Iran’s currency plunged to a fresh record low on Tuesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials for $1, highlighting the mounting economic pressure on the country as the Middle East war drags on, according to The Associated Press (AP).
The latest fall comes just 27 days after the rial breached the 2.2 million-per-dollar mark on Sept. 2. The currency has repeatedly hit record lows since the war began in February, underscoring the strain on Iran’s economy.
The sharp currency slide comes as diplomatic efforts gather pace to find a way out of the conflict and reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said indirect negotiations with the US have become more serious, with the Strait of Hormuz now the central focus of discussions.
Speaking to Iranian media late Monday before leaving New York, where he attended the UN General Assembly, Araghchi said he had met Pakistani and Qatari mediators. He added that Qatari intermediaries were expected to engage with US officials again.
“They are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final US response will be conveyed to us,” Araghchi said, according to AP.
“If there is a response, the Qataris will convey it to us and a decision will be made in Tehran on that basis,” he added.
US and regional officials have also confirmed to AP that mediators are working with Tehran and Washington to broker an agreement aimed at ending the fighting and reopening the strait.
The diplomatic push comes after US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal earlier this week to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days in exchange for the lifting of a US blockade of Iranian ports, the release of frozen Iranian assets and waivers on sanctions affecting Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.
Amid the diplomatic efforts, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday appealed directly to Americans to pressure their government to end the war.
IRGC spokesman Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, speaking at a news conference in Iran, read out a letter urging Americans to protest against the conflict. He argued that Washington must acknowledge defeat and withdraw from the Middle East for the war to end.
Mohebbi also accused the US of using Iran’s nuclear programme as a pretext to “plunder Iran’s wealth” and turn the country “back into a colony”, according to AP.
He said US and allied efforts to force Tehran to submit through military and economic pressure had failed.
The Trump administration, however, has maintained that Iran’s economy cannot sustain the conflict for much longer and has argued that continued pressure will force Tehran to give in.
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