Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 8 /Trend S.Isayev/
UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran) plans to highlight the current crash of the Iranian rial, which has fallen 80 percent in the last year, and 40 percent in the last week alone, a source in UANI told Trend.
Speaking of the latest foreign currency rate jumps in the Islamic Republic, the source in UANI said that this is irrefutable evidence that the economic pressure against Iran is having an effect.
"To fully pressure the regime and possibly force its hand, we are calling for a full economic blockade on Iran, meaning that any business, firm, or entity that does work in Iran would be barred from receiving U.S. government contracts, accessing U.S. capital markets, entering into commercial partnerships with U.S. entities, or otherwise doing business in the U.S. or with U.S. entities.," the source said.
UANI representative said that the group's goal is to apply as much on the regime that it is forced to choose between having a nuclear weapon, or a functioning economy.
Mehr agency reported earlier that a new round of arrests in Iran, connected with manipulating the foreign exchange market has started this morning.
Reportedly, the dealers and traders at the Firdowsi Square in Iran are being arrested by the local police for further investigation.
Yesterday, Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said some 30 suspects have been arrested in the country throughout the week, adding that large amounts of foreign currency and golden coins have been seized from the arrested.
On Wednesday, a number of people held a demonstration near the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, using the sharp fall in the value of the Iranian rial as a pretext.
The USD rate in Iran increased from 13,000 rials in the beginning of 2012 to 25,000 in mid September, but suddenly rose to 36,000 during a week on Iran's open market in late September.
Tehran's major market, Bazaar, has been closed since Wednesday and re-opened on Saturday.
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