Sunday’s wobble in the Iranian rial – which dropped nearly 6 percent against the dollar in apparent reaction to OPEC’s decision not to increase production – prompted Ali Tayebnia, Iran’s economy minister, to warn against “frenzied behavior.”
The jitters were short-lived and the rial appears to have stabilized for now, but both the fall and the minister’s reaction showed sensitive nerves as nuclear talks continue for a further seven months with no lifting of sanctions beyond the measures agreed as part of the interim Geneva deal.
Critics of the talks in Iran already argue President Hassan Rouhani’s diplomacy is in vain. “Heech,” or “Nothing,” ran a huge headline in the Vatan-e-Emrooz newspaper. But Rouhani is not facing concerted opposition from clerics, parliament, conservative newspaper editors or commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Indeed, the Iranian leadership remains broadly united in support of the talks.
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