By Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's parliament has summoned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be questioned over the country's plummeting currency.

State radio said Sunday that 77 lawmakers have signed a petition claiming that Ahmadinejad's administration has been reluctant to regulate the currency market.

The Iranian rial has plummeted in value against hard currencies over the past year, with the slide accelerating over the past month. Iranian politicians blame the drop on Western-led sanctions targeting the country's suspect nuclear program but also on alleged mismanagement by the government of Ahmadinejad, who has fallen out with conservatives who once backed him.

On Saturday the rial traded at 31,000 rials to the dollar. It was about 11,000 in mid-2011.

By law the president has one month to answer the summons.

 

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