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Iran’s Currency Continues to Fall, Rouhani’s Administration Says Criticism 'Acceptable'

via TASNIM
via TASNIM
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Iran’s Currency Continues to Fall, Rouhani’s Administration Says Criticism 'Acceptable'

via TASNIM
via TASNIM

The Iranian currency continued to fall as its rial hit a record low against the US dollar for the second time in two months over concerns about Iran's economy.

The Iranian government, according to several officials in President Hassan Rouhani’s administration, rushed to defend its performance against the harsh criticisms by the state’s newspapers although government Spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said the criticisms were "acceptable".

The rial, which had plunged through 50,000 rials to the dollar in February, depreciated to 60,000 on the unregulated market.

The rial has reached a series of records-low in recent weeks, and stood at 58,650 to the dollar at the close of business on Monday.

Several foreign-exchange dealers announced they had stopped selling both dollars and euros by late afternoon trade, according to ISNA.

After an emergency session of the government on Monday night, Vice-President Eshagh Jahangiri said the rate would be capped at 42,000 rials to the dollar and foreign exchange offices would be brought under the control of the central bank.

"Unfortunately in recent days, incidents have happened in the rate of foreign currency which have caused concern for the people," he said in comments on the state broadcaster.

He blamed "non-economic, unjustified and unpredictable factors" for driving the rial's collapse, given that its exports were performing strongly.

"There should not be such incidents in an economy that always has a surplus of foreign currency. Some say interference by foreign hands is disrupting the economic climate and some say domestic machinations are spurring these things in order to destabilize the climate in the country," added Jahangiri.

For his part, Nobakht said, “We will certainly use all of the state’s strengths and capabilities in order to, God-willing, steady the market.”

“We accept that this situation is not a good one and it’s against what we want,” he added in a statement.

Rouhani met with officials to discuss ways to intervene and stabilize the currency, Nobakht said. The measures will be implemented in coming days, he added without elaborating.

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World

Trump Suggests Renaming New Mexico State 'New America'

US President Donald Trump speaks during an End of Summer BBQ event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL
US President Donald Trump speaks during an End of Summer BBQ event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL
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Trump Suggests Renaming New Mexico State 'New America'

US President Donald Trump speaks during an End of Summer BBQ event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL
US President Donald Trump speaks during an End of Summer BBQ event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 02 September 2026. EPA/Samuel Corum / POOL

US President Donald Trump's name-changing spree found an unlikely new target on Sunday when he suggested the state of New Mexico could become "New America."

His proposal, which was immediately dismissed by the state's governor, comes days after he signed an order to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America" in the middle of a trade war with neighboring Canada, said AFP.

"Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico... to NEW AMERICA," the Republican president posted on social media. "So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!"

The White House reposted an image showing the Mexico part of the state's name crossed out and replaced with "America."

Some US media reports said the idea originated as an internet hoax.

State governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told Fox News that the name "isn't up for debate -- it's been ours since before the United States existed."

She said the president wanted to "distract Americans" from issues such as soaring gas prices.

Trump last week suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz as "Trump Strait" as the war with Iran continues -- then hours later implied he was not serious about the plan.

He renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" on his first day back in the White House in 2025 in a move rejected by Mexico.

Canada has also rejected the attempt to rename Lake Ontario.

World

Nepal Tunnel Rescues Face 'Unprecedented' Challenge

A handout photograph taken by the Nepal Army shows personnel conducting a search and rescue operation at the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower project in Rasuwa. Handout / NEPAL ARMY/AFP/File
A handout photograph taken by the Nepal Army shows personnel conducting a search and rescue operation at the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower project in Rasuwa. Handout / NEPAL ARMY/AFP/File
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Nepal Tunnel Rescues Face 'Unprecedented' Challenge

A handout photograph taken by the Nepal Army shows personnel conducting a search and rescue operation at the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower project in Rasuwa. Handout / NEPAL ARMY/AFP/File
A handout photograph taken by the Nepal Army shows personnel conducting a search and rescue operation at the Rasuwagadhi Hydropower project in Rasuwa. Handout / NEPAL ARMY/AFP/File

Nepal's flood disaster posed an unprecedented challenge, Australian rescue expert Arnold Dix said Monday, with multiple search operations underway in Himalayan hydropower tunnels.

