Iran central bank chief says currency weakness ‘temporary’

TEHRAN: The governor of Iran’s Central Bank Abdolnaser Hemmati on Monday said the depreciation of the country’s national currency was “temporary” as the Iranian Rial, already battered by war, plummeted further in value.

The currency has lost nearly 10 per cent of its value over the last two weeks, having already plunged early in the war, with the United States set on Monday to lay out its plans for “economic warfare” against Tehran.

“These increases (in prices of foreign exchanges) are temporary, meaning they fluctuate,” Hemmati said, according to the video of his remarks aired on state TV.

He blamed “American political propaganda” for much of the economic pain affecting Iran, adding that he was sure “the situation will improve and the problems will be resolved.”

The remarks came as the rial was trading on the black market on Monday at over 2 million rials against the US dollar, according to websites that track those figures.

Before the war, it traded at around 1.7 million to the dollar, while in late April, just over two months into the war, it hit a then-record low of 1.8 million.

Iran officially has several fixed exchange rates, but online sources are generally used as benchmarks for unofficial rates.

“We cannot ruin our entire path based on a temporary fluctuation caused by these propaganda attacks,” Hemmati said, referring to US threats to sharply increase the economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent is expected to announce a new wave of economic pressure against Iran as Washington continues with the blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

“This will be the largest coordinated economic isolation campaign in world history,” Bessent said.