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Engineer and astronaut Anousheh Ansari, left, and former NASA scientist Firouz Naderi accept best foreign language film for The Salesman on behalf of director Asghar Farhadi. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Ashgar Farhadi won his second Oscar, but he decided not to attend tonights ceremony afterPresident Trump signed an executive order barring visa-holders from Iran and six other countries to enter the United States.

In his place, Farhadi sent two prominent Iranian-Americans in his place to the ceremony:Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space traveler, andFirouz Naderi, a former director at NASA.

Ansari read from a statement written by Farhadi. Its a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the Academy, my crew in Iran, and others involved in the film, The Salesman.

She continued reading the statement:

Original post:
Iranian director sent prominent Iranian-American engineers to accept his Oscar - Washington Post

Irans largest automaker Iran Khodro Group (IKCO) plans to open new plants in neighboring Azerbaijan following years of absence from neighboring CIS markets. The issue was on the agenda of the Azerbaijan-Iran Business Forum in Urmia, where a delegation headed by Azeri Economic Minister Shahin Mustafayev arrived in the northwestern Iranian city to discuss expansion of cooperation, according to Azer News. Mustafayev told the meeting that Irans biggest automaker Iran Khodro plans to open four new production lines in Azerbaijan with production of locally developed models and the Samand, Soren and Runna being the most likely candidates. In 2016, Azerbaijans AzEuroCar LLC and Iran Khodro signed an agreement to create a joint car plant in the Neftchala Industrial Area. The plant with a capacity of about 10,000 cars per year will produce four Iranian models including the Dena. The cost of the future auto project is estimated at $15 million. The plant is expected to produce the first cars in May. Some 20% of the vehicles will be exported to other CIS countries including Georgia and southern Russia. The cars produced at the Azeri plant will meet Euro 5 standard as per Azeri law. Mustafayev noted that Azerbaijan and Iran intend to increase bilateral trade to $500 million in the coming years. Trade turnover between the two neighbors reached $15.77 million in January, while last year during the same month it was $9.56 million. In 2016, Azerbaijans trade turnover with Iran amounted to $210.76 million, which was 70% more than in 2015. He noted that 538 companies with Iranian shareholders operate in Azerbaijan and have invested $150 million in the neighboring republic.

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Iran Khodro to Expand Azeri Operations - Financial Tribune

For International Financial Reporting Standards to truly take hold in Iran, they must be accorded significance on the national scale, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran said. "A successful implementation of IFRS requires everyone to treat it as a national scheme that must go beyond a concept ratified by the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran and even CBI, because it would benefit a wide variety of people," Valiollah Seif was also quoted as saying by the official website of the central bank. Seif made the statements as the keynote speaker at the Conference on IFRS and Their Role in Improving Transparency of Financial Markets held in Tehran on Saturday. Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayyebnia, President of the Central Insurance of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati and Director of the Audit Organization of Iran Akbar Soheilipour were among top officials in attendance. International Financial Reporting Standards is a single set of accounting standards, developed and maintained by the International Accounting Standards Board with the intention of those standards being capable of being applied on a globally consistent basis by developed, emerging and developing economies. IFRS provides investors and other users of financial statements with the ability of comparing the financial performance of publicly listed companies on a like-for-like basis with their international peers. On the prerequisites deemed important by the central bank, the official outlined nine principles, with the first being the implementation of bank infrastructures. These infrastructures include a software update that could help access the information required by the new financial statements. Seif said how IFRS9 is used, "which will replace IAS39 in 2018", is the second principle. IFRS9 standard includes requirements for recognition and measurement, impairment, de-recognition and general hedge accounting. He noted that "a reasonable amount of trust enjoyed by CBI as the supervising entity" is the third principle and the fourth calls for strengthening independent bank auditors "for the purpose of mastering the application of IFRS in banking". The top CBI official focused attention on the structure of financial reporting and outfitting the evaluation regime, and using "suitable and credible models of evaluation" as the next two principles. In describing the next principle, he stressed that unreliable evaluation reports must not be published, while referring to amending a number of tax rules and regulations as the eighth one. In outlining the final principle, he referred to a number of statistics "influenced by the banking laws of Iran, which are fundamentally not within the framework of auditing standards", be it national standards or IFRS ones. The IFRS-based balance sheet templates were first released by CBI in February to improve financial transparency and the international operations of Iranian banks. Lenders are now required to report their statements as per IFRS guidelines. Data Transparency The head of CII said considering the legal obligation of insurance companies to draft their financial statements in accordance with the sample approved by the Supreme Council of Insurance, "the prerequisites required to draft financial statements in line with international standards have been completed." Hemmati stressed that the process of separating accounts pertaining to life and non-life insurances is being completed. The head of Audit Organization of Iran said if the information is released in an ambiguous atmosphere, "we cannot expect complete transparency from IFRS". Soheilipour stressed that the foundations of information must be made transparent and publishing data "will give us transparency". He announced that Majlis Research Center has obtained six IFRS books, the translation of which has already begun. "With the implementation of Iran's nuclear accord in January and the relative easing of sanctions, an agreement was signed with [international entities] and the audit organization managed to obtain the necessary permits related to the issue," he said.

