Iranian Rial Hits Fresh Low as Central Bank Injects Billions to Stabilize Currency

DUBAI: The Iranian rial continued its downward slide on Saturday, as the central bank announced a massive injection of up to $2 billion to prop up the currency. The intervention comes as the national economy grapples with the dual pressures of stringent U.S. sanctions and a regional naval blockade.

According to free-market tracking data, the U.S. dollar was trading at approximately 2.688 million rials on Saturday, up from 2.632 million rials the previous day. Parallel market sources, including alanchand.com, reported the exchange rate hovering around 2.695 million rials per dollar.

State television reported that government banks have commenced selling the allocated $2 billion reserve to stabilize the currency. This intervention is critical for a monetary unit that has lost more than half of its value over the past year.

With inflation soaring past 70 percent, the daily struggle for ordinary citizens has become increasingly difficult, with many unable to afford basic necessities or housing. The economic pressure is compounded by a U.S. blockade that severely restricts the country’s primary financial lifeline: oil exports.

Faced with the relentless devaluation of their currency, many Iranians are seeking safe havens for their savings, rapidly converting rials into U.S. dollars, other hard currencies, or physical gold.

Mehdi Darabi, an aide to the central bank’s governor on foreign exchange affairs, blamed the decline of the rial partly on what he said were false predictions by U.S. officials of the collapse of the Iranian economy. Speaking on state TV, Darabi stated, “It is suggested that the Iranian economy is about to crash… The enemy is using this to affect the exchange rate of our currency,” adding that the current fall of the rial was temporary.

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