Dubai, United Arab Emirates –
Iran appointed a new central bank governor on Thursday after its currency plunged against the dollar to an all-time low amid mass protests and ongoing Western sanctions.
Senior banker and former deputy finance minister Mohammad Reza Farzin, 57, has been named to replace Ali Salehabadi, who resigned after 15 months, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The rial on Thursday was trading near $430,000, up from 370,000 earlier this month. Already taking a hit from years of Western sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, the rial was trading at 315,000 when anti-government demonstrations erupted in mid-September.
The protests were sparked by the death of a woman detained by the country’s morality police. Rights groups say security forces have cracked down, using live ammunition and bird shots, and beating and detaining protesters.
At least 508 protesters were killed and more than 18,600 arrested, according to Iranian human rights activists, a group closely monitoring the riots. Iranian authorities have not released an official death toll.
Iran’s currency traded at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear deal, which lifted international sanctions in exchange for tighter control over Iran’s nuclear program. That deal fell apart after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States in 2018.
The Biden administration had been trying to restore the deal until protests erupted, but those negotiations stalled months ago.
In another development on Thursday, Iran summoned the Italian ambassador over Rome’s criticism of its handling of the protests.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tagjani summoned an Iranian envoy a day earlier to express concern over the crackdown, but said it had nothing to do with Iran’s security.
