Iran’s rial hits record low, Tehran tries to pin it to the dollar

Iran moves on Tuesday to enforce a single exchange rate to the dollar, banning all unregulated trading after the rial hits an all-time low.

The country’s senior vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, is quoted by state TV as saying that the official rate will be 42,000 rials to the dollar as of Tuesday. He says that trading at any other price was forbidden and would be considered “smuggling.”

The decision came late Monday after a two-day hike in prices of foreign currencies that saw the rial trading at 62,000 to the dollar — an 18 percent drop since Saturday.

In downtown Tehran, people lined up to buy hard currency outside an exchange office at the new, fixed rate but many complained there were not enough dollars available. Some exchange offices turned off their currency display boards.

— AP