Iranian Rial plunges to historic low as EU prepares to slap more sanctions on govt officials

Jeddah: Amid the deliberations in Europe to impose further sanctions on 37 Iranian officials and groups over the regime’s deadly crackdown on protestors, the struggling rial plunged to a historic low against the US dollar on Saturday.

It is believed that the concerns about Tehran’s growing role in fomenting upheaval in the Middle East and for providing drones that are wreaking havoc in Ukraine are corresponding with Iran’s growing isolation in the international community.

As efforts to restart nuclear talks have stalled in recent months, relations between the EU and Tehran have deteriorated.

Iran has jailed several European citizens, and the EU has been harsher in its criticism of Iran’s use of executions and violent treatment of demonstrators.

At a previously scheduled meeting in Brussels on Monday, the foreign ministers of the EU bloc are expected to concur to implement the fourth package of penalties on Tehran over its treatment on protesters.

The Iranian Guards were blamed by the European Parliament on Wednesday for the suppression of protestors and the sale of drones to Russia, and they were asked to be included to the EU’s list of terrorist organisations. The statement was a direct political message to Tehran, but the parliament cannot force the EU to add the force to its
list.

The largest vessel registry in the world, Panama, announced this week that it had removed its flag from 136 vessels connected to Iran’s state oil corporation over the previous four years.

Since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, on September 16 following her imprisonment in Tehran for allegedly breaking the Islamic republic’s stringent dress codes, protests have erupted across Iran.

According to the UN, Iran has detained at least 14,000 individuals throughout the wave of protests.

Four people have been put to death by the government for their involvement in the unrest, and another 18 have been given the death penalty, which has outraged several nations.

In response to the crackdown on protestors, the EU has already slapped asset freezes and travel restrictions on more than 60 Iranian officials and organisations, including Tehran’s “morality police,” Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, and state media.

According to the foreign currency website Bonbast.com, the price of a dollar on Iran’s black market on Saturday was up to 447,000 rials, up from 430,500 the day before.

Since the start of the widespread demonstrations, the rial has lost 29 percent of its value.

Mohammad Reza Farzin, governor of Iran’s central bank, attributed the decline of the rial to “psychological operations” that Tehran claims its adversaries are planning to topple the Islamic Republic.

Farzin was quoted by official broadcaster IRIB as saying, “Today, the central bank faces no limits in terms of foreign currency and gold resources and reserves, and media dishonesty and psychological operations are the key drivers behind the fluctuation in the free exchange rate.”

Iranians have been attempting to purchase dollars, other hard currencies, or gold in order to protect their savings from the country’s around 50% inflation rate.

An apparent “global consensus” against Iran was cited by the economic Ecoiran website as the reason for the rial’s ongoing decline.

“Increasing political pressures,” according to Ecoiran, “are factors pointing to a global consensus against Iran, (which may affect) the dollar’s rate in Tehran.

Examples include adding the Revolutionary Guards to a list of terrorist organisations, and imposing restrictions on ships and oil tankers linked to Iran.

Separately, Iran’s sports minister has commissioned an investigation into claims that teenagers were the targets of sexual abuse at a football facility in the northeast of the nation.

The parents of 15 players from this club and its academy allegedly filed a complaint against the club and its coaches for sexually assaulting their children, according to social media posts made by a former media manager for the Shahr Khodro football team, reports say.

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