TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s currency fell to an all-time low on Wednesday after Donald Trump was re-elected as US president, signaling new challenges for Tehran as it remains embroiled in ongoing wars in the Middle East. Is.
The rial traded at 703,000 rials against the dollar, recovering slightly during the day to 696,150 to the dollar, breaking a record, Tehran traders said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the surge, but Iran’s Central Bank has in the past flooded the market with more hard currencies in an effort to prop up rates.
The decline comes as the rial is already facing a crisis over a sharp decline in its value – and the mood has soured for some people on the streets of Tehran.
“One hundred percent they will extend the restrictions,” said student Amir Aghaian, 22. “Things that are not in our favor will get worse. Our economy and social situation will definitely deteriorate.”
He added, “I think the country is going to explode.”
At the time of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, the rial was between 32,000 to 1 dollar. On July 30, the day Iran’s reformist President Massoud Pezeshkian was sworn in and began his term, the rate was 584,000 to $1.
Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018, leading to years of tension between the two countries that continues to this day.
Iran’s economy has struggled for years under severe international sanctions because of its rapidly expanding nuclear program, which now enriches uranium near weapons-grade levels.
Pezeshkian, elected after the death of hardline President Ibrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May, came to power on a promise to reach a deal to ease Western sanctions.
However, Iran’s government has been trying for weeks to minimize the influence on Tehran of whoever wins Tuesday’s election in the United States. That stance continued Wednesday, with a brief comment from Pezeshkian administration spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani.
“The election of the US president has nothing to do with us in particular,” he said. “The core policies of the US and the Islamic Republic are settled, and they will not be drastically changed by people replacing others. We have already made the necessary preparations.”
Middle East As of Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States in a remarkable political comeback.
Forty-five years after the US embassy takeover in 1979 and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed, tensions between the nations still remain high. Before the revolution, the rial traded at 70 to the dollar.
Iran is still embroiled in the Middle East wars that have roiled the region, battering its allies – the militant group and fighters from its self-described “axis of resistance”, which includes the militant Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon. Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Israel is stepping up its war targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its offensive in Lebanon amid devastating attacks against Hezbollah. At the same time, Iran is still assessing the damage caused by Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic on October 26 in response to two Iranian ballistic missile attacks.
Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel – where US troops now deploy missile defense batteries.
Mahmoud Parvari, a 71-year-old taxi driver in Tehran, left no stone unturned when discussing Trump.
“I feel like I’m looking at the devil,” he said. “He looks like a devil, has devil eyes and behaves like a madman.”
But another taxi driver, who gave only his last name Hosseini, offered a more pragmatic view.
“I would definitely make a deal with Trump if it would help my country,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s Trump or anyone else. After all he is a human being.”
(TagstoTranslate)Politics(T)US News(T)2024 Presidential Election(T)Currency(T)Donald Trump(T)Iran
