WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 12 Pages Price 40,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13613 Tuesday FEBRUARY 25, 2020 Esfand 6, 1398 Rajab 1, 1441 Iran does not deserve Iran sustains military Iran men’s IRIB to make series on to be blacklisted spending in face of U.S. team sabre qualify Persian polymath by FATF 2 ‘maximum pressure’ 3 for Olympics 11 Nasir ad-Din Tusi 12 TEDPIX notches record high of half See page 10 million points TEHRAN — TEDPIX, the main in- TEDPIX went up 19,675 points to dex of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), 478,754 in the past Iranian calendar Trump posted a record high on Monday when week (ended on Friday), which was the it climbed 4,831 points to 503,735, last week of Iran’s eleventh calendar month IRNA reported. of Bahman. As reported, over 6.354 billion secu- As previously reported, TSE wit- rities worth 49.299 trillion rials (about nessed the highest ever weekly rise of $1.1 billion) were traded at TSE. The first its main index in the Iranian calendar market’s index rose 3,003 points and the week ended on January 17, which was covetous second market’s index went up 12,098 the last week of Iran’s tenth calendar points. month of Dey. 4 Iran’s airspace safe for domestic, of Indian international flights: air defense chief TEHRAN – The deputy chief of the our airspace,” Brigadier General Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base (the Ghader Rahimzadeh said while central headquarters of Iran’s Air Defense) paying a visit to the air defense said on Monday that Iran’s airspace is units deployed in the northeastern safe and secure for both domestic and part of the country. international flights. “The Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base dollars “The country’s airspace is com- is now at the highest level of defense power pletely safe. We will severely re- to counter foreign military threats,” he spond to any aggression against added. 2 Palestinian rockets fired into Israel following Gaza border clash Israeli jets have bombed several locations ian resistance were also targeted west across the Gaza Strip after Palestinian of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area in resistance groups fired rockets towards southern Gaza. Israel in retaliation for the murder of a According to initial reports, at least Palestinian earlier in the day. half a dozen Palestinians were wounded The Palestinian Information Center in the strikes. reported early on Monday that strikes The bombings happened as the Israeli happened north, west and east of the military announced on Twitter that it was enclave. targeting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad AFP Positions belonging to the Palestin- resistance movement in Gaza. 10 ARTICLE Russia urges against talk of disaster with Turkey over Idlib ARTICLE Ramin Hossein Abadian Russia to conduct surveillance flight over Turkey Mohammad Homaeifar Mehr News Agency Tehran Times journalist Russian-Turkish relations should not be depicted agreement between Turkey and Russia had failed “According to the head of Russia’s National journalist as in crisis even after an escalation in political to drive extremist fighters from the province. Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, Sergei Ryzhkov, tensions over Syria’s last rebel-held enclave of Sixteen Turkish military personnel have the Russian Federation plans to carry out an Idlib, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov been killed in shelling by Syrian government observation flight on Russia’s TU-154M-LK-1 Trump seeks to said, according to TASS news agency. forces over the past two weeks, prompting Tur- observation plane over the territory of the Re- The Guardian A renewed military campaign by the Syrian key to tell Russia to “stand aside” while its public of Turkey under the Open Skies Treaty,” dominate Syria’s government, backed by Russian airpower, against forces bombard dozens of Syrian army targets Russia-based Sputnik news agency quoted the should not silence oil route rebels in Idlib has raised tensions between An- in retaliation. statement as saying. my voice on Iran, kara and Moscow, which back opposing sides Moscow has warned Ankara to fulfil pledges The flight is expected to start from Eskisehir he U.S. government’s moves to in the conflict. made to disarm Islamist fighters it depicts as Open Skies airfield with a flight range of up to says Guardian seize Syria’s oil and gas resources “Certainly, we would not like to plunge into terrorists. The two sides held talks in the Russian 1,900 kilometers. and deprive Damascus of its rev- this gloomy mood and in fact to make extremely capital last week to help diffuse tensions. Signed in 1992, in Helsinki, the treaty enables journalist T negative scenarios, but