TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran’s currency on Saturday dropped to its lowest value ever against the dollar, and has seen its value fall by 30% since June amid severe U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran.
Money exchange shops traded the Iranian rial 262,000 for a dollar. The rial had traded at 256,000 to $1 on Thursday, and markets were closed Friday, the start of the weekend in Iran.
The rial has tumbled from a rate of 200,000 in late June. Iran’s currency was at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
The currency unexpectedly rallied for some time after President Donald Trump’s decision more than two years ago to withdraw the U.S. from the nuclear deal and reimpose crippling trade sanctions on Iran.
The sanctions have caused Iran’s oil exports, the country’s main source of income, to fall sharply.
On Friday, the head of Iran’s central bank Abdolnasser Hemmati said the government was trying its best to control the situation in the currency market.
Iranian officials for months have warned exporters to bring their foreign earnings home from abroad or face having their export licenses revoked, and central bank has warned it would publish the names of violators.
In June, the central bank reported that Iranian companies export more than $40 billion in non-oil products per year, and officials say some 50% of that remains abroad.
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