding the case of Narges K. Ash- Two weeks ago, in a fresh second move- personally been involved in Ms. Kalbasi’s case The United States President Obama pain’: John tari,” Swaraj wrote in her tweeter account. ment, top Iranian celebrities, actors, artists, in my latest trip to India and held talks with has taken a flurry of unilateral ac- In the past few weeks, thousands of mes- as well as some Indian actors asked for the high level Indian officials regarding her. I as- tions in the waning days of his tenure Bolton sages have been flooding into Minister Swa- freedom of Narges. sure you our goal is to immediately free her that appear designed to box in Presi- raj twitter accounts asking her to help release Famous Iranian people like Mahmoud Farshchi- from all hardships and troubles and ask for dent-elect Donald Trump. The United States Republican hawk Narges who is sentenced to a year in jail by an, Ezatollah Entezami, Parviz Parastui, Asghar Far- a fair hearing with respect to her charitable Obama’s decision on Thursday John Bolton has described the sanc- the court of law in Rayagada in eastern India. hadi, Majid Majidi, and many more came to join in services to the poor.” 13 to sanction Russian entities for elec- tions against Russia announced by the tion-related hacking is just the latest Obama administration as an insuffi- obstacle he has placed in Trump’s way. cient response for Moscow’s “attack on Stocks rise as strong 2016 nears the end Day before the sanctions were un- our constitutional system.” Global stocks mostly rose on the helped boost their share prices. can cause big fluctuations in 225 fell 0.2 percent to 19,114.37 veiled, the Obama administration allowed On Thursday, outgoing Democratic year’s last day of trading. The France’s CAC 40 gained 0.1 markets when trading is thin, as and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng in- the United Nations Security Council to President Barack Obama announced a euro jumped higher against the percent to 4,842 and Germany’s it is this week. By midmorning dex rose 1 percent to 22,000.56. condemn Israeli settlement activity - series of economic sanctions against dollar for no clear reason, with DAX was flat at 11,450. Futures in Europe, the euro was up 0.5 China’s Shanghai Composite something that could have an indelible Russia, as well as expulsion of 35 Rus- thin trading volumes likely exac- augured some gains on Wall percent at $1.0548. The dol- Index was up 0.2 percent to impact on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. sian diplomats, over allegations that it erbating volatility. Street, where major indexes have lar strengthened to 117.05 yen close at 3,103.64. Australia’s KEEPING SCORE: Obama has also permanently interfered in the 2016 presidential elec- Britain’s hit a series of record highs in re- from 116.37 yen. S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6 ANALYST’S TAKE: banned oil and gas drilling large swaths tion through cyber-attacks. FTSE 100, which was trading for cent months. Dow futures were “Today’s percent to 5,665.80. Markets of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, closed The sanctions target Russia’s FSB only a half day, jumped in the fi- up 0.2 percent and S&P futures price-action proved that shallow in Southeast Asia were high- off 1.6 million acres of Western land to and GRU intelligence agencies, four nal minutes to close at 7,142.83, were 0.3 percent higher. market depth can trigger some er. South Korean markets were CURRENCIES: development and scrapped the last ves- individual GRU officers, and three an all-time high. That leaves it The euro saw sharp and volatile moves, with- closed for holiday. OIL: tiges of a registration system used large- companies who allegedly provided 14.4 percent higher over 2016, a mysteriously big rally during out any major news releases,” Benchmark U.S. crude ly on Muslim immigrants. support to the GRU, and two Russian a year that included tumultuous Asian trading hours, jumping said Haresh Menghani, analyst dropped 6 cents to $53.71 per Those actions, as well as Obama’s claim individuals for using cyber-attacks to news like the country’s vote to from $1.0490 to $1.0650 in a at FXStreet. “Hence, investors barrel in New York. The contract he could have won a third term, seem to cause misappropriation of funds and leave the European Union. The matter of minutes before eas- are likely to remain cautious and fell 29 cents on Thursday. Brent have irked Trump and his associates as the personal identifying information. index is largely composed of ing back somewhat. Analysts would refrain from committing crude, used to price international transition period enters its final weeks. Under Thursday’s actions, the U.S. multinationals that earn most of said there was no apparent rea- to any directional bets ahead of oils, shed 8 cents to $56.14 a bar- Trump on Wednesday morning also shut down two Russian com- their money outside the UK, so son, though end-of-year book New Year’s weekend.” rel in London.