Brief

Iran’s Rial Falls to New Record Low Amid Escalating War Tensions

The currency fell to a new record low on Tuesday, reflecting the growing economic strain of the war in the Middle East.

By Felo News Desk · Published Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:53:02 GMT

On Tuesday, Iran’s currency fell to a new record low, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials for one U.S. dollar. The decline comes 27 days after the rial hit a previous low of 2.2 million to the dollar on September 2, and follows a pattern of repeated record lows since the war began in February.

The fall reflects the cumulative impact of international sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade on Iranian oil. The blockade and new sanctions imposed since the start of the war have pushed the economy into freefall, according to the report.

Amid the currency slump, Iran’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said that indirect negotiations with the United States aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz have become “more serious.” Araghchi told Iranian media late on Monday that the “current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz,” the chokepoint of the war. He added that Qatari intermediaries would soon engage with the U.S. side and that a final U.S. response would be conveyed to Tehran.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ chief spokesman, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, called on Americans to protest the conflict. In a news conference in Tehran, Mohebbi read a letter urging the U.S. public to pressure Washington to end the war, claiming that the only way for the conflict to end is for Washington to admit defeat and leave the Middle East. He accused the U.S. of using Iran’s nuclear program as a ruse to “plunder Iran’s wealth” and to turn the country “back into a colony.”

These remarks come weeks before the U.S. midterm elections, with polling showing the war has darkened the American electorate’s mood ahead of the November 3 election. The U.S. President, Donald Trump, earlier this week spurned an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait in seven days if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.

Key facts

Iran’s rial fell to 2.5 million rials per U.S. dollar on Tuesday (fortune.com)
The decline follows a previous low of 2.2 million rials per dollar on September 2 (fortune.com)
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations on the Strait of Hormuz are becoming “more serious” (fortune.com)
Gen. Hossein Mohebbi called on Americans to protest the war and accused the U.S. of turning Iran into a colony (fortune.com)