Iran vows to stabilize slumping currency

Iran’s government said it will step up efforts to steady its currency after it weakened to a record, a slide that has rattled businesses and prompted some dealers to stop selling dollars and euros.

The rial, which had plunged to 50,000 rials to the dollar in February, depreciated to 60,000 on Monday on the unregulated market, according to Tasnim News agency and other reports.

The slump comes as President Donald Trump’s administration nears a critical decision on its participation in Iran’s nuclear deal, and political feuding at home raises pressure on President Hassan Rouhani to deliver a stronger economy for ordinary Iranians. Traders have also been accused of deliberately driving the currency lower with speculative bets.

“We will certainly use all of the state’s strengths and capabilities in order to, God-willing, steady the market,” government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said in a statement shown on state TV. “We accept that this situation is not a good one and it’s against what we want.”

Rouhani met with officials to discuss ways to intervene and stabilize the currency, Nobakht said. The measures will be implemented in coming days, he said without elaborating.

One foreign-exchange trader in Tehran alluded to Iran’s growing confrontation with the U.S., where the administration has promoted Iran hawks into top foreign policy and security jobs.