Iran’s currency hits an all-time low against the US dollar

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0:40Hello, welcome to the programme. This is NewsHour from the BBC World Service. I'm Paul Henley and we're coming to you live from London. After failing to defeat Iran militarily, the US is turning to increased economic pressure. The American Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, is due to hold a news conference tomorrow, on Monday, after President Trump announced what he called Economic D-Day, as he put it, the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country. Tehran has dismissed this as bullying behaviour. This was the Iranian president, Masoud Pazeshkian.

1:19The perception from the US was that Iran would become Venezuela. Not only has this not happened, but Iran has become a power that's astonished the world with its display of resistance, solidarity and integrity. We are in an all-out military, economic and security war in the face of the most devastating set of sanctions. But we're standing firm to secure the future of our people. Well, Iran was struggling financially even before the US and Israel launched the war nearly six months ago. but today its currency, the rial, hit an all-time low against the US dollar. The government's acknowledged Iranians are facing many problems, including hyperinflation and widespread unemployment.

2:04Professor Javad Salehi Isfahani is an Iranian economist at the Virginia Tech University in the US. He told me everyday lives in Iran were affected by the war and by sanctions already in place. It's a country that's at war. It has suffered a lot of damage from aerial bombardment. And some of that bombardment has put a lot of people out of work because some important industries like steel, petrochemicals have been damaged so they can't supply inputs to the other industries. People estimate that maybe an additional 1 million people are out of work. Prices are rising very fast. And maybe the larger problem is that the rate at which prices increase is changing.

2:54So people who last month knew how to spend money the first week of the month, so they would have enough for food for the last week of the month. They're not sure if the same applies to this month. So inflation rates can change from one month to another. And that uncertainty is more than anything is putting pressure on low income families. What are the sanctions at the moment and how much worse can they get? The then Vice President Biden said in 2012 that US sanctions on Iran were the most crippling ones in the history of sanctions, period. Yes, that's the trouble with those announcements. They don't leave much room for later increasing or making people think that they're ratcheting up the sanctions.

3:39I don't really know what they're talking about in terms of the D-Day and finishing off the regime. Iran has borders with at least six countries that can supply food to it. And if you just focus on that, Iran is mostly self-sufficient for its food. They were planning to import about a billion dollars worth of wheat, which can probably come easily from the northern borders. And I don't see a food shortage or hunger becoming an issue. But industrial inputs, yes, a lot of those come through the Persian Gulf, through the sea. And I think the blockade is causing a lot of damage that sanctions never did.

4:25Iran learned how to get Iran sanctions and for the most part, it was paying maybe 20-30 % extra for everything, but it was able to import 50-60 billion dollars a year. With the blockade, we don't know what's going to happen to industrial input. How economically resilient is the government in Tehran proving? I don't know what you mean by resilience of the government. The government is resilient because it has the means. It has the foreign exchange, it can print money. And what it has been doing in the last several years is to allow the currency to depreciate. That's an important mechanism for the adjustment.

5:04So import prices go up, for example, and people are discouraged to spend their money on imports, so they turn to domestic goods. That has kept sectors like manufacturing actually expanding some over the years as people shifted from imported goods to domestically produced goods. Now, the problem with letting prices rise is that some people may be left out of the market altogether. Those are the poor. So they've been using cash transfers, which are enough for staving off hunger, but they don't really prevent people from becoming poor. That cash transfer is the main mechanism by which the government tries to compensate people for rising prices.

5:48And they use it judiciously. They can't put too much money in people's accounts because they don't have a source of revenue for it. And if they have to print money, then as they put the cash in people's accounts, prices rise. So it's like it gives us and it takes us back. It's a difficult bind, but they have managed so far. But again, we don't know with the blockade what they are facing. So Iran is getting into a bit of unknown territory. Sanctions is something they have dealt with. The most useful thing, of course, for the Iranian economy would be peace. Is there a peace process? Is there one alive at the moment?

6:27Talks with Pakistani mediators, we're told, as we've been told often before, are imminent more talks. Not that we know of. I think the way President Trump has been talking is that he doesn't want to talk. He wants to get this sanction so ratcheted up that Iranians come begging for a solution, maybe surrender. I think he's dreaming. I don't think Iranians are anywhere near that. I was in Iran a couple of months ago. Life was going on. It's difficult, but it's not the stage at which either they want to come out to revolt against their own government, nor is it that they're going to be suffering from hunger.

7:05So it would take several months, maybe even a couple of years, to get to a place where Iranians will be willing to make huge concessions. It's important to recognize that Iranians have a real problem, which is how to dissuade two nuclear-powered countries, Israel and the U.S., to attack it anytime they want. That's the guarantee they want that the Americans and Israelis are not able to offer. So they got a bind. I don't think Americans quite recognise what it is like to have superior military powers who can come and bomb your country anytime they want. That is the real issue. Peace will come only when Iranians are assured that a deal, a ceasefire is going to last, not for just a few months, but for several years.

