China's nationwide travel rush continued into Wednesday, the second day of the week-long National Day holiday, with major railway, highway and water transport hubs each receiving more travelers.
According to the China State Railway Group, 1,028 trains were added to cope with the surging railway passenger trips, which are estimated to total 18.2 million on Wednesday.
The railway network handled a daily record high of around 21.45 million passenger trips on the first day of the holiday, the railway authorities said.
Railway stations in large metropolises including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou have remained at high gear since Tuesday, with the China Railway Beijing Group projecting 765,000 outgoing passenger trips on Wednesday.
The China Railway Taiyuan Group in the northern province of Shanxi put an additional 51 trains into operation on Wednesday to serve holidaymakers traveling to popular tourist destinations across the region.
Official data also estimated that approximately 60 million trips will be made on the country's expressways on Wednesday, a slight drop from Tuesday.
Beijing, Tianjin, Suzhou and Chengdu are among the regions seeing much heavier traffic flows than ordinary days.
The water transport system is expected to handle 1 million passenger trips on Wednesday, according to official estimates.
Travel rush continues on Day 2 of holiday
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that the situation in Iran is "under total control" following violence linked to protests that spiked over the weekend.
Addressing foreign diplomats in Tehran, the foreign minister noted that armed terrorist groups had infiltrated the protests, attempting to divert them from their legitimate course. He claimed that evidence has been gathered showing Iranian security forces being shot at, with the aim of causing further casualties. He accused the United States and Israel of exploiting the unrest to interfere in Iran's internal affairs.
Araghchi further stated that the government is closely monitoring developments on the streets, emphasizing that "the situation has come under control." He also affirmed that internet services, curtailed during the unrest, would be restored after coordination with security agencies.
The government has engaged in dialogue with merchants and protest representatives and initiated reforms to address grievances related to price hikes and currency depreciation. Iran has taken a series of actions and measures to respond to the demands of peaceful demonstrators, the foreign minister said.
Earlier on Sunday, Araghchi said that clear evidence links recent riots and vandalism of public facilities in Iran to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. This came after former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned Mossad agents operating on Iran's streets in a social media post. The Iranian foreign minister asserted that police are being attacked by "terrorists" acting under the direction of Israeli operatives, whom Pompeo publicly acknowledged.
The protests initially erupted over a sharp depreciation of the rial and sweeping subsidy reforms. Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest on foreign-linked agents and U.S. sanctions.
Iranian foreign minister says situation "fully under control," accuses Israeli intelligence of stoking unrest
