Iran's Rial hits record low amid flaring protests, mounting sanctions

Iran's troubled currency fell to a record low against the US dollar at the weekend as the country's increasing isolation and possible European Union sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps further knocks confidence.

The slide comes amid a mass protest movement that has rocked the country for four months with no signs of slowing down.

Ties between the EU and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. Iran has detained several European citizens and the bloc has become increasingly critical of the violent treatment of protesters and the use of executions.

The regime’s bloody crackdown on protesters has killed at least 481 people, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group, while the UN says at least 14,000 have been arrested. Four people have been executed in relation to the protests.

The EU is discussing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran and diplomatic sources have said members of the IRGC will be added to the bloc's sanctions list next week. But some EU member states want to go further and classify the Guards as a terrorist organisation.

The dollar was selling for as much as 447,000 rials on Iran's unofficial market on Saturday, compared with 430,500 the previous day, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com.

The rial has lost 29 per cent of its value since the outbreak of nationwide protests following the death in police custody of a 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16.

The unrest has posed one of the biggest challenges to theocratic rule in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The economic Ecoiran website blamed the steady fall of the rial on an apparent "global consensus" against Iran.