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The bitter tribalism that drove the United States into a government shutdown is putting compromise out of reach, analysts say — and threatening to turn a staring contest between the Democrats and Donald Trump’s Republicans into a protracted crisis.As the nation enters its second week with federal agencies paralyzed, multiple strategists with vivid memories of previous standoffs told AFP the president and his foes could be in it for the long haul.”It’s possible this shutdown drags on for weeks, not just days,” said Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary for Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader at the center of the latest deadlock.”Right now, both sides are dug in and there’s very little talk of compromise.”At the heart of the showdown is a Democratic demand for an extension of health care subsidies that are due to expire — meaning sharply increased costs for millions of low-income Americans.On Sunday, Trump blamed minority Democrats for blocking his funding resolution, which needs a handful of their votes.”They’re causing it. We’re ready to go back,” Trump told reporters at the White House, sounding resigned to a shutdown dragging on.Trump also told reporters Sunday his administration has already started to permanently fire — not merely furlough — federal workers, again blaming his rivals for “causing the loss of a lot of jobs.”In March, when the threat of a shutdown last loomed, Democrats blinked first, voting for a six-month Republican resolution to keep the coffers stacked despite policy misgivings.But Schumer — the top Senate Democrat — was lambasted by the party’s base, and will be reluctant to cave this time around as he faces potential primary challenges from the left.- ‘Maximum pain’ -For now, Senate Republicans are banking on their Democratic opponents giving in as they repeatedly force votes.”I could see a temporary agreement coming from both parties by the end of October,” said Jeff Le, a former senior official in California state politics who negotiated with the first Trump administration.”Anything beyond two months would halt government operations seriously and potentially impact national and homeland security considerations, casting blame on both parties.”A shift in the strategy would likely depend on either side noticing public sentiment turning against them, analysts told AFP.Polling so far has been mixed, although Republicans have been taking more flak than Democrats overall. Trump presided over the longest shutdown in history in 2018 and 2019, when federal agencies stopped work for five weeks.This time around, the president has been ratcheting up pressure by threatening liberal policy priorities and mass layoffs of public sector workers.- The Trump factor -James Druckman, a politics professor at the University of Rochester, sees Trump’s intransigence as a reason to believe this standoff could rival the 2019 record.”The Trump administration views itself as having an unchecked mandate and thus generally does not compromise,” he told AFP.”Democrats have been critiqued for not standing strongly enough and the last compromise did not result in any positive outcome for Democrats. Thus, politically, they are inclined to stand firm.”The 2018‑2019 shutdown cost the economy $11 billion in the short term, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — and $3 billion was never recovered.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that the latest shutdown could wreak its own havoc on GDP growth.For California-based financial analyst Michael Ashley Schulman, the economic realities of the shutdown may be what end up forcing compromise.”If Wall Street gets spooked and Treasury yields spike, even the most ideologically caffeinated will suddenly discover a deep commitment to bipartisan solutions,” he said. Not all analysts are gloomy about the prospects for a quick resolution.Aaron Cutler, head of the congressional oversight and investigations practice at global law firm Hogan Lovells, and a former staffer in the House, sees the shutdown lasting 12 days at most.”Senate Democrats will blink first… While the shutdown continues, there will be no congressional hearings and a lot of work at the agencies will be paused,” he said.”That’s a win for many Democrats in Congress but they don’t want the blame for it.”

