The officials did not say what the response contained and whether it was a rejection.
asserted
it → say → what
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the U.S. response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.
asserted
Mohajerani → present → agency
“We will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people,” Pezeshkian said.
asserted
Pezeshkian → make → people
“The agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy.
asserted
agreement → base → strategy
The Cabinet meeting followed Araghchi’s return to Iran after travelling to New York for last week’s U.N. General Assembly, where officials held indirect talks with U.S. officials and also met with Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders.
asserted
officials → follow → leaders
Araghchi briefed the Cabinet on his trip to New York and the meetings he held there, including Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Mohajerani said had been conveyed through mediators.
asserted
Mohajerani → brief → mediators
Araghchi last week said he floated the proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.
asserted
U.S. → say → conditions
Trump swiftly rejected the proposal, saying Iran wanted to make a deal because it was “losing so badly” but that its offer “would not be acceptable.”
asserted
offer → reject → deal
Despite Trump’s public rebuffing, mediators continued working with Iran and the U.S. to try to broker a deal to end the fighting and open the strait, according to officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
uncertain
who → continue → anonymity
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled new sanctions on Tuesday targeting people and companies around the globe that it accuses of being financial facilitators or enablers of Iran’s military supply chain.
asserted
it → unveil → chain
The latest action is part of the Trump administration’s “Operation Economic Outcast” campaign aimed at severing “critical financial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government.
asserted
action → aim → government
Ten people and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan now face sanctions over accusations of procuring weapons and weapon components for Iran’s defense ministry as it fights its now seven-month war against the U.S.
Iran’s economy is spiraling further
Iran’s economy, under heavy strain before the war started, has been in a freefall since the conflict began in late February.
asserted
conflict → base → February
The country’s currency fell to a new record low on Tuesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar in a stark reflection of how the war in the Middle East has steadily eroded the Iranian economy.
asserted
war → fall → economy
The latest decline came just 27 days after the rial hit its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on Sept. 2.
asserted
rial → come → Sept.
The currency has repeatedly reached new lows since the war began in February.
asserted
war → reach → February
Trump on Tuesday said that Iran is “failing very badly, very badly” and predicted anew that the war will be “over with very, very soon.”
asserted
war → say → Tuesday
At the onset of the conflict, he predicted that the war would last just weeks.
asserted
war → predict → conflict
More recently, Trump said he expects it won’t end until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the U.S.
Iranians face soaring prices for medicine amid US blockade, sanctions
Medication prices are soaring in Iran, and some treatments have become hard to find, leaving patients and their families scrambling as a U.S. blockade and stepped-up sanctions squeeze the country’s pharmaceuticals industry.
Some medicines have more than tripled in price, further straining Iranians’ finances seven months into the country’s war with the United States and Israel.
asserted
medicines → say → States
Prices for food and other goods have skyrocketed even as unemployment has risen and the currency, which hit a record low this week, has lost half its value.
asserted
which → skyrocket → value
The war has become an economic endurance test.
asserted
war → become → ?
Iran has tried to push world energy prices higher with attacks on the region’s oil shipping routes; the United States, in turn, has aimed to wreck Iran’s economy by blockading its ports since June and slapping it with increasingly tough sanctions.
asserted
States → try → sanctions
Iran executes 2 men on charges of violence during January protests
Also on Wednesday, two men were executed in Iran over their role in violence during nationwide anti-government protests in January, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
asserted
agency → execute → January
Citing the country’s judiciary, IRNA said the men took part in unrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad that left four members of the security forces dead earlier this year.
asserted
that → cite → forces
Their death sentences were upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court before being carried out Wednesday morning.
asserted
sentences → uphold → Court
The unrest began Dec. 28 amid anger over Iran’s collapsing currency and worsening economy and quickly spread across the country, with demonstrators increasingly calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
asserted
demonstrators → begin → Republic
Iranian authorities responded with a deadly crackdown.
asserted
authorities → respond → crackdown
Rights groups say thousands were killed and tens of thousands arrested, while Iranian authorities have reported a substantially lower death toll.
asserted
authorities → say → toll
The Aporia
