Iran’s rial currency hits new record low ahead of US sanction announcement
- Iran‘s currency, the rial, has plummeted to a record market low of 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar as Washington prepares to roll out additional sanctions aimed at crippling the Iranian economy.
- Nearly six months of conflict involving the U.S. and Israel have severely worsened Iran’s economic crisis, with food staples like beef rising over 150 percent and the IMF forecasting a GDP contraction exceeding 5 percent.
- As retaliation, Iran has effectively halted commercial traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, pressuring global markets and attempting to negotiate a joint waterway management agreement with neighboring Oman.
- To break the strategic stalemate, U.S. President Donald Trump announced upcoming primary and secondary sanctions targeting Iran as well as foreign nations doing business with the country. Ahead of the sanctions announcement on Monday, Trump posted on social media: “IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!”
- Despite severe domestic economic distress and skyrocketing inflation, political pressure on the Iranian government has not yet forced a surrender, leaving the dispute centered on control of global oil transit routes.
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