ABSTRACT
The fall of the rial's value has a long history. On the eve of the 1979 revolution, Iran's domestic exchange rate for the US dollar was IR 70.6. Iran's revenues during the first six years of the Ahmadinejad administration reached $560bn, compared to only $433bn by all the eight previous governments since the 1979 revolution. Widespread suspicion in the West regarding the ultimate objective of Iran's uranium enrichment activities initially led the United Nations Security Council to issue four consecutive sanctions resolutions. The hottest current economic issue in Iran is the proper exchange value of the rial in terms of the US dollar. Anti-devaluation groups also argue that since Iran is dependent on imports for 30" of its food consumption, any upward adjustment of the exchange rate would add to the already high domestic consumer living costs. Iran's oil industry-responsible for more than 85" of the country's annual foreign exchange earnings-is state-owned.