After a series of interviews, Nicole Becker was ecstatic to receive a job offer from a sportswear brand. But like many Americans navigating a tough job market, she was soon confronted with a sobering reality — the recruiter was a scammer.From fake job listings to fraudsters posing as real recruiters, employment scams are exploding online — fueled by a cooling labor market and a boom in generative AI that experts say has made these schemes more sophisticated than ever.In July, a purported Chinese brand offered Becker — a 37-year-old based in Oregon — a coveted role to lead global communications after an elaborate and legitimate-looking recruitment process that stretched over two weeks.There were no red flags after an initial online interview with a supposed human resources official was followed by a call with someone calling himself the head of marketing and sales.Then came the offer letter, accompanied by a detailed PowerPoint deck outlining her assigned role, budget, and performance targets for the first six months. Both parties promptly signed the agreement.But a week later, during an onboarding meeting, Becker picked up the first hint that something was amiss.She was told that the company’s servers had been destroyed in California’s wildfires. As a result, she would have to purchase a laptop and cellphone from a designated retailer herself, with the promise of reimbursement in her first paycheck.”That’s when my heart sank and I was like, ‘oh no, I fell for a fake job,'” Becker told AFP, requesting that her real name be withheld.”It is so scary because I consider myself to be a smart and clued-in person, especially with what’s going on with AI and scams in general. If I can get scammed, I feel this can happen to anybody.”- ‘Perfect storm’ -Employment-related scams jumped by over 1,000 percent from May through July, a period when new graduates typically search for jobs, according to the US firm McAfee.Nearly 1 in 3 Americans report receiving job offer scams via text message, highlighting how “these schemes have moved beyond email into our daily conversations,” McAfee said.The firm’s research shows victims lost an average of $1,471 per scam, with $12 billion reported lost to fraud last year, a 21 percent increase compared to the previous year. “We’re seeing a perfect storm of factors — a tight labor market, where more people are urgently competing for fewer opportunities, is creating pressure that scammers exploit,” Lisa Plaggemier, executive director of the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance, told AFP.”At the same time, generative AI has made it easier for bad actors to craft convincing fake postings, recruiter profiles, and even interview scripts.”The combination means scams are harder to spot, and job seekers, especially first-time applicants, are more vulnerable than ever.”Becker’s experience — who immediately ceased all communication with the scammers — illustrates a common scam tactic: fraudsters run a long con, counting on job seekers to let their guard down after clearing a few hurdles in the interview process.- ‘Candidate fraud’ -The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently warned consumers about “fake check scams,” in which fraudsters pose as employers and send counterfeit checks, instructing victims to purchase equipment from selected vendors.”If you get an offer that includes depositing a check and then using some of the money for any reason, that’s a scam. Walk away,” the FTC said.Employers are also frequently targeted by scams.In July, the FBI warned about North Korean scammers posing as Americans to “gain fraudulent employment and access to US company networks.”Further complicating the hiring landscape is the rapid advancement of AI tools, which have made virtual interviews increasingly prone to deception.A recent survey of 3,000 job candidates conducted by the American firm Gartner found that six percent admitted to engaging in interview fraud -– either by impersonating someone else or having someone pose as them.The firm estimates that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake.In response, some companies that initially adopted AI tools to streamline hiring are now reintroducing face-to-face interviews at various stages of the recruitment process to safeguard against fraud.”It’s getting harder for employers to evaluate candidates’ true abilities, and in some cases, their identities. Employers are increasingly concerned about candidate fraud,” said Gartner’s Jamie Kohn.Such scams create “cybersecurity risks that can be far more serious than making a bad hire.”burs-ac/jgc

Trump administration officials and top Republicans warned Sunday that Americans will increasingly feel the pain of an ongoing US government shutdown as most federal operations remained shuttered.With Democrats refusing to give in over their demands for continued government health care subsidies in the budget, the White House says plans are being finalized for the firing of thousands of federal workers.Shutdowns are a periodic feature of gridlocked Washington when the two parties cannot agree on budget priorities. All non-essential workers are temporarily furloughed, or left without pay, while the parties work out their differences.This time, the stakes are higher, with President Donald Trump telling reporters Sunday that the administration had already started to permanently fire — not merely furlough — government employees.”It’s taking place right now. It’s all because of