Short news updates for Wednesday, September 5, 1397. Read the most important news from Iran and the world on the fourteenth day of September 1397 here moment by moment.
Latest news updates
21:55, September 5, 1397 - Trump: I don't care if Iranian leaders want to talk to me or not. The President of the United States said on Wednesday that he cannot predict what will happen regarding Iran and does not care whether Iranian leaders want to talk to him or not. According to Reuters, Donald Trump made these remarks before meeting with the Emir of Kuwait in Washington. However, he stated that his offer for a potential meeting with Hassan Rouhani at the UN General Assembly remains on the table. The US President had announced on July 30 that he was willing to negotiate unconditionally with Iranian leaders about the disputes between the two countries. Iranian officials, especially Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected this offer. Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA on May 8 and reinstated the first round of suspended sanctions against Iran in mid-August. He has stated that he seeks a comprehensive agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program, missile capabilities, and Tehran's role in the region.
21:04, September 5, 1397 - Russia: Putin will discuss the JCPOA during his visit to Tehran. The international affairs assistant to the President of Russia stated on Wednesday that Vladimir Putin plans to discuss the status of the JCPOA after the US withdrawal from the agreement with Iranian officials during his visit to Tehran. Putin will arrive in Tehran on Friday, September 7, to attend a summit of the presidents of Iran, Russia, and Turkey and to discuss Syria. Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that the Russian President will also meet separately with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani during the Tehran summit. He identified the main topics of Putin's discussions in Iran as the situation in Syria, bilateral relations between Tehran and Moscow, and the status of the JCPOA after the US withdrawal from the agreement.
19:00, September 5, 1397 - Zarif calls the Security Council meeting on Iran 'outrageous.' The Iranian Foreign Minister described the plans for Donald Trump's presidency at one of the UN Security Council meetings dedicated to Iran as 'outrageous.' Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Wednesday following comments by Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, regarding this meeting, stating that Trump aims to divert attention from the Palestinian issue by misusing the presidency of the Security Council, which has been dedicated to Palestine for seventy years. Nikki Haley stated on Tuesday that Donald Trump is set to preside over a Security Council meeting on Iran during the UN General Assembly at the end of September, which will be attended by world leaders.
18:54, September 5, 1397 - Continued fluctuations in the currency market; Iranian Rial falls by 30%. Reports from Iran indicate that the free currency market was turbulent on Wednesday, with the price of each US dollar fluctuating between 14,000 and 15,000 tomans. However, by the end of the day, each dollar stabilized at 14,000 tomans. Each euro was traded up to 16,000 tomans, and the pound reached 18,000 tomans. The prices of various foreign currencies in Tehran's free market have been highly volatile and have seen a sharp increase, rising from about 11,000 tomans to 14,000 tomans. Statistics indicate that the value of the Iranian Rial has fallen by 30% in the past five days. ISNA reported about Wednesday's market: 'Currency exchanges buy currency from people and sell it to brokers, and it is the brokers who determine the currency prices, not the exchanges and the government.' This news agency added: 'The chaotic currency market was such that prices and their increase no longer mattered to people; they just wanted to buy currency as quickly as possible.'
16:54, September 5, 1397 - Success in the 'Billion Tree Tsunami' project in Pakistan. IRNA reported on Wednesday that the local government of Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, has managed to plant one billion saplings in this province over the past four years to mitigate the effects of climate change. Reports indicate that most of the saplings planted in Pakistan since 2014 under the 'Billion Tree Tsunami' initiative have grown well, transforming thousands of hectares of barren land and destroyed pastures into forests or parks. Imran Khan, the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, intends to complete the afforestation project within the next five years and aims to plant 10 billion saplings across Pakistan, with the goal of creating jobs for youth.
16:40, September 5, 1397 - Increase in Afghan refugee migration from Iran to Turkey. Over the past year, the influx of Afghans to Turkey has intensified, including not only Afghans residing in Afghanistan but also those living in Iran. According to AFP, the dire situation of many Afghans in Iran has worsened due to Iran's new economic crisis, pushing many to migrate to Turkey. Turkey is currently the largest host of refugees in the world, with three million of them being Syrians and 145,000 Afghans. According to the Turkish Ministry of Interior, by mid-August 2018, 61,819 Afghan migrants had entered Turkey. This figure was 45,259 last year.
15:42, September 5, 1397 - Israeli planes target several Iranian military positions in Syria. Israeli planes targeted several military positions in Syria that are claimed to belong to Iran. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli fighter jets struck several Iranian military positions in 'Wadi al-Ayoun' in Hama province and positions in the coastal area of Baniyas in Tartus province early on Tuesday. The report states that nine Iranians and fourteen Syrians were killed in these attacks.
15:30, September 5, 1397 - WHO: One-quarter of the world's population is not sufficiently active. New research from the World Health Organization indicates that one-quarter of the world's population does not engage in enough physical activity to maintain health. The WHO warns that about 1.4 billion adults, especially in wealthy countries, are not physically active enough, and their physical activity continues to decline, harming their physical and mental health. According to this report, one in three women and one in four men do not have adequate exercise and movement.
15:20, September 5, 1397 - Digikala's decision to lay off 175 employees due to currency and economic conditions. The news site 'Digiato' reported that the founders of the e-commerce site 'Digikala' in Iran have sent a letter to their staff informing them that they have been forced to make tough decisions. According to Hamid and Saeed Mohammadi in their letter, one of these decisions will involve laying off 175 employees from a total of 2,414 staff at Digikala. The Mohammadi brothers stated that factors such as 'rising currency prices and the declining value of the Rial, leading to decreased purchasing power, disruptions in the supply chain, and instability in government economic decisions' have contributed to this situation. Digikala is one of the active e-commerce websites and the largest online store in Iran.
15:07, September 5, 1397 - British prosecutors charge two Russians in the Skripal poisoning case. British prosecutors say they have sufficient evidence to show that two Russian citizens are accused of conspiring to kill former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Prosecutors state that the two suspects used the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov and flew from Moscow to London two days before Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned. Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who provided the names of several Russian spies to the British foreign intelligence service, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, England, on March 4. The British government reported their poisoning with a nerve agent and accused Russia of being involved in the attack.