DUBAI (Reuters) – The Iranian currency continued to fall on Saturday, hitting a new all-time low against the U.S. dollar amid doubts about Donald Trump's imminent arrival to the White House and tensions with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The riyal fell to 756,000 riyals to the dollar in the unofficial market on Saturday, compared to 741,500 riyals on Friday, according to Bonbast.com, which publishes exchange rates. The bazar360.com website said that the dollar is sold for about 755 thousand riyals.
Facing an official inflation rate of around 35%, Iranians looking for safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies, gold or cryptocurrencies, indicating further headwinds for the rial.
The dollar has risen against the riyal since it traded at about 690,000 riyals in early November, amid fears that Trump, once inaugurated in January, will re-impose a “maximum pressure” policy on Iran with tougher sanctions and enabling Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites. .
The Iranian currency fell again after the Board of Governors of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency passed a European-proposed resolution against Tehran – raising the risk of new sanctions – and in the wake of the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally of Jemaah Islamiyah. Republic.
In 2018, Trump backed away from the nuclear agreement concluded by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and reimposed US economic sanctions on Iran after they had been eased. The agreement limited Iran's ability to enrich uranium, a process that can produce fissile material for nuclear weapons.
The Iranian rial has lost more than 90% of its value since the re-imposition of sanctions in 2018.