the Democrats. The Democrats are causing the loss of a lot of jobs,” Trump said, blaming his rivals as he has done since the start of the impasse.The shutdown, in its fifth day, has shown no signs of ending, with a top Democrat saying there had been no talks between congressional leaders since Monday.Kevin Hassett, who directs the White House’s National Economic Council, told CNN that there was hope for progress in talks in the coming week.Trump himself sounded resigned to the shutdown dragging on.Talks will center on addressing expiring Obamacare health subsidies. The Senate’s Republican majority leader acknowledged the two sides were currently “at a stalemate.””It’s going to get uncomfortable,” Senator John Thune told Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures,” adding that some behind-the-scenes discussions were addressing the potential extension of subsidies for Obamacare.- Democrats demand negotiations -How long could the shutdown last? “Just as long as the Democrats want it to,” Thune said.But Republicans control the levers of power in Washington, and Democrats have laid the failure to keep the lights on squarely at the feet of Trump’s party.The minority Democrats seek to force Republicans to address the health care subsidies issue by blocking a Trump-backed temporary funding resolution that needs a handful of their votes.In March, when the threat of a shutdown last loomed, Democrats blinked first, voting for a six-month Republican resolution to keep the coffers stacked despite policy misgivings.Now, Democrats are demanding negotiations.”If Republicans continue to refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) tax credits, tens of millions of American taxpayers are going to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”Shutdown concerns run across party lines, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday. It showed just 28 percent of Americans support congressional Republicans’ handling of the crisis, while congressional Democrats received 27 percent support.The shutdown’s effect on the economy is rattling Americans, with 49 percent of respondents saying they were very concerned and 31 percent somewhat concerned, compared to just 20 percent saying they are not concerned.The country’s last government shutdown, beginning in December 2018, occurred during Trump’s first presidential term and lasted a record 35 days. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that shutdown cost the US economy about $11 billion.

Taylor Swift is having a very good weekend: after the blockbuster release of her new album “The Life of a Showgirl,” she triumphed at the North American box office with her special movie theater event.”The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” raked in an estimated $33 million in the Friday to Sunday period in the United States and Canada, Exhibitor Relations said.The three-day-only event — which featured the debut of her first music video from the album, behind-the-scenes footage, and lyric videos — also was screened in cities around the world, but international totals were not immediately available.”No other musical artist on the planet can do this,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research, noting that “Release Party” was only announced on September 19.”The picture would double its box office from here if it continued to play in theaters, but this is it — it’s finished now.”In a distant second place with $11.1 million in ticket sales was Paul Thomas Anderson’s action thriller “One Battle After Another,” in its second weekend out, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn, who are both already earning Oscars buzz.DiCaprio stars as a washed-up far-left revolutionary who is dragged back into action to help his daughter, while Penn plays his ruthless military nemesis.The film, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland,” also stars Benicio del Toro, Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall.”The Smashing Machine” — the true story of mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr, played by a transformed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — debuted in third place with a disappointing $6 million.”Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are strong leads who have elevated bigger pictures. It’s not happening here,” said Gross.”Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie,” a live-action/animation hybrid based on a popular Netflix children’s series, came in fourth with $5.2 million in its second week.And in fifth place was horror franchise film “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” which earned $4 million. Overall, it has grossed $167.8 million in the US and Canada.Rounding out the top 10 are:”Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” ($3.5 million)”Avatar: The Way of Water” – 3D reissue ($3.2 million)”The Strangers: Chapter 2″ ($2.8 million)”Good Boy” ($2.3 million)”Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1″ ($1.8 million) 

