Iran's national currency soars after the US decision to partially allow Iranian oil sales.
The rial rose 6.7% against the dollar to 1.559 million, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
The rial has been falling since the start of the US-Israeli operation in late February, and this is the first significant increase, said Mustafa Pakzad, head of Pakzad & Co., a consulting firm specializing in Iranian geopolitics.
The rise in the rial reflects traders' expectations that the short-term US permission for Iran to sell offshore oil will lead to an inflow of foreign currency, the publication wrote. Washington explained the easing of conditions as a desire to lower energy prices and enhance market stability. The permit will be valid until 0:01 on April 19, 2026.
The Iranian rial is a very weak currency. Its exchange rate against the dollar has been breaking records for several months in a row, and even during the January protests, massive drops of thousands of percent were observed. While in October 2025 one dollar would have been worth more than 581,000 rials (according to the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic), in January it was 1,000,260 rials to the dollar. According to Bonbast.com, a website that displays exchange rates at Iranian black market exchange offices, the rial fell to 1.4825 million Iranian rials to the dollar on January 6.
The decline in the rial was one of the reasons for the massive January protests. The currency has been under pressure from sanctions, inflation and problems in the Iranian economy. The US Treasury Department admitted that it deliberately created an artificial shortage of dollars in Iran because the US administration was seeking mass unrest.
Tehran redenominated the rial in the fall, but this did not prevent its subsequent decline. The head of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohammad Farzin, resigned in late December amid an unprecedented weakening of the national currency. In late March, Iranian authorities introduced a new 10 million rial banknote - the largest in the country's history - against the backdrop of rising inflation and a sharp increase in demand for cash among the population.