Iranian Rial Crashes to Record Low Against Dollar Amid US Sanctions Tension

The Iranian rial has hit a record low against the US dollar on the open market. On Sunday, the exchange rate reached over 2 million rials to the dollar for the first time ever, with the US greenback trading above 200,000 tomans in Tehran's free market.

This represents a gain of more than 7% for the dollar against the Iranian currency in less than a week. The decline reflects growing demand for foreign currency and anxiety over further US economic pressure, including uncertainty surrounding Iranian oil exports, access to foreign-exchange reserves, and financial transactions.

The record low exchange rate is closely watched because official currency markets are heavily managed by the government and do not necessarily reflect the price businesses and households pay to obtain dollars. The Iranian rial had traded at about 1.865 million per dollar at the start of the previous week.

Iran's economy has been under pressure due to a 60-day window established under a June 17 memorandum between the United States and Iran, which expired without a broader agreement on Tehran's nuclear program and sanctions relief.