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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran's currency plummeted to a record low Monday,
a week before the United States sanctions sanctions lifted under the
unraveling nuclear deal, giving rise to fears of prolonged economic
Already last month, protesters
clashed with police outside parliament in Tehran in three days of
demonstrations sparked by the Iranian rial plunging to nearly 90,000 to
the dollar. That followed country-wide economic protests in December
January, in which 25 protesters were killed and nearly 5,000 people
were arrested.
The currency hit a new low on Monday, closing
122,000 to the dollar on the black market thriving, rapidly dropping
from 116,000 on Sunday and 98,000 on Saturday. The official exchange
rate, available only to businesses with import and export licenses, was
about 44,000 to the dollar on Monday, down from 35,000 on Jan. 1.
Iranians
have already seen their savings dwindle, and shopkeepers are
to avoid certain goods, unsure of their true value.
Many fear things will only get worse once the sanctions go into effect.
"If
the rate is going up
happen, "said Tehran Resident Rasool Shadi." I think people should stop
buying for a while. If they do not buy something, its price will
definitely decrease. "
The government last week replaced the
country's central bank governor Valiollah Seif, whose policies also
have been blamed for the rial's fall, and eased
foreign currencies into the country to fight black market trading.
It's
Too soon to tell you these facts will have any significant effect.
Under the new leadership, the central bank on Sunday blamed the
currency's free fall on "the enemies" conspiracies … in line with
disrupting the economy as well as disturbing the people's peace of mind. "
President
Donald Trump's administration withdrew from the landmark nuclear agreement
in May, saying it was too generous to Iran. It has been vowed to ramp up
sanctions until Iran
its support for regional activist groups, something the country's
Tehran-based Economist Saeed
Leilaz criticized the government for
saying it "suffers from horrible inaction and absence of decision
making. "
" People's concerns are very reasonable in the existing
conditions, "he told The Associated Press." They are protecting their
own interests by converting their rials to foreign currencies or gold
corners. "
Fereshteh, retired civilian servant who would not give his
last name, fearing repercussions, said he had just bought a medicine he
"That's why we are worried," he
said. "If the upcoming sanctions are imposed what is going to happen?
hope everything is fixed. "
The Trump administration began
dismantling the sanctions relief that was granted to Iran under the 2015
nuclear deal in June, a month after he announced the United States'
unilateral withdrawal from the international agreement
The Treasury
Department gave American businesses and U.S.-controlled foreign firms
dealing in certain types of trade until Aug. 6 to wind down their
or penalties under U.S. sanctions. Another set of
licenses covering other types of commerce, including oil purchases, will
be revoked in the coming weeks, with firms until Nov. 4 to end
those activities.
The other parties to the agreement – Britain,
China, Germany, France, Russia and the European Union – have been
scrambling to try and save the deal, under which Iran was given relief
from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
efforts have been complicated by the American threat to punish companies
from other countries that continue to deal with Iran, as the Trump
administration steps up its efforts to isolate the country and its
faltering economy from international financial and trading systems.
Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday claimed the U.S.
strategy would fail, saying he was "confident we can, over the next few
months, show the Americans that they must quit their addiction to
sanctions. "
" Europeans should decide their businessmen,
banks and governments want to pursue European interests or American
Trump's interests, "he said.
Trump has
Iranian leaders, but has also suggested
that the sanctions take effect
return to the negotiating table.
"We're ready to make a real
deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration, which
was a disaster, "he said last week While U.S. intelligence agencies
Iran is complicit with the Obama-era agreement to halt its
nuclear program, Trump had complained that the deal was not enough
curb Iran's malign influence in the region.
Iran has ruled out any new talks, saying the U.S. can not be trusted.
"With
this America and the policies it's definitely
possibility of negotiations, "Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi
said during his weekly briefing.
Internationally, oil prices
was rising on the subject of the ongoing dispute and the American push
for other countries to cut oil imports from Iran by Nov. 4. Brent crude
future were up 42 cents Monday to $ 75.12 a barrel.
The looming
sanctions have already started slowing the flow of oil out of Iran, and
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani has suggested his country could try to
close the key Strait of Hormuz shipping Persian Gulf
and the Gulf of Oman if the U.S. does not back down.
Last week,
Saudi Arabia halted all crude shipments through the Bab El-Mandeb Strait
between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, another key route, after
Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen attacked two of its passing tankers
through, cause minor damage to one.
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