Page 15 - DMEA Week 45 2022

DMEA NEWS IN BRIEF DMEA

Including selections from NewsBase’s partner services

SECURITY & POLICY informed the broadcaster of an imminent threat records of IRR367,050 and IRR421,700, respec-
against two of its journalists and their families. tively, on November 7, according to currency
Iran warns Saudi after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the cus- Foreign currency buyers now need to go to
The protests in Iran started in mid-September website Bonbast.
Arabia it may lose tody of Tehran’s “morality” police, who arrested website my.ice.ir, register their request for FX
her for an alleged dress-code violation in relation and await permission from a CBI official. Only
“strategic patience” to how she was wearing a hijab, or head scarf. with the permission, can the buyer approach a
Rights groups say more than 300 people have currency trader.
Iran on November 9 warned Saudi Arabia that lost their lives amid the security crackdown on Traders in Tehran believe the collapse of the
there is no guarantee of Tehran continuing to the protests, while thousands have been arrested. rial has some way to go amid economic and
show “strategic patience”, according to semi-of- There are fears that the regime’s response to political tensions caused by the unrest that has
ficial Iranian news agency Fars. the unrest could become tougher. Iran’s Army swept Iran in the past seven weeks and the dash-
The warning to Iran’s regional rival was Ground Forces Commander Kiumars Heydari ing of hopes that talks for a revival of the 2015
served by the country’s intelligence minister said on November 9 that “rioters” would have nuclear deal, which would bring about the lifting
Esmail Khatib. no place in the Islamic Republic if Khamenei of US sanctions, could soon get back on track.
“Until now, Iran has adopted strategic gave the order for a tougher crackdown on the Local banking magazine Banker on Novem-
patience with firm rationality, but it cannot guar- protests, the semi-official Mehr news agency ber 6 asked traders if they believed the rial would
antee that it will not run out if hostilities con- reported. continue in a downward spiral if the dollar broke
tinue,” Fars quoted Esmail Khatib as saying. “If Heydari was quoted as saying that “should IRR362,000.
Iran decides to retaliate and punish, glass palaces he [Khamenei] decide to deal with them, rioters The consensus was that it would decline fur-
will crumble and these countries will not experi- will no longer have a place in the country.” ther as traders on the market were continuing to
ence stability anymore.” Also on November 9, shopkeepers went on load up on USD.
Throughout the eight weeks of anti-regime strike in several Iranian cities to mark 40 days “However, some traders pointed to the cen-
protests that have shaken Iran, Tehran has — the traditional Iranian end of a mourning tral market maker’s battle over the dollar price
accused foreign enemies, including Saudi Ara- period—since the “Bloody Friday” massacre and said that the dollar rate in the market may be
bia, Israel and the US, of fomenting the unrest. in the south-eastern city of Zahedan amid the revised again today,” the magazine wrote.
Last month, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary unrest, RFE/RL reported. The massacre saw bne/IntelliNews spoke with a currency trader
Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami almost 100 people killed and hundreds injured. in Tehran. They said: “Part of the downward
warned Riyadh to control its media outlets. The Zahedan protesters took to the streets partly pressure on the rial is because of expansive mon-
Khatib on November 9 stepped up Teh- after word spread of the alleged rape of a 15-year- etary policy whilst the economy is contracting,
ran’s demonstrated hostility to Saudi media old girl by a local police commander. as in they are printing too much money.”
by announcing that Iran has designated Lon- The US has warned that Iran could be receiv- In the current political environment dom-
don-based Iran International news channel as a ing advice from officials of Russia’s Putin regime inated by the street protests, there is increased
“terrorist” organisation and that employees and on methods for dealing with street protests. psychological pressure to flee the rial and con-
those “related” to the outlet would be prosecuted. Russian state media reported that there was vert savings into other assets. In the medium
Persian-language broadcaster Iran Interna- a November 9 meeting in Tehran between the term, this will lead to higher property prices.
tional is thought to have links to the Saudi Ara- secretaries of Russia and Iran’s security councils. The trader added: “The capital controls used
bian government. However, the discussions at the meeting between by the government will exacerbate the panic
Speaking in an interview with the website Russia’s Nikolai Patrushev and Iran’s Rear Admi- and lead to a run on the rial. So what we are
of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khame- ral Ali Shamkhani were said to centre on the seeing is just the beginning of a potential 50%
nei, Khatib stated that any connection with Iran situation in Ukraine, security cooperation and depreciation.”
International would be viewed by the Iranian measures to combat “Western interference” in The heavy-handed state approach to FX has
government as cooperation with terrorists and Iran and Russia’s domestic affairs. been criticised by traders and currency hawkers
a threat to national security. Iran has provided Russia with kamikaze on Tehran’s Ferdowsi Street, the epicentre of legal
He also hit out at the UK for hosting three drones that have been used in its war on Ukraine and black-market currency trading in Iran.
Persian-language TV channels, namely Iran and there are fears that it may also deliver ballis- “We hope that with the new currency pol-
International, Manoto TV and BBC Persian. He tic missiles to Moscow. icies, the tension in the market will subside,”
threatened that Britain “will pay for its actions to bne/November 9 2022 Farshad Taghavi, a trader involved in import-
harm the security of Iran.” ing machinery from abroad, said, following the
The three media outlets are all headquar- Iran bans in-person sales change in rules.
tered in London and are broadcast free-to-air by In the Iranian parliament, debates raged over
satellite. of forex as rial dives how to handle the rial and FX situation, with all
Iranian judiciary officials have lately alleged other options mostly exhausted.
that the trio have incited “riots” amid the unrest The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has issued a Somayeh Mahmoudi, a member of the par-
that has broken out in Iran. directive banning in-person sales of foreign liamentary economic commission, said in an
Iran’s intelligence ministry has previously currencies in bureaux de change, Tehran Bazaar interview with Donya Eqtesad newspaper that
named employees of Iran International as “ene- social media channel reported on November 7. the state budget would have to update the price
mies of the state,” stating that those who “serve The Iranian rial (IRR) continued to slide of the dollar.
foreigners” and “betray the country” will be pun- against a basket of foreign currencies on the open Mahmoudi said: “I do not know what the
ished, Radio Farda noted. market, with the USD trading for IRR367,500 by price of the dollar will be by the time the budget
On November 8, Iran International said in a the end of the day, the weakest ever rate of the rial is presented, but the dollar rate in the budget
statement that London’s Metropolitan Police had versus the dollar. The euro and pound also hit must be updated.”

Week 45 10•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P15