Puerto Rican music superstar Bad Bunny clapped back at right-wing critics of his upcoming Super Bowl halftime show in a bilingual monologue on the season opener of “Saturday Night Live.”The enormously popular artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — whose music combines reggaeton, rap, Latin trap and pop — just completed a blockbuster residency on his home island, a US territory in the Caribbean.Bad Bunny had said his world tour would not feature shows on the US mainland as he feared his fans would fall victim to raids by immigration agents as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown, before being announced as the Super Bowl’s headliner.Conservative critics immediately complained that the Super Bowl should not feature an artist who sings primarily in Spanish and did not want to perform in the continental United States, criticizing the NFL for being too woke.Bad Bunny didn’t shy away from the topic on the first episode of season 51 of “Saturday Night Live,” America’s landmark comedy sketch show.”You might not know this, but I’m doing the Super Bowl halftime show,” he said to cheers from the audience at NBC studios in New York.”I’m very happy and I think everyone is happy about it, even Fox News,” he said, leading into a montage of one-word clips from network personalities and Republican politicians saying: “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.””I’m very excited to be doing the Super Bowl and I know that the people all around the world who love my music are also happy…” he said, changing to Spanish to explain how his appearance was a win for all Latinos in the United States.”Our footprints and our contribution in this country — no one will ever be able to take that away or erase it,” he added in Spanish.He then switched back to English to conclude: “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”The Super Bowl is set for February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California.The National Football League in 2019 entered into a multi-year partnership with entertainment company Roc Nation, founded by rap legend Jay-Z, to boost in-game presentations.Under the deal, Roc Nation advises the NFL on the selection of artists for the halftime show. Since then, the headliners have included Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, The Weeknd, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, Usher and Kendrick Lamar.

He is perhaps the most powerful man in Washington at the moment, after Donald Trump. Russell Vought, the right-wing ideologue who heads the Office of Management and Budget, is using the US government shutdown to deliver his brand of shock therapy to American bureaucracy.Shutdowns usually result in hundreds of thousands of federal workers being placed on temporary unpaid leave. But this time, the White House has said mass firings are “imminent.”Trump has tapped Vought to tell him “which of the many Democrat Agencies… he recommends to be cut.” He even posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated video depicting the budget chief as the grim reaper walking through Washington, scythe in hand.Vought is following a far right governance blueprint, Project 2025, which he helped author.During his reelection campaign, Trump distanced himself from the ultra-conservative policy plan, which envisions vastly expanded executive control over sharply reduced federal government.Now Trump is referring to the 49-year-old Vought as “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame.” Lawmaker Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the committee that allocates government money to federal agencies, accuses Vought of having “engineered” the shutdown. “He has been scheming, hoping and planning for this since he was last in office, building his plan to dismantle essential government functions with no regard for the working class, the middle class, and vulnerable Americans who depend on them,” she said on Wednesday, day one of the shutdown. Shutdowns are brought about by lawmakers’ failure to pass an annual budget bill that funds the government. – ‘Dismantle the bureaucracy’ -Born in the northeastern state of Connecticut, Vought graduated from a small evangelical Christian college before earning a law degree and becoming a staffer for Republican lawmakers, then a lobbyist for the conservative Heritage Foundation. He joined the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and became its director during Trump’s first term.  Vought spent president Joe Biden’s term in office planning for a fresh conservative takeover over of government from his own think tank, the Center for Renewing America. The goal: instituting efficiency in what he saw as a bloated government. Trump “has to move executively as fast and as aggressively as possible, with a radical constitutional perspective, to be able to dismantle that bureaucracy,” he told conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson after Trump’s reelection in November 2024.In September, he called the US government “the woke and weaponized administrative state” of civil servants who resist the directives of an elected president.- ‘Trauma’  -Vought was swiftly confirmed by the Senate for a second stint as OMB director in February 2025. But it was tech tycoon Elon Musk who wielded the cost-cutting chainsaw in the early months of the Trump administration.That reportedly irritated Vought, who disagreed with parts of Musk’s approach, sources told The New York Times.But the OMB director was on board for the abrupt dismantling of government agencies.”Yes, I called for trauma within bureaucracies. Bureaucracies hate the American people,” he said in November. “It’s quite simple: all executive power must be vested in the executive branch,” he declared.Burying foreign aid, ending federal funding for public broadcasting and rolling back dozens and dozens of regulations: “It’s exciting to be involved in this,” Vought recently said.

