The dollar passed 269,000 tomans and the euro 302,000 tomans for the first time on Iran's open market on Saturday, according to Iran International. A gram of 18-karat gold rose above 26 million tomans. This marks a new jump within a week for the dollar, which approached the 260,000-toman threshold yesterday.
According to Donya-e-Eqtesad, on the first trading day of the week the dollar rose 3.7% from the previous week's closing rate to 267,700 tomans, settling above the 260,000-toman channel. The quarter gold coin was the sharpest riser, gaining 5.2% on the day. According to Ettelaat, the dollar traded around 265,000 tomans the same day after a 9,000-toman jump.
According to a separate Ettelaat report, the prosecutor's office's sudden intervention in currency market fluctuations and its threat to detain currency dealers drew criticism from some economists; experts warned that such interventions could increase distrust in the market. The central bank, for its part, described buying and selling foreign currency as its "legal duty" and said it was monitoring the market constantly.
According to Khabaronline, Deputy Central Bank Governor Darabi listed the reasons for the rise in the exchange rate as "precautionary demand, speculation, delays in imported goods and the late repatriation of export earnings," and said this had led to a rise in the rate that outpaces inflation. In another statement, the same official said that "the current rise in the rate is temporary."
The steps the central bank announced a day earlier, such as cash FX sales, the seizure of fake exchange-rate sites and an operation against "market disruptors," are continuing; however, the figures reported by both Donya-e-Eqtesad and Ettelaat show that these measures have so far failed to stop the rate from rising. The prosecutor's threat of arrests can be read in this context as an attempt to intervene in the market directly through the use of force.
How the Persian press covered it
The opposition, diaspora-based Iran International reports the record exchange-rate levels plainly and does not cite any direct government response. The technocratic Donya-e-Eqtesad and the moderate-traditionalist Ettelaat tell the story through market data and the respective steps taken by official institutions (the prosecutor's office and the central bank); the moderate conservative Khabaronline offers a more reassuring frame by highlighting the central bank official's statement that "the rise in the rate is temporary." All four sources are close to one another on the figures; the main difference is the emphasis: market-oriented sources highlight the volatility, official sources the temporary nature.
Context
In Iran, 1 toman equals 10 rials, and in daily life prices are expressed in tomans. There has long been a large gap between official and semi-official rates and the open-market rate; the indicator the public follows is the open-market rate. The rapid rise in the rate is linked to shrinking FX inflows under wartime conditions, import delays and uncertainty; the measures the government has taken to manage this pressure are covered in a separate story.
For information only; not investment advice.
Correction (October 4, 2026): The original version said the dollar "crossed" 260,000 tomans the previous day; based on that day's data it had approached that level.
