City Tehran Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For decades only diehard royalists took Reza Pahlavi seriously. Iran’s regime, its opponents and Western diplomats dismissed the son of the last shah as the “Clown Prince".

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indian stock markets wrapped up the week largely flat as investors parsed the first batch of December-quarter earnings, finding no clear cues to take fresh positions in the week ahead. The Nifty 50 closed the week at 25,693.85 and the BSE Sensex at 83,556.87, as global volatility eroded investor confidence and triggered profit booking, capping gains through the week.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. President Trump ordered a military buildup in the Caribbean in the fall as part of the pressure campaign against the now-ousted Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro. That move now limits his options if conflict breaks out between Washington and Tehran over a popular uprising in Iran, according to current and former defense officials.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. THE LAST time Iran was convulsed by nationwide protests, in 2022, the Arab world was transfixed. The Islamic Republic had spent decades building a network of powerful allies that came to dominate the region.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Even as US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor struck a positive note on bilateral ties, President Donald Trump has again put India in a difficult position by announcing a 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran. This could elevate the charge on Indian goods shipped to the US to 75% from an already-steep 50%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. HONG KONG—As street protests and a failing economy continue to put pressure on Iran’s government, its ally China has offered few signs of support. Rather than boost Tehran in its time of need, the partnership that had worried governments in the West and Middle East has instead shown signs of its limited scope and resilience.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The White House is weighing a last-ditch Iranian offer to engage in diplomacy over curbing its nuclear program even as President Trump currently leans toward authorizing fresh military strikes on Iran, U.S. officials say.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. IRANIANS ARE accustomed to losing access to phone and internet services during unrest. The internet was cut off during protests in 2019 and during another big wave of demonstrations in 2022.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. DUBAI—Iran’s 12-day war with Israel and the U.S. last June broke the regime’s carefully nurtured image of invincibility, many ordinary Iranians say.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The scale of the unrest now gripping Iran is the largest since the demonstrations of 2009; some veteran Iran-watchers reckon the protests are the biggest since the overthrow of the shah in 1979. What began as scattered demonstrations on December 28th swelled over 12 days into crowds of many thousands by January 9th.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Friday the Islamic Republic won’t back down in the face of fast-growing protests and threats from President Trump to intervene. New protests have been called for Friday, a day after the largest demonstrations in years swept through Tehran.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. You know Iran’s leaders are worried about the implications of last weekend’s US raid in Venezuela when the editor of the hardline Javan newspaper feels he has to write a polemic, headlined Iran Is Not Comparable—Don’t Waste Your Time, saying there aren’t any.

The government was paralysed, its leaders unable to change course because they were too weak, ideological or inept (and in some cases all three). It was only a matter of time until such gloom gave rise to another round of mass protest. The only question was what would trigger it.It came from an unlikely corner on December 28th, when electronics vendors in Tehran went on strike.

In a message addressed to Donald Trump, he states that only immediate action can prevent a global catastrophe.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prides himself on strong relations with President Trump, but Mr. Trump’s second term is posing serious dilemmas for the young Saudi leader, known as MBS.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trading on Friday, and were set for their second consecutive weekly gains, after fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran and a new OPEC+ plan for seven members to cut output raised bets on tightening supply. Brent crude futures climbed 42 cents, or 0.6%, to $72.40 per barrel by 0026 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 45 cents, or 0.6%, to $68.52 a barrel.

Strikes hit Sanaa, Yemen's rebel-held capital, as well as their stronghold of Saada in the country's northwest on Wednesday night, the Houthi's al-Maisrah satellite news channel reported. It aired footage showing firefighters battling a blaze in Sanaa and damaged at what it described as a sheep farm in al-Jawf. It also said strikes happened overnight Tuesday, though the U.S. military has not offered a breakdown of places targeted since the airstrikes campaign began. The first strikes this weekend killed at least 53 people, including children, and wounded others. As the strikes hit, Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that «tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians.» «Watch how it will get progressively worse — It's not even a fair fight, and never will be,» Trump added. «They will be completely annihilated!»

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels' stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia. «We're not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,» Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks. President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use «overwhelming lethal force» until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held «fully accountable» for their actions. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.

Iran's clerical leaders, engaging with the «Great Satan» to hammer out a nuclear deal and ease crippling sanctions may for once be the lesser of two evils. Though it harbours deep mistrust of the United States, and President Donald Trump in particular, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials said. That's why, despite the unyielding stance and defiant rhetoric of Iran's clerical leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran's corridors of power to strike a deal with Washington, the people said. Tehran's concerns were exacerbated by Trump's speedy revival of his first term's «maximum pressure» campaign to drive Iran's oil exports towards zero with more sanctions and bring the country's already fragile economy to its knees, they said. President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly highlighted the severity of the economic situation in the Islamic Republic, stating that it is more challenging than during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and pointing this month to the latest round of U.S. sanctions targeting tankers carrying Iranian oil.

«In the current situation, we believe that all parties should maintain calm and restraint to avoid escalating the Iran nuclear situation, or even walking towards confrontation and conflict,» foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing. Beijing will host Russia and Iran for trilateral talks on Tehran's nuclear programme on Friday. The meeting will be attended by China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi. The United States withdrew from a landmark deal that had imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief during President Donald Trump's first term, which ended in 2021.

Iran's top diplomat said Wednesday an Arab country will soon deliver it a letter from US President Donald Trump, who has called for striking a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. «The letter has not reached us yet but an envoy from an Arab country is set to deliver it soon in Tehran,» Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting. He did not elaborate on the identity of the Arab country or the timing of the letter's delivery. On Friday, Trump said he wrote a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for talks to forge a new deal on Tehran's nuclear programme, or face a potential military option. But Iran has rejected talks under «maximum pressure» policy that Trump reinstated after his return to the White House in January.