TEHRAN: Iran's currency plummeted at least 17 percent in trading on Monday, according to media and an online exchange website, severely adding to strains on the Islamic republic's sanctions-hit economy.
In Washington, a US official said the decline was evidence of the success of the international sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.
"From our perspective this speaks to the unrelenting and increasingly successful international pressure that we are all bringing to bear on the Iranian economy. It's under incredible strain," a top State Department official said.
The currency, the rial, weakened to 34,700 to the dollar by the end of the day's trading, according to the Mesghal.com website, a drop of 17 percent compared to the previous day's rate of 29,600.
The Mehr news agency said the rial fell 18 percent to 35,000.
The rial has lost more than 80 percent of its value compared with the end of last year, when it was worth 13,000 to the dollar.
Visitors to the money-changing area in central Tehran said registered dealers were no longer selling dollars in their shops, leaving the market to informal traders in the street — a situation resulting in dollars becoming scarce and thus much more expensive.
The rial's plunge yesterday was largely censored online.
Websites that usually give real-time currency data, such as Mazanex.com, had the dollar rate for the rial blanked out. The Iranian-hosted version of Mesghal (mesghal.ir) disappeared half-way through the day to be replaced with the message "Account Suspended".
The fall sent a shock through Iranian companies.
"It's a disaster," a manager of a business in Iran's import sector told AFP on condition of anonymity. "One business lady was really crying, she was losing millions of dollars."
The Fars news agency said money changers in Tehran were hoarding dollars.
"We do not know what will happen in the coming days, we do not know what the government will do," it quoted one money changer saying.
The official news agency IRNA quoted a spokesman for Iran's money changers' association, Nosrat Ezzati, as saying the latest rates for the rial "are artificial as no real exchange is happening in the market."
Iran currency tumbles 17% in one day
Iran currency tumbles 17% in one day
US allows countries to buy Russian oil stranded at sea for 30 days
- US issues 30-day license for stranded Russian oil purchases
- Measure the latest by Trump administration to calm energy markets jolted by Iran war
The United States issued a 30-day license for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea in what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was a step to stabilize global energy markets roiled by the Iran war.
The announcement comes a day after the US Energy Department said that the US would be releasing 172 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve in an effort to curb sky-rocketing oil prices in the wake of the war in Iran. That release was part of a broader commitment by the 32-nation International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil. The agency said earlier on Thursday that he war in the Middle East was creating the biggest oil supply disruption in history. Bessent, in a statement on X released hours after benchmark oil prices shot above $100 a barrel, said the measure was “narrowly tailored” and “short-term” and would not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.
“The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term,” Bessent said in the statement, echoing President Donald Trump.
Thursday’s license, which authorizes the delivery and sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels as of March 12, will remain valid through midnight Washington time on April 11, according to the text of the license posted on the Treasury Department’s website. The US Treasury previously issued a 30-day waiver on March 5 specifically for India, allowing New Delhi to buy Russian oil stuck at sea. Among other measures to tame energy prices, Trump has already ordered the US International Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade in the Gulf and said the US Navy could escort ships in the region. In another attempt to control prices, the Trump administration is considering temporarily waiving a shipping rule known as the Jones Act to ensure energy and agricultural products can move freely between US ports, the White House said. Waiving the rule would allow foreign ships to carry fuel between US ports, potentially lowering costs and speeding deliveries.
“The president is taking every action he can to lower prices ... unsanctioned oil that’s at sea to get that into the market, continuing to push our own producers to drill and expand production as fast and as far as they can, providing regulatory relief, and you’re going to see more and more in the days to come,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told Fox News’ “Primetime” program on Thursday.
There were about 124 million barrels of Russian-origin oil on water across 30 different locations globally as of Thursday, Fox News reported, adding that the US license would provide around five to six days of supply when taking into account the daily loss of oil from the Strait. Trump said earlier on Thursday the United States stood to make significant money from oil prices driven higher by the war, prompting criticism from some lawmakers who accused him of caring only about rich people.
US and Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent response by Tehran have widened regional tensions and paralyzed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting vital Middle East oil and gas flows and sending energy prices higher.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will block oil shipments from the Gulf unless the US and Israeli attacks cease.
