ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The value of the Iranian toman has dropped to an unprecedented low following a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Syria and attacks on military positions in the country’s southwest, spreading concern among people already struggling to make ends meet.
The value of the toman against the United States dollar went from 61,000 to 64,000 in recent days. People are expecting a surge in the price of basic goods and many have exchanged their tomans for dollars or bought gold in an attempt to protect their assets.
Arman Mirzayi*, a 33-year-old computer engineer from Sanandaj, has been working tirelessly for the past 13 years in the hope of saving up enough money to buy a small house, but the recent depreciation means that he will not be able to achieve that goal any time soon.
“Recently, I wanted to buy a house with the money I have saved up and a small loan I took out, but the value of the dollar against the toman keeps rising by the day, and I can no longer afford to purchase the house I was able to last month,” Mirzayi told Rudaw English on Saturday.
He said that Iran was “no longer suitable for living” and he will soon have no choice but to seek refuge abroad.
“Whenever the value of the dollar unexpectedly rises, the price of real estate also surges,” Sidiq Rustami, who has been working in the real estate business for almost 15 years, told Rudaw English, predicting that there will be a market crash if the toman keeps falling.
The value of the toman has plummeted drastically since former United States President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal that offered Iran much-needed relief from crippling sanctions in exchange for curbing its nuclear enrichment program.
The most recent depreciation comes after airstrikes, blamed on Israel, hit the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on Monday, killing at least seven people, including two generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Attacks by Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group, on IRGC offices in Sistan and Baluchestan province on Thursday have also been named as a factor contributing to the weaker currency. At least six security personnel were killed and an additional 10 wounded in the attacks.
In 2015, the toman was around 4,000 against the US dollar.
Hameed Zamani, who has been working as a currency trader in Sanandaj and Marivan for years, predicted that the value of the toman will drop even further.
“Based on my experience throughout the years, I predict that the dollar will reach over 80,000 tomans even if nothing unexpected happens. The value will further drop if there are political tensions, or if the Republicans assume office in the US,” he said, referring to the American presidential election coming in November.
The depreciation of the toman, the COVID pandemic, and crippling US sanctions have resulted in mass unemployment and accelerating inflation rates in Iran, especially in the country’s western Kurdish provinces.
*Names have been changed to protect their identities