As the working week began in Iran this week, currency exchange rates around the country caused great shock as the price for one U.S. dollar shot up from 300,000 rials to 310,000 rials within just a few hours. The cause of the sudden drop in the value of rial is suspected to be the unsuccessful talks in Vienna that were an attempt to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with the Iranian regime.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) said, “This is a fair argument, given that some had put their hopes that a breakthrough in the nuclear impasse would open Iran to international markets, rekindling trade and economic growth.”
Going beyond the regime’s questionable nuclear program, and the ongoing talks with Western powers, Iran is suffering from their worst economic crisis to date. The value of the rial over the past four decades paint a picture of a widespread decline of Iran’s economy.
When the Iranian regime came to power following the 1979 revolution, the price of a dollar was valued at 140 rials. Year after year that figure rose, reaching 1,420 just a decade later. By the turn of the century, each dollar was worth 7,920 rials, and by 2011 this figure had almost tripled. The sharpest rises have taken place in the past five years. At 36,000 rials in 2016, in just two years the exchange rate of a dollar skyrocketed to an astonishing 150,000 rials. As Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as the regime’s new president this August, the figure then sat at 230,000 before reaching its latest figure barely four months later.
The MEK said, “Therefore, the root of Iran’s currency depreciation cannot be sought in the Vienna talks, although the is one of many events that have spurred the decline of Iran’s economy.”
The cause behind the fast-declining economy in Iran is attributed to the complete destruction of domestic production over the past four decades. The regime’s destructive economic policies have forced hundreds of factories and thousands of workshops in Iran to be close down. In a bid to replaced goods that were once produced in Iran, the regime has resorted to importing from abroad, and smuggling goods across borders, spending vast amounts of Iran’s hard currency.
At the expense of the Iranian people, the regime has also been draining the country’s wealth on their nuclear programs, and funding their vast network of terrorist activities through proxy groups across the Middle East. The Iranian people are suffering greatly, with more and more people falling below the poverty line on a daily basis as they struggle to make ends meet and support their families.
In order to address Iran’s budget deficits, the regime have resorted to the uncontrolled printing of banknotes, with the Etemad newspaper stating on November 10 that up to 48 million rials’ worth of banknotes are printed by the regime on a daily basis.
The MEK said, “The unbacked printing of money is the main reason Iran’s currency has been in freefall. And it has two consequences: First, the depreciation of the national currency. And second, the unbridled growth of inflation and prices of basic goods.”
The regime only have themselves to blame for the state of the economy in Iran, and they are the culprits of bringing death and destruction to the Iranian people, and the crises are only set to worsen in the near future.
