Foreign exchange rates on Wednesday continued their upward trajectory with the US dollar crossing the resistance level of 150,000 rials in Tehran's open market.
Currency rates were mostly stable in the past two weeks but the looming US sanctions due to take effect on November 4 seem to have had a psychological effect.
The euro was traded for 175,000 rials, up from the previous day's 169,000. Gold coin also rallied with the benchmark Bahar Azadi gold coin fetching 49 million rials, up from Monday's 47 million rials. President Hassan Rouhani told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that US pressures on Iran would only have "temporary effects."
The Europeans want to set up a ‘special purpose vehicle’ to process Iran’s import and export payments once Washington clamps down on the country’s central bank and oil industry on November 4.
The US action is part of an economic squeeze on Tehran after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord in May.
Abdolnaser Hemmati, central bank governor, sounded upbeat over the weekend about discussions between the two sides in Brussels last week over details of “a kind of monetary swap agreement” by which “European and Iranian exporters could continue trade”.
