Iran currency slips to new lows amid tensions with West

DUBAI — The Iranian currency extended its fall on Saturday, hitting a new all-time low against the US dollar amid uncertainties about Donald Trump’s imminent arrival in the White House and tensions with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The rial plunged to 756,000 to the dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday, compared to 741,500 rials on Friday, according to Bonbast.com, which reports exchange rates. The bazar360.com website said the dollar was being sold for about 755,000 rials.

Facing an official inflation rate of about 35 percent, Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies, gold or cryptocurrencies, suggesting further headwinds for the rial.

The dollar has been gaining against the rial since trading around 690,000 rials in early November amid concerns that once inaugurated in January, Trump would reimpose his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran with tougher sanctions and empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran’s currency again declined after the board of governors of the UN nuclear agency IAEA passed a European-proposed resolution against Tehran — increasing the risk of new sanctions — and following the downfall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a long-time ally of the Islamic Republic.

Trump in 2018 reneged on a nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and reimposed US economic sanctions on Iran that had been relaxed. The deal had limited Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, a process that can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Iran is currently enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels that have no civilian use. Tehran’s leaders have for years been threatening to annihilate Israel.

Iran’s rial has lost more than 90% of its value since the US sanctions were reimposed in 2018.