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Iran’s currency falls to lowest rate amid collapse of nuclear deal

Months of uncertainty surrounding the sanctions have already further hurt Iran’s economy and the country’s rial currency continues to tank.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

The Iranian rial has fallen to its lowest rate on record, with the currency now trading at over 150,000 to the US dollar.

Since Saturday, the start of the Iranian working week, the rial has dropped over a quarter of its value.

On Wednesday, the end of the working week, currency exchange shops in Tehran posted rates of over 150,000 rials to $1.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the drop on state media.

Months of uncertainty surrounding the sanctions have already further hurt Iran’s economy. The country’s rial currency has tanked, and the downturn has sparked protests across the nation.

The collapse of Iran’s currency has been fanned by President Donald Trump’s decision to pull America out of the nuclear deal with world powers in May.

The first set of US sanctions against Iran that had been eased under the controversial nuclear accord went back into effect in August under an executive order signed by Trump, targeting financial transactions that involve US dollars, Iran’s automotive sector, the purchase of commercial planes and metals including gold.

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President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Iran will continue exporting crude oil despite US efforts to stop it through sanctions.

“We will continue by all means to both produce and export” oil, Rouhani said in remarks broadcast on state TV. “Oil is in the frontline of confrontation and resistance.”

The US wants to reduce Iran’s oil exports effectively to zero with renewed sanctions in November.

It’s unclear, however, how much other countries will cut back on Iranian oil imports. Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, which also signed the nuclear deal, opposed the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from it.

European countries are struggling to salvage the accord.

Trump warned that those who don’t wind down their economic ties to Iran “risk severe consequences.”