Politics
Iran protesters clash with security forces in Tehran’s main market – National TenX News
Protesters angry over Iran’s ailing economy conducted a sit-in Tuesday at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, witnesses said, with security forces ultimately firing tear gas and dispersing demonstrators as the rest of the market shut down.
The protest at the Grand Bazaar, the beating heart for centuries of both Iran‘s economic and political life, represents the latest signal that the demonstrations likely are to continue as the country’s rial currency fell to a record low Tuesday. Already, violence surrounding the protests has killed at least 35 people with authorities detaining more than 1,200 others, activists abroad say.
Meanwhile, the situation is likely to worsen as Iran’s Central Bank drastically reduced the subsidized exchange rates for dollars it offers to importers and producers in the country. That likely will see merchants pass on price hikes in the coming days for goods directly onto consumers, whose life savings already have dwindled over years of international sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, while ordering a government investigation into one incident involving the protests, otherwise signaled Tuesday the crisis may be rapidly moving beyond the control of officials.
“We should not expect the government to handle all of this alone,” Pezeshkian said in a televised speech. “The government simply does not have that capacity.”
Turmoil shakes Grand Bazaar
In the Grand Bazaar, a labyrinth-like warren of covered passages and alleyways, demonstrators sat down in one passage in front of security forces as other shops nearby shut down on Tuesday, online videos showed and witnesses said. Other demonstrations similarly have seen people sit down in front of police after a photo circulated earlier of a man seen sitting alone in front of security forces.
Authorities later fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. Iranian state-run media did not immediately acknowledge the incident, which has been common in the days since the demonstrations began on Dec. 28.
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Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after a 12-day war with Israel in June, its rial currency collapsed in December, reaching 1.4 million to $1. Protests began soon after, with demonstrators chanting against Iran’s theocracy.
On Tuesday, $1 traded at 1.46 million rials, a new low, with no signs of slowing. Prior to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the rial was broadly stable, trading at around 70 to $1. At the time of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, $1 traded for 32,000 rials.
Exchange rate change points to more pain coming
More pain may be coming for Iranian consumers. Iran’s Central Bank in recent days greatly reduced a preferential, subsidized dollar-rial exchange rate. Iran’s government offer that rate to importers and producers to try to ensure the flow of food, medicine and other essential goods despite international sanctions over its nuclear program and other issues.
However, many of those firms took advantage of the difference in rates, pocketing ever-greater profits as normal Iranians watched their savings rapidly lose value against the dollar. That’s led to the Central Bank drastically reducing that rate.
The currency and rate depreciation has directly impacted what’s available in stores — and at what price. The average bottle of cooking oil just doubled in price, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Many have complained about shelves being empty in stores, likely as suppliers and merchants fear selling cooking oil at a loss. Cheese and chicken prices also spiked, while imported rice hasn’t been available in some shops.
Pezeshkian in his speech blamed inflation, sanctions and other woes for causing the depreciation — and warned tougher times may be coming.
“If we do not make realistic decisions, we ourselves will push the country toward crisis and then complain about the consequences,” he warned.
Iran promises Ilam investigation
Late Monday, Pezeshkian assigned the interior ministry to form a special team for a “full-fledged investigation” of what had been happening in Ilam province. Protesters in Malekshahi County in Iran’s Ilam province, some 515 kilometers (320 miles) southwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran, were killed as online videos purported to show security forces firing on civilians.
The presidency also acknowledged an “incident in a hospital in the city of Ilam.” Online video showed security forces wearing riot gear raiding a hospital, where activists said they were seeking demonstrators.
The hospital assault drew criticism from the U.S. State Department, which in Iran’s Farsi language called the incident “a crime.”
“Storming the wards, beating medical staff and attacking the wounded with tear gas and ammunition is an clear crime against humanity,” a post on the social platform X read. “Hospitals are not battlefields.”
A report by the semiofficial Fars news agency earlier alleged without offering evidence that demonstrators carried firearms and grenades.
Ilam province is mainly home to the country’s Kurdish and Lur ethnic groups and faces severe economic hardship.
Protester deaths a focus of Trump
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offered the latest death toll of 35 for the demonstrations. It said 29 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces,
The group, which relies on an activist network inside of Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest.
Fars, believed close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported late Monday that some 250 police officers and 45 members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force have been hurt in the demonstrations.
The growing death toll carries with it the chance of American intervention. U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said “rioters must be put in their place.”
While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response, with officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast. The comments took on new importance after the U.S. military on Saturday captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.
Politics
IMF chief backs Jerome Powell, U.S. Fed independence amid Trump pressure – National TenX News
International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday underscored the importance of keeping central banks independent and threw her support behind beleaguered Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who is facing a Trump administration investigation for renovation cost overruns.
Georgieva told Reuters in an interview that there was ample evidence that central bank independence worked in the interest of businesses and households, and that evidence-based, data-based decision-making is good for the economy.
The IMF managing director said she had worked with Powell and respected his professionalism.