the week has really hap- Surveillance flight all 35 participant states to have short-notice, enues have increased as Syrians have confronted U.S. troops. pened to be absolutely restless,” Peskov said in Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry an- unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the others’ aeed Kamali Dehghan, a Guardian American moves in Syria has re- a televised interview, TASS reported. nounced on Monday that the country will conduct territories with an aim to collect data on military journalist who used to cover Iran, has cently intensified, and Washington Syrian government began a fresh military push a surveillance flight over Turkey on Feb. 25-28 forces and activities. Sleveled strong criticism against the appears to be pursuing its dreams, into Idlib in December, saying a 2018 de-escalation in accordance with the Open Skies Treaty. (Source: agencies) Guardian, saying the top British newspaper especially in terms of seizing Syria’s “should not silence my voice on Iran.” resources and wealth. Recent remarks “A decision by the Guardian to impose by the U.S. president on the sending a defacto ban on me writing about Iran Malaysia’s Mahathir resigns but is asked to stay as interim PM has led to my current severe mental health new troops to Syria to protect the oil Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad night that his party was planning to form a new coalition he defeated to try to form a new gov- fields in the outskirts of Deir ez-Zor status,” Kamali Dehghan said at the be- has announced his resignation but was asked to government that would exclude his anointed ernment. ginning of a series of tweets on Monday. indicate Washington’s intention for stay on as interim leader by the country’s monarch. successor, Anwar Ibrahim. When asked if Mahathir was responsible for stealing the country’s oil. U.S. troops Back in November 2018, Kamali De- Mahathir said in a two-line statement that The king accepted Mahathir’s resignation the current political turmoil, Anwar blamed “those hghan revealed that Jamal Khashoggi – began building a new military base in he had informed the country’s king of his resig- after meeting with him later on Monday, within my party and outside using his name.” Al-Hasakah Governorate earlier this who was murdered on October 2, 2018 at nation at 1pm Kuala Lumpur time (05:00 GMT) Chief Secretary Mohd Zuki Ali said in a “And he [Mahathir] reiterated what he had the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – lost his month to prevent Russian forces from on Monday. statement. said to me earlier, he played no part in it. He reaching the Rmelan oil field. life because of disclosing Saudi Arabia’s Mahathir also reportedly resigned from his “However, His Highness has given his assent made it very clear, that in no way would he work funding of an anti-Iran TV channel. The Syrian oil and gas re- own party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, to appoint Mahathir Mohamad as interim prime with those associated with the previous regime.” sources and Trump’s greed “I can confirm that Jamal Khashoggi according to Reuters news agency, citing three minister, while waiting for the appointment of Collapse of coalition was killed because of speaking to me on the During a news conference, U.S. sources. Mahathir’s party also announced that the new prime minister. Hence until then, (Ma- On Sunday night, allies of Mahathir, some President Donald Trump recently phone from Istanbul in the morning on 26 it was quitting the ruling government coalition, hathir) will manage the country’s affairs until a renegade members of Anwar’s People’s Justice September, revealing that London-based rervealed his intention to plunder Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope), casting doubt new prime minister and cabinet are appointed,” Party (PKR), and a slew of other Parliament Syrian oil and gas resources, spe- Iran International TV was funded by Mo- on the future of the partnership. Mohd Zuki said. members, including those from the opposition, hammad bin Salman and Saud al-Qahtani,” cifically those that are located east Mahathir’s decision follows a weekend of po- Anwar also said that Mahathir has no plans UMNO, held talks in the outskirts of the capital, of Deir ez-Zor, and said, “What I he tweeted on November 9, 2018. litical wrangling, after it was reported on Sunday to join with anyone from the previous ruling Kuala Lumpur. 10 intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal The journalist later suggested he felt with an ExxonMobil or one of our threatened by his revelation. great companies to go in there and “My request to all family and friends do it properly...and spread out the is not to contact me at this moment, wealth”. except very trusted one.