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Rial was holding ground on Saturday. trading at year-long highs of above 115.000 per US dollar. according to currency rate websites and reports from Tehran’s unofficial exchange market.
That came despite an announcement by the US government on Friday which toughened American sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). while imposing sanctions on the country’s sovereign wealth fund (NDFI) and a company advancing payments for the government agencies.
The sanctions came after attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil installation on September 14 which cut the kingdom’s production in half and sent shockwaves across the global markets. Washington has blamed Iran for the attacks. accusations roundly rejected by Iranian authorities.
The rial’s strength comes as the currency suffered massively last summer when the US began to impose its sanctions on Iran.
It traded at historic lows of 190.000 against the dollar in September 2018 before it regained some of its value and rose against foreign currencies a month later.
On Saturday. CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said that the recent US move to re-impose sanctions against the CBI. which has been already sanctioned. proves that Washington is left with no leverage to pose further pressure against Tehran.
Hemmati said that re-imposing sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran indicates that US hands are empty and no other leverage is left for Washington.
If such measures were effective to impose cruel demands of the US administration. the economic conditions of the country would have been different now. he added.
The US administration has been driven to failure over the past year. and it shows that sanctions have become more ineffective than any time and Iranian economy has proved its tolerance against sanctions. Hemmati highlighted.
CBI`s success and stability in the market show that fortunately trade and financial transactions are being accomplished through ways which cannot be subject to the US sanctions. he noted.
Fortunately. we have passed the era of circumventing sanctions so that foreign trade can no longer be sanctioned. he stressed.
The US Department of the Treasury announced in a press release on Friday that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had taken action against the CBI. the National Development Fund of Iran (NDF). and Etemad Tejarate Pars Co. under its counterterrorism authority.
Addressing reporters at the White House on Friday. US President Donald Trump said the new sanctions represent the highest sanctions ever imposed on a foreign country.
Iran sanctions architect under former President Barack Obama. Richard Nephew. derided the new embargos against Tehran. underlining that Washington is unable to increase its pressures against the Islamic Republic as the White House has already exhausted all of its options.
He ridiculed Trump’s claim for unprecedentedness of the sanctions. adding. This is even odder. Did we designate the IRGC today? Oh wow. man. that would be a BIG step…if we hadn`t done it over a decade ago. And CBI too? Wow. I mean. if that wasn`t part of the FY12 NDAA.
Practically. I`m struggling to see how this meaningfully adds to the pressure already in place. Nephew wrote in a sarcastic tweet.
