By Xinhua

TEHRAN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) � A prosecutor in the Iranian capital Tehran announced Thursday that 16 people related to creating � disorder� in local currency market have been arrested, the semi- official Mehr news agency reported.

The prosecutor was quoted as saying that 16 people �main elements behind disorder in the currency market� who took advantage of the �enemy�s psychological war� to make more interests �illegally� and �to serve the interests of the foreigners to create disorder in the economy of the country� have been arrested.

The move came as the Iranian currency value steeply depreciated against foreign currencies in the past days and Iranian officials recently pledged to confront those who cause disorder in the market.

On Wednesday, Tehran�s central area, including currency exchange region and grand bazaar, became the scene of protests over depreciation of local currency, rial, against the foreign currencies.

The significant slump of rial�s value since the beginning of this year, due to heavy pressure by the U.S. sanctions on Iran�s central bank in January, has had a considerable impact on the lives of common people in the country.

Some Iranian officials and local media have blamed the government for shortcomings in dealing with the economic issues and with Western sanctions.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, has rejected the claims, stating that Iran�s revenues from oil sales have been decreased to some extent and the West has launched �economic war� and � psychological war� against the Islamic republic.

The UN Security Council imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran between 2006 and 2010 over its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which Western countries suspect could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

The United States and European Union have imposed and expanded sanctions of their own over the years despite Iran�s insistence on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.

According to semi-official Fars news agency, one U.S. dollars was traded for 29,500 to 32,000 rials in the exchange centers on Thursday afternoon.

On Tuesday, one U.S. dollar was traded for about 36,500 rials in Tehran�s street market, the lowest exchange rate for rial since the beginning of the new Iranian year, which started on March 20, whereas a year ago the same amount of dollar was traded for 13,000 rials.

 

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