Iran · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
Iran’s Rial Slides To Record Lows As Dollar Tops 2.7 Million Rials
Dollar in free market topped 2.7 million rials as rial hit record lows. Central bank injected up to $2 billion to support currency, but decline persisted.
7 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Trump Says Iran Will Be Hit Very Hard, Threatens Nuclear Defeat →
7outlets compared
Rial hits new lows
Iran’s rial kept sliding to record lows despite the central bank’s intervention, as the dollar surpassed 2.7 million rials in the open market. Iran International data cited by CNN Economica said the rial fell to about 2.723 million rials per dollar in early trading on Sunday, October 4, up about 1.3% from the level recorded the day before. Reuters reported that state banks began selling up to $2 billion to support the rial, and the central bank said it was prepared to inject up to $2 billion to stabilize the exchange market.
Mehdi Darabi, assistant governor of the central bank for foreign exchange affairs, said the rial’s decline partly reflected what he described as misleading expectations about the collapse of the Iranian economy, stressing that the current depreciation is temporary. Iran International said the euro also surpassed 3.06 million rials and the British pound topped 3.59 million rials as the currency crisis continued.
Inflation and political blame
Iran’s economy minister Ali Madanizadeh rejected US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s assessment, telling IRNA that predictions of an imminent economic collapse had repeatedly proved wrong. Madanizadeh told IRNA that “They want to create unrest and stress among the people so they rush to the currency market and the exchange rate increases; otherwise, these statements serve no purpose, and we will not allow this to happen,” while the central bank said the exchange rate was not “fully consistent with the economy’s fundamental variables.” Hardline lawmaker Nadergholi Ebrahimi argued that the war had contributed no more than 25% to recent price rises and accused government economic officials of deliberately fueling inflation.
Hossein Samsami, an economist and hardline lawmaker, wrote on X that “Today, the currency is the enemy’s tool in an all-out economic war,” and he added that the central bank was “shoots it into its own goal!” The Statistical Center of Iran reported annual inflation at 73.6% and year-on-year inflation at 89.8%, while food and beverage prices rose faster than overall inflation.
Central bank, Tether, and controls
Iran International said the central bank intends to freeze accounts and local-currency payment platforms for a number of cryptocurrency trading platforms, after Fars News Agency reported the move on Saturday, October 3. Fars News Agency said some cryptocurrency trading platforms, by recording artificial purchase orders in the Tether market, cause price disruption for this cryptocurrency and, consequently, the foreign exchange market. خبرآنلاین reported that from the fifth of Mehr to today, the dollar climbed from about 233,000 to over 268,000 tomans, and economist Albert Bagziyan said the central bank must explain what happened between Mehr 5 and today that caused the dollar rate to rise by about 35,000 tomans.
Bagziyan said: “A dollar price of 258 or 259 thousand tomans sends a message of inflation to the market / that is, the dollar will not become cheaper,” and he criticized the central bank’s approach as “These currency-dispensing methods are not useful.” Bagziyan argued that the central bank must know “how much currency it has, the status of foreign exchange reserves, how much currency exporters supply, and how much demand exists in the market,” while the central bank’s intervention continued to be tested by market expectations.