Iran says state institutions united on war and negotiations

Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency accused the United States of falsely portraying the country’s enriched uranium as a threat.

“There has been no report of even a single gram of these materials being diverted, but the Americans have falsely portrayed Iran’s enriched uranium as a threat,” Reza Najafi said.

He added that all of Iran’s enriched uranium has always been under the agency’s full monitoring.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump discussed Iran in a phone call that lasted more than 90 minutes, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday.

He said Putin proposed ideas on Iran’s nuclear program and voiced support for Trump’s decision to extend the Iran ceasefire.

He described the call as friendly and businesslike.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he discussed the need for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Rubio said the meeting took place during the British royal family’s visit to the United States.

Iran’s worsening economic crisis is drawing unusually blunt warnings from state media and establishment voices as war, inflation and shortages squeeze households and expose the limits of the government’s response.

The exchange rate for the US dollar surged again on Wednesday, April 29, climbing above 1.8 million rials.

That same day in downtown Tehran, a single fried egg cost one million rials and a hamburger five million—prices that bite hard in a city where minimum wage is just above 200 million rials a month.

“What is going on in this country, Mr. Pezeshkian?” state TV anchor Elmira Sharifi asked earlier this week, staring directly into the camera after reporting that many Iranians can no longer afford basic staples such as rice, sugar, cooking oil, fruit, dairy products and medicine.

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Iran’s oil minister said on Wednesday there was no concern over fuel supply and distribution despite the US naval blockade.

Mohsen Paknejad said Iran had managed fuel consumption effectively, adding that many countries adopt similar measures during wartime.

He also said the US blockade violated international law and would not succeed.