Finally, something to unite President Donald Trump, his Democratic opponents and the Canadians he’s threatening to annex: a ferociously hungry carp.Invasive carp, sometimes called Asian carp, were introduced in the United States in the 1970s. And they’ve never stopped spreading — and eating everything in their path — since.”They’re eating machines,” said Trisiah Tugade, an aquatic biologist with Canada’s Invasive Carp Program, as she and her team glided along the Grand River — a Lake Erie tributary — looking for fish that specialists fear will devastate the Great Lakes. Because they can eat up 40 percent of their bodyweight daily, invasive carps were initially seen as a tool to control nuisance algae in confined areas, like aquaculture ponds. But they escaped, likely during floods, and made their way north, including through the Illinois River. That has raised the specter of the devastating eater establishing itself in the Great Lakes, the world’s largest freshwater system by surface area. “There is nothing that I have seen that scares ecologists more than looking at what the impacts would potentially be if the species of Asian carp that are in the Illinois River get into the Great Lakes and form a breeding population,” University of Michigan Great Lakes water policy expert Mike Shriberg told AFP. It’s a threat that has got the attention of Trump, who calls the fish “a threat” and specialists on both sides of the border.- Shock treatment -Each year, Canadian experts search for carp in Great Lakes tributaries considered favorable for spawning and feeding — often grassy areas with warmer, shallow water. In the Grand River, Tugade and senior biologist Alex Price oversaw an electrofishing mission.The team lowered two roads into the water that released non-lethal pulsating charges, stunning the fish and allowing them to be brought with nets into a tank onboard. Fish were identified, measured and — if not deemed invasive — released into the muddy water. Since the program’s launch in 2012, only a few dozen invasive carp have been captured in Canadian waters.James Hall, whose Hall’emin Sport Fishing business takes clients out on Lake Erie, told AFP he was one of the first to catch one. “I was wondering what it was, but I knew it was something different,” he said, describing the moment he pulled a carp out of the water a decade ago. Hall said he put the fish on ice and called government’s carp hotline.Invasive carp “have been very rare to catch, which is great,” said Price, while insisting vigilance was essential given the gravity of the threat. “They can breed multiple times a year and produce hundreds of thousands of eggs in a single event,” he told AFP. “Within the first year of life, they can be too big for our natural predators to eat,” he added. – Blown apart? -Shriberg described the Great Lakes as “the great uniters” across US political parties and between Canada and the United States. Defending them against invasive species has been a bipartisan priority in states on their shores, several of which have historically been US electoral swing states — like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — he said. Trump’s May White House memo confirming his support for efforts against “the economic and ecological threat of invasive carp,” drew cross-party praise.   “We’re in the most politically contentious times that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Shriberg said, calling Trump’s “quiet” memo an affirmation of the rare bipartisan nature of Great Lakes policy. But that path forward is uncertain. Trump’s trade war and annexation threats have strained US-Canada relations. Earlier this year the president reportedly told former prime minister Justin Trudeau that he wanted to revise treaties governing the Great Lakes.Shriberg noted cooperative management of the waterway has defined US-Canada relations, but said “the Trump administration’s hostility towards Canada … threatens to blow that apart.” If the battle against invasive carp were to fail, the consequences would be both dire and unpredictable, he added. “It would cause dramatic changes in the ecological balance of the water,” Shriberg said.And if they ever became established in the Great Lakes, “I don’t believe that you’d have any chance of actually eliminating the population,” he said.

