Hossein Samsami, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), announced that foreign currency revenues from non-oil exports from 2018 to November 2025, amounting to about 76 billion dollars, have not been returned. This figure has now reached 85 billion dollars.
He said: “The issue of foreign currency and currency restrictions is one of the country’s important issues. Foreign currency from non-oil exports from 2018 to November 2025, amounting to about 76 billion dollars, has not been returned, meaning matured obligations that have not been fulfilled. This amount has now become 85 billion dollars, meaning that in about one and a half months roughly 9 billion dollars has been added, despite the fact that we sharply increased the exchange rate, meaning we raised it from 700,000 rials to 1,300,000 rials and 1,400,000 rials, but still the currency is not returning. This must be paid attention to.”
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The surge in foreign currency prices and the tightening of people’s livelihoods
Samsami added: “Do the country’s executive officials know where the economy and people’s livelihoods are heading now. Do you know that these policies have led to an increase of 30% to 50% in nearly all goods, from detergents to hygiene products, various beverages, motor oil, car tires, automobiles, and construction materials? The mechanism works this way: when foreign currency increases, through imports, through the commodities exchange, and through the dollarization laws that we enacted in the Majlis in previous years, the prices of goods rise.”
Shabakeye Khabar television (a state-run news channel), February 8
Samsami had previously stated that 20 billion dollars of foreign currency from non-oil exports had never returned to the country. This admission is not an administrative error, but a clear sign of organized plunder at the heart of an economic structure that has left the hands of regime thieves free to loot as much as they can from this windfall.
Organized plunder and the immunity of select exporters
Referring to a list of 24,000 exporters, Samsami emphasized that the main portion of the unreturned currency was in the hands of a few hundred major exporters. The names of large shipping and petrochemical companies were raised, but no action was taken. The ruling establishment, instead of asserting authority over these networks, chose silence.
Currency policy and the sacrifice of people’s tables
To force exporters to return foreign currency, the regime chose the path of increasing the official exchange rate. The 400,000-rial rate rose to about 700,000 rials, imposing heavy inflation on society. Samsami clearly stated that this decision meant direct theft from people’s tables to fill the pockets of exporters. In this process, the ruling establishment knowingly sacrificed the people to preserve the interests of a limited group. Organized plunder here became official policy.
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The currency market and the collapse of the regime’s authority
This Majlis member also pointed to the role of foreign markets such as Sulaymaniyah (in Iraq) and Herat (in Afghanistan) in determining the exchange rate. He said: “The country’s exchange rate is practically determined by a few individuals across the borders, and the entire ruling establishment adapts itself to it.” These remarks present a clear picture of the collapse of the economic authority of Ali Khamenei’s regime. A regime that claims control is, in practice, subordinate to opaque and corrupt networks.