“I have worked with Jay Powell. He is a very good professional, very decent man, and I think that his standing among his colleagues tells the story,” she said, when asked about a letter of support signed by her predecessor, Christine Lagarde, now head of the European Central Bank, and other large central banks.
Powell on Sunday disclosed that the Trump administration had opened an investigation into him over cost overruns for a $2.5 billion project to renovate two historical buildings at the Fed’s Washington headquarters complex.
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Powell denies wrongdoing and has called the unprecedented actions a pretext to put pressure on him for not bowing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s long-running demands for sharply lower interest rates.
The probe has sparked widespread criticism from some key members of Trump’s Republican Party in the U.S. Senate, which must confirm his nominee to succeed Powell, along with foreign economic officials, investors and former U.S. government officials from both political parties.
Trump has repeatedly derided Powell’s leadership of the Fed and attacked him, often personally, over what he sees as the Fed chair’s slow moves to cut interest rates. On Wednesday, he dismissed concerns that eroding central bank independence would undermine the value of the U.S. dollar and spark inflation, telling Reuters, “I don’t care.”
Georgieva said the IMF looked carefully at issues such as monetary and financial stability, as well as the strength of a country’s institutions. It was specifically interested in the Fed, given the role of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency.
“It would be very good to see that there is a recognition … that the Fed is precious for the Americans. It is very important for the rest of the world,” she said.
Trump has also attempted to fire another Fed official, Governor Lisa Cook, who has challenged her termination in a legal case that will be argued before the Supreme Court next week.
B.C. Premier David Eby spoke to reporters on Thursday morning from Mumbai, India, during his six-day trade mission.
He said that mining and energy companies in India are showing an interest in B.C.
“They are looking strongly to LNG as one of their ways of reducing carbon intensity, as well as reducing smog in the country,” Eby said.
“And so B.C. LNG has been an item of considerable interest, especially the projects that are reaching final investment decision over the next year — LNG Canada Phase 2, KSI Lisims LNG — as well as the projects that are under construction like Woodfibre LNG.”
Eby was also asked about the rise in extortion cases in B.C.
He said the province’s extortion task force will provide an update next week.
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“We have assembled a remarkable and historic task force, RCMP, CBSA,” Eby said.
“There are more police in Surrey right now than there have ever been. The RCMP has surged resources into the community.”
Eby said he has not been happy with the fact that there has been no update from the task force and he has asked them to provide one.
“There have been some important developments, people deported, an arrest here in India, cooperation between the Indian government and the Canadian government on this at the law enforcement level,” he added.
“That needs to continue, but, bluntly, we need better results, we need to see more arrests and whatever we can do to support the police to get the job done, we will do so.”
As of Jan. 12, Surrey police said there have been 16 reported extortion incidents in the city since the beginning of the year.
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Amid persistent doubts over the future of the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA), Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard insisted on Thursday that the agreement remains firmly intact and that the three countries will close a deal to extend it.
“We’re already in the treaty review phase, and we have to finish by July 1; that’s our deadline,” Ebrard said during Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily morning press conference.
“We have made good progress on all the points that concern each of the parties.”
Ebrard’s comments were his first on the topic since U.S. President Donald Trump again cast doubt on the treaty’s future earlier this week.
“There’s no real advantage to it, it’s irrelevant,” Trump said on Tuesday, as he toured a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan.
The trilateral trade agreement, known as USMCA, replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020 and is a backbone of Mexico’s economy.
The treaty, which was negotiated during Trump’s first term, requires the three countries to hold a joint review this year to extend the pact.
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If extended, the treaty will remain in place another 16 years. If not, it is subject to annual reviews.
Technically, July 1 is a key date in the treaty’s review process, but many analysts expect negotiations to extend late into 2026 and said Trump will likely avoid extending the treaty before the U.S. midterm elections in November.
Trump’s recent threats to pursue military action against cartels have also added a new layer of uncertainty to U.S.-Mexico relations.
“I think Ebrard is betting on a best-case scenario, but the window for a July successful review is closing fast,” said Alexia Bautista, a former Mexican diplomat and lead Mexico analyst at the political risk consultancy firm Horizon Engage.
“Given recent events and statements, the risk is that Trump injects security into the process, turning the trade review into a far more political negotiation.”
Pedro Casas, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico, said he expects the U.S. will continue imposing tariffs on a wide spectrum of Mexican exports, regardless of the treaty’s future.
The Trump administration has imposed sweeping 50 per cent duties on steel and aluminum exports to the U.S., along with a 25 per cent tariff on cars shipped from Mexico, even when those vehicles comply with the terms of the trade deal.
“I think the most likely scenario is a positive review process where we agree to extend the treaty for another 16 years, but steep tariffs still remain on Mexican exports that undermine the strength of the agreement,” Casas said.
IMF chief backs Jerome Powell, U.S. Fed independence amid Trump pressure – National TenX News
B.C. Premier David Eby says province’s LNG, mining of interest to India TenX News
Mexico confident CUSMA will remain as Trump suggests it could expire – National TenX News
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