Iran is struggling to control black market currency trading as the riyal plummets against the dollar following U.S. sanctions.

The current market rate stands at around 18,800 rials per dollar, which compares to the official rate of around 11,500 rials.

Recent efforts to quash the black market activity included a major currency revaluation.

However, Iran is now considering the ultimate punishment to control its currency. The Washington Post's Thomas Erdrink (h/t DealBreaker) reports:

In addition, the chief of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, threatened Wednesday to seek the death penalty for major speculators. Speaking about the unrest in the foreign-exchange markets, he warned that “depending on the importance of their crimes, some of the economic corrupted can face execution,” the semiofficial Mehr News Agency quoted him as saying in a meeting with judicial officials on the currency crisis.

Read more at WashingtonPost.com.