Iran’s Rial Drops To Low Point Over Protests, Doubts On Nuclear Deal
Iran’s rial has dropped to its lowest point since June when it registered an all-time low against other currencies. The rial is close to breaking that record.
Iran’s rial has dropped to its lowest point since June when it registered an all-time low against other currencies. The rial is close to breaking that record.
On Monday, Iran’s battered currency was trading at 332,000 against one US dollar amid pessimism over a nuclear deal with the United States and nationwide antigovernment protests.
The rial, which has dropped tenfold in the past five years, has proven to be sensitive to news about the nuclear talks. It began a steep fall in early 2018 when it appeared that former US president Donald Trump intended to withdraw from the Obama-era nuclear accord known as the JCPOA. After Trump announced his decision in May 2018 and imposed economic sanctions on Iran, the rial fell more drastically, and annual inflation rose to more than 40 percent.
Negotiations to revive the JCPOA have stalled after 18 months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, with no immediate prospect of a resumption.
In the absence of a deal, Iran’s crude oil exports remain sanctioned by the US and its banking system isolated from the international financial system.
Before the 1970 revolution that toppled the monarchy, the US dollar was worth 70 rials. The current exchange rate represents an almost 5000-fold drop in 43 years.
But the tightly controlled broadcaster always juxtaposes the reformists with staunch hard-liners who offer counterarguments to the reformists' shy statements about why the system needs to open up to survive.
Even some of the reformists who have taken part in the debates on the Iranian state TV, have said in interviews with relatively independent media outlets in Iran that the state TV's openness is questionable.
Sadeq Zibacalam a usual suspect on Iranian media and foreign-based televisions to comment on almost everything during the past 30 years, has said in an interview with Didban Iran website that "state TV officials' behavior is authoritarian. Like all authoritarian regimes, the state TV also never acknowledges that there might be flaws and weaknesses in the system."
He added that "the grudge and hatred that has been accumulated in the Iranian society over the years is [partly] due to ignoring these weaknesses." He added that the state TV which operates under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei "has never had a realistic approach to ongoing developments during the past 43 years."
Accordiong to Didban Iran, many observers have been recently criticizing the state TV “which is no longer the point of reference for news and information for the people of Iran." In fact, government media has long ceased to be credible and instead people rely on Persian-speaking broadcasters, such as Iran International and Manoto TV for news and views.
"Just like the government, the state TV attributes the protests to US conspiracies and the actions of Zionists, monarchists and rioters," said Zibakalam, adding that the state TV is part of the Iranian government. It is no surprise as the chairman of the television, Payman Jebelli has reiterated time and again that it is the government's not the people's media. He further added that the state TV does not have any plan to help the regime get out of the current crisis.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a cleric who was former President Mohammad Khatami's chief of staff in late 1990s and early 2000s, said in an interview with Didban Iran that "the state TV's new approach of openness is temporary." He added that some ruling hard-liners say that putting one step back from their uncompromising positions might lead to a domino-like collapse of the system.
Abtahai, who was the head of the Iranian radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said, "I believe the open debates that are currently taking place on the state TV might not continue."
Some in the Iranian government believe that hard-liners should not put even one step back from their positions as a result of the protests that followed Mahsa Amini's death in custody, Abtahi argued. This school of thought does not tolerate dialogue, he added. "The other school of thought is reformism. Those who believe in this maintain thatwrong approaches could be corrected in a step-by-step approach," he said. However, he added that social pressure can force hard-liner officials to make compromises about some of their "principles".
However, critics of reformists say that more than two decades of a step-by-step approach has made matters worse and hard-liners more dominant in the government.
Two days after comedian Mehran Modiri belatedly expressed support for the protests, the state TV announced that it has cancelled his talk show, in a sign of intolerance.
