Almost immediately after the U.S. announced the return of international sanctions on Iran on Sunday, the Iranian rial fell to record lows against the U.S. dollar, Radio Farda reported on Monday.
The collapse of the rial currency and the looming threat of U.S. oil sanctions, scheduled to take hold in November, are reportedly leading Iran to turn to China for help keeping their economy afloat. A report Thursday suggests that China, itself struggling amid U.S. tariffs, may not be looking to save Iran and is diminishing its imports of Iranian oil.
Iran’s increasing economic problems are as much a result of internal mismanagement as U.S. external trade pressure, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei conceded Monday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned on Tuesday that sanctions against Iran will not work and urged the United States to instead “try respect” for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, that President Donald Trump exited on May 8.
Hundreds of Iranians in Iran’s central city Isfahan joined a street protest on Tuesday to denounce the Islamic Republic’s handling of the nation’s economic problems, compacted by their currency reaching a second record low to surpassing 100,000 rials per one U.S. dollar.
Contents: Iran’s anti-government protests expand as rial currency plummets; The Grand Bazaar and the prospects for regime change
The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, Abolhassan Firouzabadi, announced on Sunday that the Islamic Republic would be bringing digital, or crypto, currency to the country in the near future regulated by the government.
Iran’s currency, the rial, plunged to a second record low on Sunday, dropping past 100,000 rials to the U.S. dollar. The currency’s collapse comes one week until the August 7 deadline when the United States will reimpose economic sanctions on Iran.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s currency hit a record low on Sunday of 100,000 rials to the dollar amid a deepening economic crisis and the imminent return of full US sanctions.