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Iran Holds Key Conference on IFRS Adoption - Financial Tribune

Irans non-oil trade during the 11 months of the current Iranian year (started March 20, 2016) amounted to $76.9 billion, indicating a 1.8% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year. According to the latest report by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Iran exported $38.49 billion worth of non-oil commodities during the period, registering a 0.21% rise compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. In return, the country imported $38.41 billion worth of goodsup 3.47% year-on-year. The figures point to a $77 million surplus in Irans international trade balance for the 11 months to February 18, 2017. IRICAs data put the weight of exports and imports during the period at 111.81 million and 30 million tons respectively, indicating a 32.49% increase and a 3.97% decrease respectively. Gas condensates were Irans main exported commodity ($6.57 billion), making up for 17.07% of the total non-oil export figure. This was followed by natural liquefied gases ($1.95 billion), light crude oil, excluding gasoline ($1.36 billion), petroleum gases, liquefied hydrocarbons ($1.1 billion) and liquefied propane ($1.07 billion). The imported commodities mainly included field corn ($1.3 billion), soybean ($848 million), auto parts ($730 million), motor vehicles with engine displacement of 1,500-2,000cc ($705 million) and motor vehicles with engine displacement of 2,000-2,500cc ($572 million).

China was the main customer of Iranian products, as Iran exported $7.29 billion worth of non-oil goods to the Asian country during the period, up 6.91% compared with last years similar period. Other major export destinations included the UAE with $6.14 billion, Iraq with $5.51 billion, Turkey with $2.95 billion and South Korea with $2.69 billion worth of Iranian goods. Major exporters to Iran included China ($9.37 billion), the UAE ($5.79 billion), South Korea ($3.27 billion), Turkey ($2.38 billion) and Germany ($2.17 billion). Imports from the UAE, South Korea and Turkey fell by 15.02%, 9.57% and 10.99% respectively. However, imports from China and Germany experienced a 0.09% and 36.3% growth year-on-year.

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Iran's Non-Oil Trade Exceed $76b - Financial Tribune

Iran is complying with the nuclear deal reached with international powers in 2015, the UN atomic watchdog said in its latest quarterly report on Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran's stock of low-enriched uranium was 101.7 kilograms (225 pounds), far below the 300 kilograms limited by the deal.

Low-enriched uranium can be used for nuclear power and other peaceful purposes, but when further enriched can be used to make a nuclear weapon.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia reached the accord with Iran in 2015. In exchange for Iran limiting its nuclear program punishing international sanctions against Iran were dropped. Tehran says it never intended to create nuclear weapons.

The IAEA report also said that Iran was complying with the 130-ton limit on so-called heavy water, at 124.2 tons, and has not enriched uranium above a 3.67 percent limit.

In its November report, the UN watchdog said Iran's stockpile had slightly exceeded the limit, prompting criticism from the Obama administration, which said the deal specified excess stock must be delivered to a foreign buyer.

Iran then sent 11 kilograms to Oman, a country that has acted as a mediator between Tehran and the West, in anticipation it would be sold to a buyer.

Plutonium can be extracted from fuel rods used in heavy water reactors to makenuclear weapons.

"Iran has not conducted any uranium enrichment or related research and development activities" at its Fordo nuclear plant, the IAEA added.

The UN watchdog also said verification has continued in line with the agreement.

The report is the first issued since Donald Trump took over the White House.Trump has criticized the accord as the "worst deal ever negotiated."

Iran committed to among other things cutting by two-thirds its uranium centrifuges, dramatically reducing its stockpile of uranium and removing the core of the Arak reactor.

cw/msh(AFP, AP, Reuters)

Excerpt from:
UN watchdog: Iran complying with nuclear deal - Deutsche Welle