• Tehran shopkeepers keep stores shut amid currency plunge.
• Protesters demand intervention on exchange-rate volatility.
• Central bank governor replaced as crisis deepens.

TEHRAN: Iran’s president urged his government to listen to the “legitimate demands” of protesters, state media reported on Tuesday, after several days of demonstrations by shopkeepers in Tehran over economic hardships.

Shopkeepers in the capital had shut their stores for the second day in a row on Monday, after Iran’s embattled currency hit new lows on the unofficial market.

The US dollar was trading at around 1.42 million rials on Sunday — compared to 820,000 rials a year ago — and the euro nearing 1.7 million rials, according to price monitoring websites.

“I have asked the interior minister to listen to the legitimate demands of the protesters by engaging in dialogue with their representatives so that the government can do everything in its power to resolve the problems and act responsibly,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Protesters “are demanding immediate government intervention to rein in exchange-rate fluctuations and set out a clear economic strategy”, the pro-labour news agency ILNA reported Monday.

Price fluctuations are paralysing the sales of some imported goods, with both sellers and buyers preferring to postpone transactions until the outlook becomes clearer, AFP correspondents noted.

“Continuing to do business under these conditions has become impossible,” ILNA quoted protesters as saying.

The conservative-aligned Fars news agency released images showing a crowd of demonstrators occupying a major thoroughfare in central Tehran, known for its many shops.

Another photograph appeared to show tear gas being used to disperse protesters.

“Minor physical clashes were reported… between some protesters and the security forces,” Fars said, warning that such gatherings could lead to instability.

Battered economy

Iranian Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei called for “the swift punishment of those responsible for currency fluctuations”, the justice ministry’s Mizan agency reported Monday.

The government has also announced the replacement of the central bank governor.

“By decision of the president, Abdolnasser Hemmati will be appointed governor of the Central Bank,” presidency communications official Mehdi Tabatabaei posted on X.

Hemmati is a former economy and finance minister who was dismissed by parliament in March because of the sharp depreciation of the rial.

Pezeshkian delivered on Sunday the budget for the next Persian year to parliament, vowing to fight inflation and the high cost of living.

In December, inflation stood at 52% year-on-year, according to official statistics. But this figure still falls far short of many price increases, especially for basic necessities.

The country’s economy, already battered by decades of Western sanctions, was further strained after the United Nations in late September reinstated international sanctions linked to the country’s nuclear programme that were lifted 10 years ago.

Western powers and Israel accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

• Attackers Sajid and Naveed Akram travelled to Philippines.
• No evidence of directions to carry out attacks, say police.
• Shooters not part of any wider terrorist cell: Krissy Barrett

SYDNEY: A father and son accused of a mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach “acted alone” and were not part of a wider terrorist cell, police said on Tuesday.

Sajid Akram and his son Naveed allegedly killed 15 people in a Daesh-inspired attack targeting a Jewish festival on December 14.

The pair travelled to the southern Philippines in the weeks before shooting, fuelling suspicions they may be linked to extremists in a region with a history of extremist insurgencies.

Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett said so far, this did not appear to be the case.

“These individuals are alleged to have acted alone,” she told reporters.

“There is no evidence to suggest these alleged offenders were part of a broader terrorist cell, or were directed by others to carry out the attack.”

Barrett said police would continue to probe why the pair travelled to the city of Davao, where CCTV showed they barely left their budget hotel.

“I want to be clear. I am not suggesting they were there for tourism,” she said.

Police believe the duo “meticulously planned” the attack for months, and have released pictures showing them training with shotguns in the Australian countryside.

They also recorded a video in October railing against “Zionists” while sitting in front of a flag of Daesh, police have said.

Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.

Crackdown on guns

His 24-year-old son, Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in custody charged with 15 murders and a litany of other serious offences.

New Year’s Eve parties across Sydney will pause at 11pm on Wednesday for a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

Crowds will be watched over by squads of police carrying high-powered firearms, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns said on Tuesday.

“That is a clear and deliberate message from the police that safety is the number one priority,” he told reporters.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a nationwide crackdown on gun ownership and hate speech in the wake of the attack, promising stricter laws and harsher penalties.

He has announced a sweeping buyback scheme to “get guns off our streets”.

It is the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia tightened firearms laws in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people at Port Arthur.

Albanese has also ordered a review of police and intelligence services.

• Trump says open to negotiating smarter Iran deal.
• Hopes Israel moves towards better ties with Syria.
• Relays Putin claim of Ukrainian attack on residence.

US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the US would quickly launch new attacks on Iran if it is rebuilding the nuclear programme that he struck in June.

“I hear Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we have to knock them down,” he told reporters while welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to discuss the next phase Gaza plan. “We’ll knock the hell out of them.”

Trump also said he remained open to negotiating a “deal,” which he called “much smarter.”

“I feel that if you had the wrong prime minister, Israel would not exist,” Trump told reporters, in remarks full of praise for the Israeli leader.

He said Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges.

He added that he hoped Israel could get along with Syria, even as Netanyahu’s government has consistently infringed upon Syrian territorial sovereignty since former strongman Bashar al-Assad was deposed late last year.

Russia-Ukraine conflict

Trump further said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him Ukraine tried to attack Putin’s residence in northern Russia, which Kyiv has denied.

Russia accused Ukraine of trying to attack Putin’s residence in northern Russia, although it provided no evidence to back up an assertion that Kyiv dismissed as baseless and designed to undermine peace negotiations.

“I don’t like it. It’s not good,” Trump told reporters when asked if he was worried the allegation could affect his efforts to broker peace. “I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it.”

“It’s a delicate period of time. This is not the right time. It’s one thing to be offensive, because they’re offensive. It’s another thing to attack his house. It’s not the right time to do any of that,” he said.

When asked if there was any evidence of such an attack, Trump said: “We’ll find out.”

He described his call with Putin earlier on Monday as a “very good talk.”

“We have a few very thorny issues,” Trump said about talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

It claims Donbas — comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, although they are all internationally recognised as Ukraine’s sovereign territory.

Russia wants Kyiv to withdraw troops from parts of the Donetsk region it has failed to occupy. Kyiv wants fighting halted along the current front lines, and Washington has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine pulls troops back.