News Summary for Tuesday, August 7

Short News Summary for Tuesday, August 7, 2018. Read the most important news from Iran and the world on the sixteenth day of Mordad 1397 here moment by moment. Breaking News: Three killed in explosion at National Olympic Academy building. ISNA reported on Tuesday evening an explosion in the engine room of the National Olympic Academy on Seoul Street in Tehran, which resulted in the deaths of three workers from this academy. According to the report, the explosion occurred while a number of maintenance workers were repairing the engine room of the National Olympic Academy. The spokesperson for Tehran's fire department announced that the explosion occurred at 20:37 and added that the workers were repairing one of the coolers of the complex when its tank exploded, resulting in the immediate deaths of three workers aged between 30 and 60. It was reported that the sound of the explosion was heard in the surrounding neighborhoods of Seoul Street. "Rouhani has failed". The monthly magazine "Andisheh Pouya" surveyed 13 political and civil activists regarding "the fate of Hassan Rouhani after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA," and they stated that his performance in this regard was "failed." Among those who participated in this survey are Davood Hermidas Bavand, Abbas Abdi, Hossein Valeh, Mas'ollah Shams al-Va'izin, Sadegh Zibakalam, Saeed Madani, Abdollah Naseri, Mohammad Javad Haqshenas, and Ahmad Pournejati. Saeed Madani stated that "Rouhani has lacked a clear discourse and independent identity from the beginning. Pragmatism, laziness, simplism, daily thinking, and opportunism are the main characteristics of Rouhani that he has never succeeded in correcting any of them." Abdollah Naseri, who gave Rouhani a "failing grade," stated that his government "lacked the necessary preparedness to confront the wave of U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA." Abbas Abdi, a political activist, also responded to the question of whether if Rouhani steps down and reformists come to power, they would have more capacity than the current government to manage the country, saying: "Until the political situation is reformed and a change occurs in political reality, no one can save this ship that has run aground." The negative stance towards Rouhani's performance in his second presidential term is not limited to political experts. Social media users have also launched various campaigns on Twitter over the past year, including with the hashtag "#IRegret" to express their regret for voting for him in last year's elections. Street protesters in December last year and August this year also chanted slogans such as "Reformist, Principlist, the story is over!" and "Rouhani, have some shame / Leave the country alone" in response to the performance of all political factions of the Islamic Republic and the twelfth government. Payment of two months' wages for 800 workers at Iran Chooka factory has not been made. More than two months' wages for about 800 workers at the Iran Chooka factory in Gilan province have not been paid. ILNA reported that workers at Iran Chooka stated that part of their wages for Ordibehesht and the full wages for Khordad and Tir months have not been paid, and they are also facing problems regarding social security insurance. These workers are also demanding the implementation of job classification plans. According to the report, the Iran Chooka factory is not operating at full capacity due to reasons such as the lack of raw materials. In recent years, the non-payment of workers' wages in various regions of Iran has become one of their most significant problems. Workers have also held numerous labor protests in response to this issue. A citizen's reaction to President Hassan Rouhani's remarks on Monday night about Article 59 of the Constitution and a referendum on contentious issues among high-ranking officials. Location: in front of the French pastry shop on Enghelab Street in Tehran. Discovery of forgotten artworks in Tehran's contemporary art museums. An art news site reported that preparations for the 2019 exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the renovation of its building have led to the discovery of new artworks that had not been documented before. The site "Art Newspaper" wrote that ten works by Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish painter, are among the forgotten works of the contemporary art museum that were found during recent excavations. This exhibition, which is set to take place from February 21 to April 20, will showcase about 400 to 500 works by modern European and American painters and sculptors, including Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, and Marcel Duchamp. Matis Visser, a Dutch architect who is in charge of organizing this exhibition, stated that during the renovation of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art's warehouses, a number of lost or forgotten objects and paintings were discovered. He referred to this action as "contemporary archaeology" and added: "While only two works by Pablo Picasso were previously registered, now 12 of his works have been identified. A Duchamp design has also been found." He stated that as the work continues, more artworks that had not been documented before may be identified. One of Picasso's works in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Fars News Agency corrected the remarks of a former IRGC commander. Fars News Agency stated that a report from this media outlet was "exploited" by what it called "some anti-revolutionary networks," while - according to Fars - "the distorted phrase published was due to the carelessness of the reporter and the news publisher." This news agency close to the IRGC referred to the remarks of Nasir Shabani, a former IRGC commander, who stated: "We have a rear area in the region today. We told the Yemenis to hit two Saudi oil tankers, and they did; Hezbollah Lebanon and Ansar Allah Yemen are our rear depth; the enemy is so vulnerable that we can engage them across the border." Following the widespread coverage of this news in Persian media, Fars News Agency published a clarification, changing Mr. Shabani's remarks to: "We have a rear area in the region today. Some Western officials and media and adversaries have conveyed that we told the Yemenis to hit two Saudi ships, and they did..." A shocking report on the situation in Sistan and Baluchestan province. A member of the city council of Zabol and representative of Sistan and Baluchestan province in the Supreme Council of Provinces painted a shocking picture of the situation in this province and stated: "Some people have not seen a piece of meat for months and survive on dry bread." According to ILNA, Aziz Sarani added that "under these critical conditions, no one can buy rice; when rice reaches 15 to 20 thousand tomans per kilo, it means the situation is very dire, especially in these past few days when the currency price has increased and prices have risen sharply." He said that "Sistan and Baluchestan province is emptying out," "there are very dangerous dust storms around Zabol, and the 120-day winds have turned into 180-day winds, which is truly terrifying," "people's lives are only sustained through the 45 thousand toman subsidies," "the only hope for the people of the region was agriculture, which has also vanished due to drought," and "children come to school without breakfast and go home hungry." Daimler halts its operations in Iran. Daimler, the German automotive and truck manufacturer, announced that it will cease its operations in Iran. According to AFP, the company stated: "Due to the imposed sanctions, we have halted our activities in Iran, which are already limited." In early 2016, Daimler established a joint venture with Iran Khodro to manufacture and distribute Mercedes-Benz trucks in the country. Fars: Dollar priced at 8074 tomans in the secondary market. Fars News Agency wrote: In the secondary market, some petrochemical companies, which are the main suppliers in this market, sold their currency at a price of 8074 tomans. According to this report, the volume of transactions today in the secondary market increased, and the supply and demand significantly increased. Today, some petrochemical companies, which are the main currency suppliers in this market, offered dirhams at a price of 2200 tomans. However, there was demand for prices higher than 2200 tomans. This news agency adds: Given that the dirham to dollar exchange rate is 3.67, the value of the dollar today in the secondary market on the first day after the entry of non-oil exporters was equivalent to 8,074 tomans. Delivery of six-month pre-sold coins will begin on Wednesday. The delivery of about 2 million and 580 thousand pre-sold six-month coins will begin on Wednesday. The Central Bank of Iran has implemented a plan to pre-sell more than 7 million and 600 thousand gold coins to attract cash and control the currency and gold market since May of this year. The implementation of this plan has faced criticism, and in recent weeks, judicial and government officials have confirmed the purchase of tens of thousands of coins by several investors and reported the arrest of several large coin buyers. The Central Bank did not impose any specific restrictions on coin buyers during the implementation of this plan. According to ISNA, coins that were purchased six months ago at a price of 1 million and 400 thousand tomans will yield a profit of between one and a half to two million tomans if sold in the free market.