Iran’s currency has recently plunged due to mounting protests and recent holds up with negotiating the nuclear deal. The rial has continuously declined, falling to about 362,000 rial per 1 USD. When the nuclear deal was signed, the rial was exchanging at around 10 times the amount that it currently is. However, after the US had backed out of the deal, the rial plummeted. Re-negotiation had begun, however, the US and Iran couldn’t agree on terms and the talks were postponed until after the US midterms. During this period, the entire scandal dealing with the young woman dying at the hands of the morality police has further tanked the value of the rial.
If Iran can’t tame the uprising due to the morality police, their economic future, in the short term at least, is relatively bleak. The government has also maintained their very high evaluation of 42,000 rial per USD, however they have already eliminated using that evaluation for official exchanges. As mentioned in a previous article, Iran has entered economic talks with Moscow in hopes of expanding their infrastructure. However, it seems to be a “kill two birds with one stone” situation where Iran hopes to expand their infrastructure as well as save themselves from the rapid decline of their own currency. Adding to the struggle is the prices of food items are increasing at a staggering rate. This would seem to indicate that Iran is struggling to import food into their country now considering the value of the rial has now degraded to next to nothing. Perhaps this is another reason why they have entered talks with Moscow considering one of their main points of expansion was their agricultural infrastructure. I would assume that Iran would prefer to produce more food and become a net exporter instead of a net importer, not only to increase their self-reliance but also alleviate some pressure to maintain the value of their currency.
There’s not much in this article that ties to what we’re talking about in class considering the article was mainly focused on the financial side of the country. However finances of a country do have major political effects and can change how a country is viewed internationally. I’d say possibly the closest tie to in class is how NGOs might deploy to Iran to provide food for the impoverished considering the massive price hikes.