Iran News Round Up

A selection of the latest news stories and editorials published in Iranian news outlets, compiled by Ali Alfoneh and Ahmad Majidyar. To receive this daily newsletter, please subscribe online.

(E) = Article in English   

Economy

• News stories on the currency crisis in Iran:

• Kayhan slams the protests in Tehran as a "Zionist/American war by proxy" against the Islamic Republic.
• According to Tehran Justice Administration, 16 people involved in the "Tehran bazaar disorder" are arrested.
• An unnamed security official interviewed by Farda News explains the decline of rial:
  • "This is partly because a group of speculators purchase the foreign currency at a certain rate and sell it an hour later at a higher price. This is why the price rises considerably and of course illogically until the end of the day."
  • "Apart from this, the Central Bank injected about $20 billion into the economy last year. It is not entirely clear who the foreign currency was given to... It seems as if the currency was given to specific individuals who are now selling it in the market at tripled price… These individuals must be identified... It is also our assessment that there is a serious scheme to empty our foreign exchange reserve... If the foreign exchange reserve is below a certain amount, it would begin a new round of sedition directed by the enemy..."
  • "Should the enemy manage to persuade the people [of the instability of the rial] we will witness more popular panic, and a rush to the banks in order to withdraw their savings in order to convert it to the dollar, which would both bankrupt the banks and inflate the foreign exchange rate..."
  • "For the time being, calm is the most important thing. The atmosphere created is a psychological one which will end at some point. The people must distance themselves from the foreign currency market and should not at all tie their life to its fluctuations..."
  • "Until now, the enemy's attempts at spreading panic has been unsuccessful and the majority of the people are going on with their life."
• Farda News releases earlier comments made by Ahmadinejad in which he confidently declared that the sanctions regime would not mean anything. The news outlet asks why the President is now blaming the sanctions regime for instability in the Iranian currency market.
• Fars News predicts decline in the value of the U.S. dollar.

Photo of the Day

• "Nuclear energy" statue in Tehran.