Iran's Currency Hits New Record Low As War Erodes Its Economic Stability

Iran's currency fell to a new low of more than 2.5 million rials to the dollar, a record broken just 27 days after the previous one, as the war grinds down the country's economy. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said indirect talks with the U.S. over reopening the Strait of Hormuz have grown 'more serious,' with Qatari and Pakistani mediators shuttling messages between Tehran and Washington.

President Trump has already rejected one Iranian proposal that would have reopened the strait in seven days in exchange for lifting the U.S. port blockade, releasing frozen assets and waiving oil sanctions. Meanwhile the Revolutionary Guard's spokesman, Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, used a news conference to appeal directly to American voters to pressure Washington to end the war, timed awkwardly close to the U.S. midterms.

Polling cited in the reporting shows the war has soured the mood of the American electorate too, with gas prices serving as the connective tissue between a currency collapsing in Tehran and a Congress up for grabs in Washington.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.