US, UAE presidents discuss regional developments

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged the American public to question the purpose of the war with Iran and said Tehran has never pursued aggression, in a letter released by Press TV.

“Iran… has never, in its modern history, chosen the path of aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination,” he wrote.

He said Iranians “harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America,” adding that portraying Iran as a threat is “the product of political and economic whims of the powerful.”

“This raises a fundamental question: Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.

He alleged that the United States was acting on Israel’s behalf in the conflict with Iran.

“Is it not also the case that America has entered this aggression as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime?” he wrote.

He warned that attacks on infrastructure and continued military action would increase instability and human suffering.

“Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before,” he said.

US President Donald Trump threatened to stop supplying weapons for Ukraine to pressure European allies into joining a “coalition of the willing” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the discussions.

The report cited officials familiar with the discussions as saying Trump responded by threatening to stop supplies to PURL, NATO’s weapons procurement initiative for Ukraine funded by European countries.

At the urging of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, France, Germany, the UK and other countries then issued a March 19 statement saying: “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait [of Hormuz].”

“It was Rutte who insisted on the joint statement because Trump had threatened to withdraw from PURL and from Ukraine in general,” the report quoted one official briefed on the discussions as saying.

Another official said Rutte told France, Germany and the UK that Trump was “rather hysterical” over Europe’s refusal to help protect the strait.

British officials also said the UK and the US had been discussing options for securing the strait on a “military to military basis” before March 19.

Explosions were reported in several Iranian cities on Wednesday evening, according to eyewitness accounts sent to Iran International.

In and around the capital, blasts were reported in Tehran, Karaj, and Malard. In central Iran, explosions were heard in Isfahan, Shahin Shahr, Mobarakeh, Najafabad, Kashan, and Aran and Bidgol.

Reports also came from Amol in the north and Shiraz in the south. Along Iran’s southern coast and islands, blasts were reported in Bushehr, Bandar Khamir, and Hengam Island. In the southwest, eyewitness accounts said explosions were heard in Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, and Shushtar.

The deputy governor of Isfahan province said areas Shahreza, Kashan, Aran and Bidgol, and Najafabad came under attack.

He added that Kashan’s passenger airport was hit in US-Israeli strikes, and that parts of the airport were damaged.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday that repression of civic space and freedom of expression has sharply intensified in Iran and across the Middle East since US and Israeli attacks began.

“We are witnessing a sharp securitisation of civic space across the region, with severe restrictions imposed by governments on people exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Türk said arrests and crackdowns had had a chilling effect, with estimates indicating more than 2,300 people detained in Iran on national security-related charges since the start of the conflict.

“This is outrageous. As if the pain and suffering brought on by the war is not enough, some Iranians are being arbitrarily rounded up, jailed, prosecuted without due process, and in some cases then even executed by their own Government,” he said.

He added that executions must be halted immediately and warned that Iran’s nationwide internet blackout, now in its fifth week, and reports of intimidation and arbitrary detention were worsening the situation.

Official figures released at the end of fiscal year 1404 (March 2026) show annual inflation at 50.6 percent, according to data compiled by government bodies including the parliament’s Research Center. Prices rose 5.6 percent in March alone.

But economists say the headline figure understates the severity of the crisis. The more revealing measure—point-to-point inflation—shows how sharply living costs have risen over the past year.

Government statistics indicate that prices in March 2026 were 71.8 percent higher than a year earlier, a surge that has sharply eroded household purchasing power. In major cities such as Tehran, the increase is believed to be even higher, particularly for food.

The shock has unfolded as weeks of US and Israeli strikes have disrupted economic life across the country. In Tehran, where many residents have temporarily left the city, large parts of the capital’s commercial activity have slowed sharply.

Many businesses remain closed and those who have stayed behind often limit their movements, wary of being caught in unpredictable air strikes.

Attacks on what the attackers describe as “regime infrastructure” have also begun to hit the industrial economy more directly. Recent strikes on major steel production facilities—among the country’s most important industrial employers—have disrupted supply chains and raised fears of wider job losses in manufacturing regions.

For working-class and rural families, the situation is especially acute. Following the removal of preferential exchange rates (arz-e tarjihi), monthly food inflation has climbed above 100 percent, turning basic nutrition into the central economic struggle for many households.

Economists say national averages obscure the depth of the crisis. In some food categories, the real cost of living has effectively doubled, with price increases reaching as high as 150 percent.

Labor activists told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that the government’s electronic commodity coupon system—introduced to cushion the impact of rising prices—covers only a small portion of what they describe as the “worker’s basket” of essential goods.

The government-linked Workers’ House has called for a return to direct distribution of staples such as rice, cooking oil and sugar, similar to the rationing system used during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Workers in high-risk industries such as construction say the government has suspended its contribution to social-security insurance quotas, leaving many without coverage as workplace accidents increase amid wartime damage to infrastructure.

In mining regions such as Tabas in northeastern Iran, thousands of workers are reportedly unable to retire because employers—under financial strain during the war—cannot pay the required 4 percent premium for jobs classified as “hard and hazardous.”

Economists and labor advocates say the government must urgently introduce targeted relief.

Proposals include special allowances for workers covered by labor law to offset soaring food prices, as well as legal intervention by the judiciary and the Social Security Organization to allow workers in hazardous occupations to retire even if employers cannot currently meet their contribution requirements.

Without such measures, analysts warn, the country risks a deeper erosion of living standards at a moment when the economic effects of war are already reshaping everyday life.