Iran's rial rose on Tuesday as authorities in Tehran sold US dollars and clamped down on unofficial foreign exchange trade in a drive to rescue the currency from record lows hit because of US economic sanctions, traders said. The rial traded at 147,000 to the dollar in the unofficial market, up from 156,500 on Monday and a record low of 190,000 reached last Wednesday, according to foreign exchange website Bonbast.com.
The currency's slide, from levels around 43,000 at the end of last year, has eroded the value of ordinary Iranians' savings, triggering panic buying of dollars.
The rial has been undermined by the prospect of US sanctions after Washington pulled out of an international deal on Tehran's nuclear programme. US measures targeting Iran's oil industry are due to take effect in November.
Traders said on Tuesday that the central bank appeared to have released more dollars into the market in the last several days in an effort to halt the rial's slide, which is disrupting Iran's foreign trade and pushing up inflation.
On Saturday, the government announced the central bank would intervene in the market through banks and authorised exchange shops to control the exchange rate.
Meanwhile, authorities clamped down on Tuesday on websites and social media groups tracking the unofficial foreign exchange market.
Some websites, such as Mesghal, only showed the little-used official rate of 42,000 rials to the dollar, while others such as 2gheroon did not announce any rate for the dollar. A group on the Telegram messaging service, called the Forex and Gold Portal, was suspended; it had around 38,000 members.
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