Iran’s currency hits record low as US economic pressure intensifies

Iran’s rial has plunged to a record low against the US dollar, with the currency coming under mounting pressure as Washington intensifies its economic campaign against Tehran after nearly six months of war, Bloomberg reports.

The rial fell to 2.04 million per dollar on Tehran’s unregulated market on August 31, according to the Bonbast exchange-rate tracker. TGJU, another unofficial monitoring platform, reported that the currency had crossed the 2 million mark a day earlier, although it later ended the session below that level.

Since the beginning of the Iranian calendar year in March, the national currency has lost roughly 63% of its value against the dollar, which was trading at around 1.35 million rials at the time.

The rial’s decline has accelerated amid the ongoing conflict and growing economic pressure on Tehran. Restrictions on Iran’s access to regional banking networks and trade channels, coupled with disruptions to exports, have further strained the economy by limiting the inflow of foreign currency.

Several days earlier, Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said the regulator was ready to inject $2 billion into the foreign exchange market to help stabilise the rial.

“I tell the people with complete honesty that economic conditions and livelihood management have become difficult, but collapse has never happened and will never happen,” he noted. “These claims are just psychological warfare and the dust will settle soon.”

At the same time, Hemmati acknowledged that high inflation and rising prices were placing significant pressure on the population. He said the central bank had provided more than $18 billion in foreign currency since March to finance imports of essential goods, medicines, animal feed and raw materials.

By Jeyhun Aghazada