The decline in the value of the rial in Iran has entered a new phase amid intensified U.S. financial and sanctions pressure on the Iranian regime. As Washington has expanded measures to restrict the regime’s access to the international financial system, the price of the dollar in Iran’s market surpassed 2.08 million rials on Sunday, August 30, setting a new record.
According to the state-run Donya-e Eqtesad newspaper, the U.S. dollar was trading at around 2.061 million rials on Sunday morning. This surge came as the regime’s Central Bank claims to have made large amounts of dollars available through the banking network, and had announced that supply in the first phase was 25 times demand—an assertion that the actual trend in the foreign exchange market has effectively rendered meaningless.
The Iranian regime’s policies have caused structural hyperinflation
Abdolnaser Hemmati, the head of the regime’s Central Bank, has attributed the rise in the exchange rate to “U.S. posturing and propaganda.” At the same time, however, external pressure on the Iranian regime’s financial network has taken on new dimensions.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has announced that it will conduct an immediate and special inspection of the branches of “Banque Misr” in the country. The move came after the U.S. Treasury Department accused the bank of conducting Iran-related transactions and warned that its access to the U.S. financial system could be cut off.
Economic Exclusion: The Largest Economic Assault on the Iranian Regime
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday, August 28, that supporters of the Iranian regime cannot continue to use the dollar and the global financial system. He accused “Banque Misr” of continuing to support the Iranian regime and warned that individuals involved in money laundering for the regime would also be denied access to the U.S. financial system.
At the same time, U.S. officials have referred to the intensification of economic pressure on the Iranian regime as “economic exclusion.” Bessent has described these measures as the final stage of economic warfare and one of the most extensive financial assaults by the United States against an adversary country.
U.S. President Donald Trump, referring to Iran’s economic situation, has also said that the regime is in an extremely difficult position and does not even have the ability to pay the salaries of its military personnel. He emphasized that economic pressure does not mean ruling out the military option.
The dollar’s rise to more than 2.06 million rials, alongside the regime’s increasingly restricted banking and financial channels, is another sign of the deepening economic crisis—a crisis whose costs are borne first and foremost by the people of Iran and which further darkens the regime’s economic outlook.