7:50I know you're in touch with a lot of people in Iran and you've come and gone recently. What are Iranians, what are Iranian citizens saying about the situation at the moment? Can you give us a feeling, a sample? Well, it depends who you talk to. The interesting conversations I had was with people who were previously anti-regime. A year ago, they might have been complaining a lot and saying they're corrupt, they're mismanaging the economy. This time, they were talking with some pride and surprise that they didn't think that the Revolutionary Guards would be able to hold the line and prevent U.S.

8:25and Israel from actually entering the country to land and then control the government. They were very proud that what happened in Venezuela is not happening to Iran. I think there is that on one side, and then there is these pressures of daily life, the economic misery that we were talking about earlier. And And these two are kind of two very different emotions that Iranians are dealing with every day. The desire to defend this long, several millennia old civilization against these forces that don't seem to really appreciate the country and just want it to surrender. And also they find their government, so sections of the government is playing very hard line and maybe is not allowing some decent, respectable peace from prevailing.

9:14That was Iranian economist Javad Salehi Isfahani.

9:27This afternoon in Washington DC the streets have been sounding a bit noisier than usual.

9:38Racing cars have been speeding around a 250 mile long course about 400 kilometres which goes past the US Congress the Washington Monument and other landmarks in the nation's capital. Hundreds of thousands of spectators turned out to see the IndyCar 250 Freedom Race, which was made part of the nation's anniversary celebrations by President Trump, who nominated himself to wave the starting flag and who's been present throughout the races ongoing as we speak. Let's go live to Washington to our correspondent, Helena Humphrey. Helena, I gather you've even had a go in one of these cars. Tell us about that and the atmosphere there now.

10:19Well, it was an absolutely exhilarating experience, as you might imagine. We were starting to nudge up towards 200 miles per hour. But I do just have to tell you that as we come on air, the chequered flag has been waved and the Floridian Kyle Kirkwood has taken that chequered flag from the Andretti Global team, winning here in Washington, D.C. I have to say at the finish line, he was out of breath. This was a long race. It was 147 laps. It had been extended to reach 250 miles for America's 250th birthday party. And it was a hard race. There were people spinning out. Malucas, one of the young American drivers, was out.

11:02The favourite going into this, the Spaniard. Palo also had a nightmare of a race. As for Kirkwood and what kind of champion he is, you know, pretty self-deprecating sense of humour. I have to say he was previously asked about a lack of success on permanent road courses. And he said, oh, are you saying that I suck at road courses? But of course, today he didn't. And it was an American victory for America's 250th birthday. And aside from the sport, Helena, President Trump has very much made this event his own. How has that gone down, the politicisation of it? he has indeed and this has been a high speed finale for the freedom 250 celebrations here in washington dc we've had things like military parades of course we had that ufc cage fight on the lawn of the white house this was this kind of noisy finale president trump dropped the green flag and then those 25 drivers were off racing through the capital past the capitol building the Washington Monument, his beast, his presidential motorcade also did something of a victory lap, I think it's fair to say, before the race even started.

12:17And in the run-up to this race, there are a lot of questions being asked as to whether this was truly a bipartisan celebration. Was this somehow a MAGA-coded event? Now, I have to say, the people that I've been speaking to here, by very dint of the fact that they're at an IndyCar race, were enthusiastic for this celebration, you know, of all political stripes. Many of them had won lottery tickets to come here free of charge. And they just thought that it was a chance to witness, they said, history in the making. The first time that we've ever seen a racetrack constructed on the streets of Washington, D.C.

12:52Many people saying that it probably will be the last time. Again, though, in the run up to it, some grumblings. We had road closures, hundreds of manholes, of course, which you can imagine had to be sealed over for this race. The National Gallery of Art, close to where I am on this racetrack, also had to have these studies conducted to make sure that those priceless pieces of art could withstand the roar of the engines as those Indy cars raced past. But overall today, a festive atmosphere. Helena Humphrey in Washington, live from Washington, D.C. Many thanks. This is the BBC World Service and NewsHour.

13:35I'm Paul Henley with NewsHour, live from the BBC in London. Syria's foreign minister says he expects peace talks with Israel to resume soon. The hope is to strike a deal to end ongoing hostilities, including recent Israeli attacks on a Syrian military airport and the continuing Israeli occupation of Syrian land near the border between the two countries. Abdul Rahman Dawood is a freelance journalist based in Kamishli, which is a city in the northeast of Syria. I asked him how significant the recent Israeli attacks had been. It is a very significant situation that's happening and escalation from the Israeli side since they are not doing the normal patrols as they are used to do in the south of the country of Syria.