Leo Garcia Venegas was working at a construction site in Alabama when two immigration agents ran up to him and wrestled him to the ground.”I’m a citizen. I’m a citizen,” he told them. They didn’t believe it. He was handcuffed and detained for an hour before being released — with no apology, according to his lawyers. “The officers have no warrant, they didn’t know who Leo was and haven’t seen him breaking any laws,” said Janae Wilkerson of the public-interest Institute for Justice (IJ), which partnered with Garcia Venegas in filing a class action lawsuit in Alabama last week. “When the officers checked Leo’s Alabama-issued Real ID, they called it fake.”The incident occurred in May, in an area of Alabama where there is hot demand for new homes.In June, it happened again.”I was in one of the houses with headphones on. I felt someone behind me. It was an immigration agent who came through the garage,” Garcia Venegas said in a video produced by IJ.”I told him that I was a citizen. They told me I had to follow them to the car to verify whether I was a citizen or no,” he said.Garcia Venega’s lawyers say the Department of Homeland Security’s current policies allow agents to arrest anyone they believe may be undocumented, until they prove otherwise. That violates the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects citizens against “unreasonable searches and seizures” and warrantless arrests.”They arrested me twice for being Latino, for working in construction,” said Garcia Venegas, a 25-year-old man born in Florida to Mexican parents. “I live in fear every day that when I get to work it will happen again.”  – ‘Refused to comply’ -President Donald Trump has launched a crackdown on illegal immigration, saying the United States has been invaded by foreign criminals. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are carrying out his mass deportation operation, often armed and wearing masks.Their activities and aggressive tactics have sparked criticism and protests. Even Pope Leo XIV has denounced the “inhumane” treatment of migrants in the United States.In an October 1 statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Garcia Venegas was earlier detained because he had tried to prevent “the lawful arrest of an illegal alien.” “He physically got in between agents and the subject they were attempting to arrest and refused to comply with numerous verbal commands,” the statement said.Federal agents began raiding construction sites in Alabama early this year, IJ said.”We’ll be filing a preliminary injunction next week that will ask the judge to quickly halt warrantless raids on private construction sites” in south Alabama, IJ spokesman Andrew Wimer told AFP.- Fractured ribs – In California, Rafie Ollah Shouhed, a 79-year-old naturalized American born in Iran, is suing the government for $50 million after he was body-slammed during an immigration raid at his car wash in early September, fracturing his ribs, ABC news reported. Also in California, border patrol agents attempted to handcuff Jason Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old Latino American, with one agent demanding to know the name of the hospital where he was born, video of the interaction shows. He was released, and the government claimed he had been interfering with their work at his auto body shop. “This is not right at all,” Gavidia told The New York Times. “Latinos in general are getting attacked. We’re all getting attacked.””ICE does NOT arrest or deport US citizens,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Any US citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement.”

India on Saturday warned countries against turning a blind eye to what it called support for terrorism from Pakistan, which has basked in closer relations with US President Donald Trump.Addressing the UN General Assembly a day after Pakistan used the forum to appeal for talks, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar demanded “much deeper global cooperation” against terrorism.”India has confronted this challenge since independence, having a neighbor that is an epicenter of global terrorism,” Jaishankar said, without saying Pakistan’s name.”For decades now, major international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country,” he said.”Those who condone nations that sponsor terror will find that it comes back to bite them,” he said, also without naming countries.India in May launched attacks on military sites in Pakistan after suspected Islamist gunmen massacred tourists, nearly all Hindus, on the Indian side of divided Kashmir.Jaishankar said that India “exercised its right to defend its people against terrorism.”Pakistan denied responsibility. In his own UN address on Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said India showed “arrogance” and received a “bloody nose” with counterattacks.Sharif before the UN summit traveled to Washington to meet alongside Pakistan’s military chief with Trump, who has voiced hope of mediating between India and Pakistan.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played down Trump’s role in reaching a ceasefire in May and stuck to New Delhi’s refusal of outside mediation on Kashmir.Pakistan by contrast has heaped praise on Trump and said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, rekindling Islamabad’s relationship with Washington that had grown tense during the two-decade Afghanistan war.Trump has ramped up tariffs on India, pointing to its purchases of oil from sanctioned Russia.Jaishankar in his speech said that India will need to correct “overdependence on a particular market.””We now see tariff volatility and uncertain market access. As a result, de-risking is a growing compulsion,” he said.

