Iran makes biggest crackdown on foreign exchange in six years
Spare a thought today for your foreign exchange brothers in Iran.
Iranian authorities have detained nearly 100 currency traders and frozen bank accounts woth $5.3 billion in a massive crackdown aimed to stop the slide of the rial, which is already down 10% this year.
The police in Tehran said 90 FX dealers were arrested and 10 FX shops were shut down along with the freezing 755 bank accounts. The FT reports that those accounts turned over $5.3 billion last year.
There is a small-scale panic developing in Iran as people rush out of the rial and into US dollars.
"You can have as much euros or pounds as you want but not dollars," one exchange office said.
...given today's dollar drop, it sounds like those shops are doing them a favour.
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