14:22This time they are going very deep inside Syrian territory. They are targeting specific location, air base, targeting the military power of the country of Syria And at the same time, it's a message not just to Syria, but to Ankara and the existence of Turkish forces based on their allegations inside Syria. So it is very significant as it is expecting more escalation also in the future. Israel's been occupying parts of the southwest of Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. How does it justify what is essentially a violation of its neighbour's territory? It is kind of violation because when you are talking the sovereignty of a neighbouring country without any agreement and you don't respect the criteria of the agreement since you signed in 1974, it is unjustified.

15:18But Israel, from their side, also justify this movement in the Syrian territory. They are saying that we want to protect our national security, especially now they are in war with Iran, and they don't want any faction to be activated within Syria, especially in this sensitive time. Since I can give you some statistics about the number of people who were arrested by Israel, like it's 47 till now of the Syrian civilian arrested by the Israeli troops in the Syrian territory. At the same time, they attacked nine military bases, military air bases inside Syria. Four of them are out of the Bakardon, which was established since 74 in the last century.

16:02So it is a big development and it's kind of unaccepted by the Syrian government in their statement. Al-Shibani was emphasising it's violating the sovereignty of Syria, but they avoid even though any escalation with Israel or to have any military option. Given all this recent animosity, are you surprised by the announcement from the Syrian Foreign Ministry that peace talks are resuming? Actually, Al-Shibani from the beginning was signing that he doesn't want any confrontation with Israel. But the surprising point is towards Turkey, because all the time Syria was inside of Turkey and Ankara policy in the region.

16:43This time he's tried to avoid any possible military action in Syria. So when he's saying like he met with intelligence and high officials in Israel, and all these declarations kind of showing the Syrian people that Syria is trying to play a neutral role in this equation. This is the difficulty and challenge of the Syrian politician to be neutral in this equation. But is Israel going to negotiate in good faith? This is a difficult question that we have to double think when we are answering. Like, Israel doesn't consider any other side. They try just to avoid any consideration of the other partners.

17:26So Israel may escalate more in the region if there's no American pressure. We have to be frank of mentioning the balance of power in the region. Americans put pressure on Israel and on Turkey not to escalate and not to do anything on the region. So in this point, we can say that it is possible to come down at this specific period. Freelance journalist in northeastern Syria, Abdul Rahman Dawood.

17:57Now, a gallery at one of the UK's biggest tourist attractions, the Natural History Museum here in London, is to reopen for the first time since the Second World War. It's been hidden from public view since 1943. It will feature objects which show our evolving relationship with the natural world. Among those objects, a miniature model of a Crystal Palace dinosaur, London's Crystal Palace Park, having been home to a series of sculptures of dinosaurs. Here they are being restored back in 1959. From the gardens of tomorrow to the gardens of yesterday, prehistoric times, in fact, when in place of lizards and snails, our ancestors had these monsters to contend with.

18:39However, you'll be happy to know that these are merely stone and cement models of the creatures that roamed Earth millions of years ago, the only collection found in a natural setting in England. The location is London's Crystal Palace, and reason for our visit, a super-scale spring clean. After all, they have been there for well over 100 years now. That from British Pathé News. Now, the Natural History Museum's new exhibition called Nature and Us is part of a project aiming to open a new or revamped part of the museum every year until the museum's 150th anniversary in 2031. Let's talk live to the director of the Natural History Museum, who is Doug Gurr.

19:19welcome mr garr is there a lot of the natural history museum that's hidden behind the scenes clearly well thank you very much indeed for having me on i mean the short answer is yes i mean as you know museums are all about the collections and uh and our collection is very large so if you have the opportunity to visit the extraordinary museum in south kensington there are around 27 and a half thousand specimens on display but the full collection is over 80 million so for every one thing you see we have 3 000 behind the scenes and uh over the over many many years those collections which we keep both for public display but also for scientific research they've tended to crowd out the public space so uh what you've got here is an incredibly exciting opportunity as you said for the first time since 1943 for the first time in over 80 years uh we will be able to bring back one of those incredible spaces and use it as an opportunity to show more to artist is is it cupboard size hall size how significant is it and what will be so um for i mean not all of your listeners i'm sure will know the building but if you think about it we have this very long facade that runs east west on the sort of cromwell road you know it's in what you're talking about is a gallery which in total is something like 100 meters long so it's absolutely stunning it's huge it's one of the most beautiful spaces i think people are one of those beautiful places i've ever seen i can't tell you how excited i am that as i say for the first time in over 80 years we'll be able to throw it open to the general public and it'll be open in the middle of September.

