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| İRAN ve PETROL ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİYİ ÇOK GÜZEL ÖZETLEYEN GRAFİK (reuters) |
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Tomlinson
Januar\
25 2012 12:01AM
Panicked
Iranians flocked to banks yesterday in a desperate attempt to buy dollars and gold
as the country¶s currency continued to plunge under pressure from international
sanctions. Witnesses reported fighting outside branches in Tehran and other
cities as crowds tried to offload their currency. Tension has increased since
the EU imposed fresh sanctions against Tehran on Monday aimed at forcing the
regime to suspend its nuclear programme and return to negotiations. The rial is
in freefall, losing half its value against the dollar in the past three months.The
currency hit 21,000 rials to the dollar yesterday after further steep falls
over the weekend, sparking fears of a run on the banks.25 01 2012 Bank panic
sparks fights after oil sanctions _ The Times
“Some
banks were under siege today. People are really afraid that their wages and
savings
will soon be worthless,” said a banking source in Tehran.
Pressure
on the currency has grown since the US imposed new sanctions on Iran¶s
central
bank three weeks ago. Europe then imposed a freeze on Iranian assets and a
phased embargo on Iranian oil imports, increasing the pressure on Tehran to
resume talks.
The
Iranian regime has threatened military retaliation, but is also sensitive that
the
currency
crisis could spill into civil unrest at home. Police have used batons and
teargas to break up crowds outside banks in Tehran on at least one occasion in
recent weeks. The Iranian Government has tried to halt black-market currency
trading by making it illegal to buy and sell dollars without an invoice. The
amount of dollars permitted to be taken out of the country has been reduced to
$1,000 from $10,000.
But
with the rial still sliding, Iranians are going to extreme measures to sidestep
these
restrictions.
Local reports suggest that Iranians have been going to neighbouring Iraq
to
buy up dollars, smuggling them back into the country in defiance of the new
regulations.
The regime has become so unsettled about discussion of the currency crisis that
text messages containing the word “dollar” have been blocked recently.
Tehran
has been typically defiant since the EU sanctions were agreed. Heydar Moslehi,the
Intelligence Minister, claimed that the restrictions had strengthened the
country by
making
it economically self-sufficient. But Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the
influential
Expediency
Council, warned that “economic war has begun” and said that “officials
must
wake up”.
The
currency crisis also threatens to reignite the bitter power struggle between
President
Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader.
The
Iranian Parliament called Shamsoddin Hosseini, the Economy Minister, to face
questioning
about the situation. Mr Hosseini, a close ally of the President, survived a
vote
to dismiss him by Parliament in November. A second attempt to force him out
looks
likely as the sanctions tighten.
Iran¶s
two most powerful men have been at each other¶s throats for months, with allies
of
the Supreme Leader seeking to blame the President¶s faction for Iran¶s economic
woes.
