Iran can cope with falling currency, says Ahmadinejad

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that his country can overcome its currency crisis as the rial fell to new record lows against the US dollar.

Ahmadinejad blamed market speculators for the steep drop, while claiming that Western sanctions are having a limited impact.

“They have managed to reduce a part of our oil sales but hopefully we will compensate for this,” he told a press conference in Tehran.
“Everyone knows that foreign trade and commerce does not have a great role in Iranian commerce, but this is being used as a great psychological war, the effects of which are high in the markets.”

The rial has lost two-thirds of its value since June last year after the US and its allies tightened sanctions aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear programme.

Measures include a ban on buying Iranian oil.

The US has also vowed to pursue any foreign firms or institutions that deal with the Iranian central bank.

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