20:46We open on the 16th and we very much hope people will come and see. Given the Natural History Museum is often the most popular tourist attraction in this country, I'm sure a lot of people will know the type of building you're talking about, made famous in many films, of course. Absolutely. And there will be interest from a lot of the public just in getting behind into new corners, won't there, for that reason? Absolutely. I mean, look, it's a stunning building. You know, it was first opened through open its doors in 1881. We had something like 250 ,000 visitors that year. Last year, we had over 7 million visitors, which made us, you know, the UK's number one visitor attraction and I think the second most visited museum in the world.

21:27So enormous numbers of visitors. This particular space, I promise you to everybody who comes, it is stunning. It's absolutely beautiful. It's just one of those amazing spaces. I think some of those beautiful spaces, certainly in London, arguably in the country, maybe in the world. As I say, I think, you know, people will be wowed, I hope, as much as we are when they just walk in and look at that space. But I also very much hope that they'll enjoy what we're trying to do with the space. And as you mentioned in your introduction, this is a gallery we call Nature in Us. And it's very much about how do we understand humanity's interaction with nature over time and space?

22:00How has that changed? You mentioned the extraordinary Crystal Palace dinosaurs. my predecessor Richard Owen the first director in South Kensington was the academic consultant if you like on the design of those dinosaurs but actually our relationship with nature has changed a lot and actually people will be able to come here We only have a few seconds left I'm so sorry to interrupt Of course, not at all Thank you very much Doug Gur who is the director of London's Natural History Museum which undergoes a slight expansion in the course of the next few weeks This is NewsHour

22:37Has Prince Harry and Meghan's American dream failed? I'm Asma Khaled, and I host the Global Story podcast from the BBC. The Sussexes are intending to return to the UK, six years after moving to California and striking multi-million dollar brand partnerships. Just last year, Harry told the BBC he couldn't see a world in which his family would return. So what's changed? Find out on The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is NewsHour from the BBC World Service. I'm Paul Henley. In Ukraine, President Zelensky has dismissed calls to hold elections soon as too dangerous, saying they'd risk splitting the country apart while it fights the Russian invasion.

23:23The demand has been made by Ukraine's former defence minister, Mikhailo Fedorov, whom the president sacked last month. And even though elections during a time of martial law are banned under Ukraine's constitution, Mr Fedorov used an interview with the BBC to reiterate his call for a vote. He'd already said democracy must not be held hostage by Russia. The BBC's Dan Johnson talked to him in Kiev, and by way of introduction to that interview, I asked Dan for a bit more background on his interviewee. This is Mikhailo Fedorov. He's been the man of the moment in Ukraine this week. He was the popular former defence minister, 35 years old, credited with transforming Ukraine's armed forces, bringing in his army of drones to replace manpower on the battlefield.

24:11He's credited with saving lives, but also with taking the fight increasingly to Russia with that technology enabling Ukraine to launch longer-range strikes. So there was disappointment when he was sacked. there were protests on the streets of Kiev calling for him to be reinstated because he was seen to be such a positive influence, a reformer who was bringing about real success. But that hasn't happened. Earlier this week, his replacement was confirmed in the role. And the night before, Mr Fedorov released a video statement that went way beyond just calling for his job back. He described a crisis of governance.

24:46He talked about the levels of corruption in Ukrainian government and the impact that was having in terms of hampering the war effort and denying the front line the sort of equipment that was needed. He called for elections even though they are not allowed under martial law during wartime. He said that the practicalities of that needed to be confronted. Now that largely fell flat. Even those who were supporting him recognise the threats that Russia would pose to that election, the difficulties of organizing a free and fair vote that incorporates all the different elements of Ukrainian society at such a difficult time, and the divisions that that would open up in society here at a time when the thought is that Ukrainians need to be united.

25:31But when I sat down with Mikhailo Fedorov yesterday, he told me he still believed it was right to talk about elections during wartime. A huge number of people started talking and supporting the idea of coming back to the democratic cycle. And I believe that neither Putin nor the president of any other country can speak about our own democracy. We are the only ones who will decide what we do going forward. That's what democracy is all about. If I cannot share my ideas and be open about them, then what are we fighting for? You really believe an election would be in the interests of Ukraine and not in your personal interests?

26:17It's definitely in my vested interests because I want this war to be over and Ukraine to become a successful country. So yeah, this is in my interest for sure. But of course, it's also in the interest of all Ukrainians. But if you're asking whether it will be useful for my political future, If I were thinking about this, I would not have made the statement. What do you believe is the president's awareness of corruption? I think that probably you better ask the president about this. Do an interview with him, have a conversation with him in front of the world. Do you think he has questions to answer?

27:01I believe that he is ready. Why not? That's his responsibility to explain whether he was aware of all that or not. I don't want to make any assumptions. Do you think he may be a corrupt politician?