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 42nd year No.13877 Saturday FEBRUARY 6, 2021 Bahman 18, 1399 Jumada Al thani 23, 1442 Russia eyes close Esteghlal earn a late South Pars Fajr Theater Festival’s lineup cooperation with EU on win over struggling development nearly features over ten plays on JCPOA, Lavrov says Page 3 Nassaji: IPL Page 3 completed Page 4 Commander Soleimani Page 8 Iran to U.S.: Objecting to ICJ ruling ‘not a good fresh start’ TEHRAN – Iran has criticized the U.S. on Wednesday expressed displeasure over for objecting the ruling by the Interna- the ruling. The reaction by the State De- Macron’s gambit tional Court of Justice (ICJ) in which partment drew a response from Iran’s it has ruled it can hear a case brought Ambassador to the United Nations Majid See page 3 by Iran against the U.S. in a bid to end Takht-Ravanhi, saying this is “not a good sanctions that the Trump administration fresh start.” reimposed in 2018 after pulling out of Hopes have risen for a revival of the the 2015 nuclear deal. JCPOA – the official name for the nuclear A majority of a panel of 16 judges on deal - now that the Trump administration Numerous development projects inaugurated Wednesday found that the ICJ, also known is gone and the new Biden administration as the world court, has jurisdiction in the has said it will cherish multilateralism across Iran to mark Ten-Day Fajr celebrations dispute. and diplomacy. However, the U.S. State Department Continued on page 2 IRIB official calls “Salman Farsi” international, interreligious series TEHRAN – Islamic Republic of Iran crew on location in the Iran Television Broadcasting (IRIB) deputy managing and Cinema Town near Tehran. director has called the Iranian TV series The series, which is about the life story “Salman Farsi” an international and in- Salman Farsi, the Iranian companion of terreligious project. the Prophet of Islam (S), is being made “This project needs IRIB’s full support by Davud Mirbaqeri, who is best known and we strongly back the international and for the series he had directed about the interreligious series,” Hamid Shahabadi history of Islam. said on Thursday in a visit to the series’ Continued on page 8 BY EBRAHIM FALLAHI the year of “surge in production” by TEHRAN – Over the past few years the Leader of the Islamic Revolu- and especially after the re-imposition tion Seyed Ali Khamenei, the gov- of the U.S. sanctions on the Iranian ernment has urged various bodies economy, the country has started and ministries to take the necessary to follow new strategies in order to measures for the realization of the distance the economy from the reli- year’s motto. ance on foreign sources and also to Consequently, new programs have empower the domestic productive been defined based on which every sectors. week several major projects have gone In this regard, since the beginning operational by various ministries in of the current Iranian calendar year a variety of sectors. (March 20, 2020), which is named Continued on page 4 Global Innovation Tourism projects worth $15.3m to be Nuclear war with China, Russia is ‘real Index puts Iran 4th inaugurated in Yazd possibility’: U.S. commander in West Asia TEHRAN – A total of 43 tourism-related projects, augurated, the official added. A top U.S. military commander has warned bility of nuclear use is low, but not ‘impossible,’ worth 645 billion rials ($15.3 million at the offi- In July 2017, the historical structure of the city about the possibility of a nuclear war with particularly in a crisis.” BY MEHDI GARSHASBI cial exchange rate of 42,000 rials per dollar), are of Yazd was named a UNESCO World Heritage. Russia or China. Richard pointed out that the Pentagon “must ran has ranked 60th in the world scheduled to come on stream across the central Wedged between the northern Dasht-e Kavir and The head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRAT- re-frame how it prioritizes the procurement and 4th in West Asia in the 2021 Iranian province of Yazd on the occasion of Fajr the southern Dasht-e Lut on a flat plain, the oasis COM), Admiral Charles Richard, accused Moscow of future capabilities” as Russia and China — Global Innovation Index which cerebrations (Jan. 31- Feb. 10, marking the victory city enjoys a very harmonious public-religious and Beijing of having “aggressively challenge whom he called “our nuclear-armed adversar- I anniversary of the Islamic Revolution). architecture that dates from different eras. international norms” and becoming a threat ies” — continue to “build capability and exert analyzes dozens of criteria using seven equally weighted metrics, in- Nineteen eco-lodge units, two traditional With its winding lanes, forest of badgirs (wind to his country and the region. themselves globally.” cluding research and development accommodation centers, seven traditional res- catchers), mud-brick houses, atmospheric