JEDDAH: The beleaguered rial fell to a record low against the US dollar on Saturday amid talks in Europe to impose fresh sanctions on 37 Iranian officials and organizations over the regime's crackdown on protesters.
Iran is also growing increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, amid warnings over Tehran's growing role in fueling unrest in the Middle East and providing drones that wreaked havoc in Ukraine.
As efforts to restart nuclear talks have stalled in recent months, relations between the EU and Tehran have deteriorated. Iran has detained many European citizens, and the European Union has been harsh in its criticism of Iran's use of violent behavior and executions of protesters.
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At a previously scheduled meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers are expected to agree to adopt a fourth package of sanctions against Tehran over its crackdown on protesters.
The Iranian Guard was blamed by the European Parliament on Wednesday for its crackdown on protesters and the sale of drones to Russia, and called for them to be added to the EU's list of terrorist organisations. The text was a direct political message to Tehran, but the assembly cannot force the EU to add the force to its list.
The world's largest ship registry, Panama, announced this week that it has removed its flag from 136 ships belonging to Iran's state oil company over the past four years.
Protests have erupted across Iran since the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini on September 16 after her arrest in Tehran for allegedly breaking the Islamic republic's strict dress code.
According to the United Nations, Iran has detained at least 14,000 people during the wave of protests.
Four people have been executed by the government, and another 18 have been sentenced to death for their involvement in the unrest, which has angered several countries.
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In response to the crackdown on protesters, the European Union has already imposed an asset freeze and visa ban on more than 60 Iranian officials and organisations, including Tehran's "morality police", Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and state media.
The dollar rose to 447,000 rials on Iran's black market on Saturday from 430,500 rials a day earlier, according to forex website Bonbast.com.
Since the start of the widespread demonstrations, the rial has lost 29 percent of its value.
Iran's central bank governor Mohammad Reza Farzin blamed the rial's decline on a "psychological operation" that Tehran claims its opponents are planning to topple the Islamic republic.
"Today, the central bank has no restrictions in terms of foreign exchange and gold resources and reserves, and media fraud and psychological operations are the main factors behind free exchange rate fluctuations," state broadcaster IRIB quoted Farzin as saying. "
Iranians have tried to buy dollars, other hard currencies or gold to protect their savings from the country's nearly 50% inflation rate.
An apparent "global consensus" against Iran was cited by the Economic EcoIran website as a reason for the rial's continued decline.
According to ecoIran, "increasing political pressures," pointing to a global consensus against Iran, (may affect) the dollar rate in Tehran. Examples include the inclusion of the Revolutionary Guards in the list of terrorist organizations and the embargo on ships. and oil tankers linked to Iran.
Separately, Iran's sports minister has launched an investigation into claims that teenagers were the targets of sexual assault at a football academy in the country's northeast.
State news agency IRNA reported that parents of 15 players from the club and its academy had complained on social media to the club and its coaches for allegedly sexually abusing their children. The city Khodro Football Club, based in Mashhad, was founded.
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Families of the club's players gathered outside the headquarters of the provincial football association on Friday, local newspaper Shahrara's website reported. They were protesting against "tragedy".