Iran Steers Exporters to Defend Rial Against U.S. Sanctions

(Bloomberg) -- Iran’s reshuffled economics team is trying a new tactic to defend the rial against U.S. sanctions -- ordering exporters to sell their foreign-currency earnings on a government-regulated trading platform.

The directive to use the online platform is meant to steer more foreign currency into the system, thus aiding government efforts to "deal with the enemy’s hostility," the semi-official Tasnim News reported, citing Economy Minister Farhad Dejpasand.

Iran’s rial has lost as much as 70 percent of its value against the dollar since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in May and reimposed harsh sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s economy. The directive has been "finalized" by President Hassan Rouhani’s government, according to Dejpasand, and will be sent to parliament for its approval.

To contact the reporter on this story: Golnar Motevalli in Tehran at gmotevalli@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Paul Abelsky

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