alleyways, He wrote in the U.S. Naval Institute’s monthly “Our record in this regard is not stellar,” he spending, manufacturing capabili- taurants, two tourist complexes as well as seven and centuries of history, Yazd is a delightful place magazine, Proceedings that Washington needs said. “We must ensure that all of our capabilities ty, and concentration of high-tech projects in the field of cultural heritage, and to stay, referring to as a ‘don’t miss’ destination by to seek new ways to face what he called imminent map to an overarching strategy.” public companies. six projects in the field of handicrafts will be almost all travel associates in the region. threats from both military powers. The commander also accused Russia and The 2021 rankings reflect a world inaugurated, a provincial tourism official said The UNESCO-registered capital city of Yazd “There is a real possibility that a regional crisis China of destabilizing behaviors, which “if left where the fight against Covid-19 has on Thursday. is located close to the Spice and Silk Roads. It is a with Russia or China could escalate quickly to a unchecked, increase the risk of great power crisis brought innovation to the fore –- from The mentioned projects will come on stream living testimony to the intelligent use of limited conflict involving nuclear weapons,” he wrote. or conflict.” government efforts to contain the pan- in different cities across the province including available resources in the desert for survival. Richard accused both Moscow and Beijing of Richard specifically warned about Russia’s demic, to the digital infrastructure that’s Bafq, Taft, Ardakan, Meybod, and Mehriz, Mo- Water is brought to the city by the qanat system. conducting cyber-attacks and posing “threats in nuclear capabilities, including the development allowed economies to work through it, hammad Mirshamsi added. Each district of the city is built on a qanat and space,” as well as heavily investing in advanced of “bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and the race to develop vaccines that The projects are expected to generate 247 has a communal center. nuclear weapons. (ICBM) and submarines.” can end it. job opportunities for the locals after being in- Continued on page 6 He warned that the United States’ “proba- Continued on page 5 Iran ranked fourth next to the United Arab Emirates (43), Qatar (52), and Saudi Arabia (53) in the ranking, Bloomberg Tehran ‘strongly’ condemns Belgian court’s ruling against Iranian diplomat reported. Biden faces difficult The International Labor Organization, TEHRAN – Iran has categorically denounced a against him or the conviction, were all unlawful Therefore, he added, they must be held accountable job to rebuild divided the International Monetary Fund, the Belgian court’s ruling against Iranian diplomat and amounted to blatant violation of internation- for their flagrant violation of the Iranian diplomat’s World Bank, the Organization for Eco- Assadollah Assadi. al law, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on rights, including the inhumane conditions of the time America: professor nomic Cooperation and Development, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Diplomatic Relations, and the Islamic Republic of he faced under arrest in Germany and Belgium. World Intellectual Property Organization, Khatibzadeh issued a statement on Thursday Iran will never recognize it,” Khatibzadeh asserted. “The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the BY MOHAMMAD MAZHARI and the United Nations Educational, Sci- saying that Iran strongly condemns the 20-year “Unfortunately, Belgium and some [other] right to resort to all possible legal and diplomatic TEHRAN - An American professor is of the opinion entific, and Cultural Organization were jail term issued by a court in the Belgian city of European countries have taken such illegal and means to realize the rights of Mr. Assadollah Assadi that President Joe Biden has a long road to repair the the sources of information. Antwerp against the Iranian diplomat. unjustifiable actions [against Assadi] under the and to hold accountable the governments that deep-rooted division in America, especially when South Korea regained the crown from “As we have repeatedly announced earlier, all influence of the atmosphere that has been creat- have violated their international obligations,” it comes to structural issues like racism, poverty, Germany, which dropped to fourth the procedures that have so far been taken against ed by the hostile Mojahedin Kalq Organization Khatibzadeh concluded. and Red-Blue division. place. Singapore and Switzerland the diplomat, including his arrest, the case brought terrorist group on Europe’s soil,” he continued. Continued on page 3 “Biden can undo many of Trump’s executive each moved up one spot to rank sec- orders - which he is trying to do - but he will have ond and third.