Sweeping UN sanctions loomed for Iran late Saturday for the first time in a decade, after last ditch nuclear talks with Western powers failed to produce a breakthrough.President Masoud Pezeshkian said the United States had offered Iran only a short reprieve in return for handing over its whole stockpile of enriched uranium, an offer he described as unacceptable.An 11th-hour effort by Iran allies Russia and China to postpone the sanctions until April failed to win enough votes on the Security Council on Friday, meaning they will go into effect at midnight GMT on Saturday. Though Iran allowed inspectors back into some of its nuclear facilities, Western governments said they saw insufficient progress to justify delaying sanctions, after a week of high-level diplomacy.European powers triggered the “snapback” mechanism a month ago, accusing Iran of failing to comply with its obligations under a 2015 deal with major powers that saw the UN sanctions frozen in return for restrictions on its nuclear activities.Pezeshkian told reporters in New York that Washington had asked Tehran to relinquish all of its enriched uranium in exchange for a three-month reprieve from sanctions.The United States “wants us to hand over all our enriched uranium to them, and in return they would give us three months” exemption from sanctions, Pezeshkian told reporters in New York before flying home.”This is by no means acceptable,” he said.He previously said France had made a similar proposal, offering only a one-month delay.”Why would we put ourselves in such a trap and have a noose around our neck each month?” he asked, accusing the United States of pressuring Europeans not to compromise.- ‘Null and void’ -Pezeshkian reiterated that Iran had no intention of developing nuclear weapons, charging that the issue was being used as a pretext for efforts by Israel and the United States to topple the Islamic republic.Talks over Iran’s nuclear activities had also involved Steve Witkoff — special envoy of US President Donald Trump — who said Washington did not want to harm Iran and was open to further discussions.But Pezeshkian dismissed him as not serious, saying he reneged on understandings reached in past negotiations.Iran and the United States had held several rounds of Omani-brokered talks earlier this year before they collapsed in June when first Israel and then the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities.- Rial hits new low -Iran recalled its envoys from Britain, France and Germany — the three countries which triggered the renewed sanctions — for consultations on Saturday, state television reported. The sanctions will reinstate a global ban on dealings with companies, individuals and organisations accused of involvement in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.”The current (economic) situation was already very difficult, but it’s going to get worse,” said an Iranian engineer who asked to be identified only by his first name Dariush. “The impact of the renewed sanctions is already evident: the exchange rate is increasing, and this is leading to higher prices,” the 50-year-old told AFP, lamenting a standard of living that is “much lower” than it was “two or three years ago.” The dollar was trading at around 1.12 million rials on the black market on Saturday, a record high according to several currency tracking websites. An AFP journalist at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar saw brisk business at jewellery stores as people rushed to buy gold. “Most people fear another war because of the snapback,” Dariush said.It remains to be seen if all governments around the world will enforce the new restrictions.Russian deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said his country considered the renewed sanctions “null and void.”Russia and China had both sought to delay the reimposition of sanctions until April but failed to muster enough votes on the Security Council on Friday.- Economic ‘malaise’ -The United States already enforces unilateral sanctions on Iran and has put huge pressure on third countries to stop buying Iranian oil, although China has defied the pressure.Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group said Iran seemed dismissive of the renewed UN sanctions as s it had already learnt to cope with US sanctions.But it noted that the snapback was not easy to reverse as it would require consensus at the Security Council.”It is also likely to compound the malaise around an economy already struggling with high inflation, currency woes and deepening infrastructure problems,” it said.In an address to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged no delay in reinstating the sanctions.He also hinted that Israel was ready to take further military action after the 12 days of bombing that Iranian authorities say killed more than 1,000 people in June.