Baku, Azerbaijan, April 18

By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on the staff of the country’s intelligence ministry to remain vigilant against plots hatched by the enemy spies.

Addressing a gathering of the workers of the intelligence ministry on Wednesday, he said that the enemy has already conducted a great and sophisticated war against Iran, the official news website of the supreme leader reported.

He further described the intelligence services of the enemy as the main axis of the new war between Iran and its enemies.

Saying that the efforts by the enemy spies brought no results, he said that Iran will lose the war if intelligence officials fail to stay vigilant.

The supreme leader added that gathering intelligence, infiltration, impacting the decisions of the policymakers, changing the beliefs of the people, creating financial and economic disorder and chaos are on the agenda of the enemy.

Ayatollah Khamenei further touched upon the recent developments in the Iranian currency market and accused the enemy of creating chaos in the market.

The Iranian national currency, rial, gave up some 20 percent against the US dollar in two weeks. Many in Iran over the past weeks rushed to hedge against depreciation of their assets amid fears over an imminent collapse of the nuclear deal and the return of economic sanctions.

First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri on Monday evening announced the government's decision to unify the country’s official and open market exchange rates.

Jahangiri, after an emergency cabinet meeting, appeared on TV to announce that the price of the US dollar would be 42,000 rials in both markets, and for all business activities.

The decision was made following recent fluctuations in the country after the rial declined to an all-time low and fell to 6,460 by Monday afternoon on the unregulated currency market.

Psychological behavior, growth in demand, getting assets out of the country, political and diplomatic tensions, as well as security concerns and risk of military confrontation, are believed to be among the main reasons behind the sharp plunge of the value of Iran’s national currency.

Back in February, the US dollar for the first time breached 50,000 Iranian rials when police in collaboration with the Central Bank of Iran arrested at least 90 currency traders, whom it blamed for deliberately driving the devaluation in order to profit from it.