The August 26 glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border killed at least 1,385 people, with more than 5,500 missing across the two countries, said AFP.

Hundreds of hydropower workers are among the missing, with rescue efforts now in their thirteenth day.

"We are facing something I have never faced before," said Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, in a post on social media.

"Not one rescue, but multiple potential rescues, unfolding at the same time, in different places, each with its own dangers, uncertainties, and lives that may still be saved."

Nepal is holding a national day of mourning on Monday in line with traditional Hindu rituals.

But rescue efforts continue "with the same tempo we had on day one", Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP on Monday.

"Our focus is on search and rescue at three levels -- on ground, by air, and in the tunnels. We are making sure that no one is still stranded."

The rescue of three workers from deep inside tunnels -- two Nepalis on Friday and a Chinese man on Saturday -- buoyed hopes of finding other survivors.

Foreign experts, including from China, India, and South Korea, are aiding Nepali teams in rescue efforts -- among them Dix.

"We are measured not only by the lives we save, but by the lives we refuse to abandon," said Dix, a key adviser during the Indian rescue of 41 men trapped for 17 days inside the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand state in 2023.

"Silkyara taught me never to confuse unlikely with impossible," he said.

World

Properties Linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader Go Up for Sale in London

An Iranian woman carries a poster of the Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at a rally in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP)
An Iranian woman carries a poster of the Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at a rally in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP)
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Properties Linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader Go Up for Sale in London

An Iranian woman carries a poster of the Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at a rally in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP)
An Iranian woman carries a poster of the Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei at a rally in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026. (AP)

Two luxury apartments linked to Iran’s Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in London have been put up for sale when an Iranian banker, believed to be the leader’s frontman, defaults on mortgages after being sanctioned by the US, The Sunday Times reported.

The luxury London penthouses, bought by banker Ali Ansari in 2014 and 2016 for a combined £36 million, are located at 3a Palace Green, in an exclusive development overlooking Kensington Palace and close to the official residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, according to the report.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was appointed Iran’s supreme leader in February after his father and predecessor, Ali, was killed in the opening strikes of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.

Mojtaba has not been seen or heard publicly, rendering his current condition and circumstances unknown.

In July, Ansari, 57, was sanctioned by the US Treasury as Khamenei's “key financier.”

The treasury said that Ansari “oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefiting Iran's leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and other regime elites.”

The Treasury also accused the Iranian businessman of using numerous shell companies and bank accounts across several jurisdictions to build an overseas portfolio of real estate and commercial interests.

It said the network stretched across Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Cyprus and the UAE and alleged that many of the financial interests held in Ansari’s name were ultimately for the benefit of Khamenei, his family, other Iranian elites and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Ansari denies the accusations.

Britain had sanctioned Ansari in October 2025, imposing an asset freeze, travel ban and director disqualification after accusing him of financially supporting IRGC activities.

The British sanctions came days after Ayandeh, the private bank Ansari’s family set up in Iran more than a decade ago, was dissolved by Iran's central bank due to longstanding debts and regulatory issues.

The state-owned Melli Bank has absorbed the bank’s assets.

Founded in 2012, Ayandeh Bank had a network of 270 branches across the country. But it had been crippled by debt, with accumulated losses amounting to the equivalent of about $5.2 billion and roughly $2.9 billion in debts.

The Sunday Times reported that the British government authorized the two properties to be sold after Ansari defaulted on their mortgages.

Private lenders who financed the purchases have appointed receivers to recover what they are owed. Any money left after the lenders are repaid is expected to be frozen while Ansari remains under sanctions, according to the newspaper.

One of the properties is a five-bedroom duplex that spreads across the sixth and seventh floor. Originally purchased in 2016 for £19 million, it is now being offered for just under £12 million, according to the report.

The second penthouse, spread over the seventh and eighth floors of the same building, was bought for £16.75 million in 2014 and has also entered receivership.

The Sunday Times said since the purchase of both apartments, neither Khamenei nor Ansari have been sighted at the Palace Green development.

Last year, The Sunday Times revealed that Ansari had quietly amassed a property portfolio worth more than £140 million across London's most elite districts, including several properties on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, valued at £73 million and a £33.7 million mansion on an exclusive London street.