Iran’s intelligence minister announced on Wednesday that around 50 people have
been arrested on charges of disrupting the national currency
market.
Hojjatol-Islam Heidar Moslehi said that those arrested had
conspired with Iran’s enemies to instigate economic instability, disrupt the
currency markets and incite fitna, or sedition.
Speaking after a cabinet
meeting, Moslehi said that Iran’s intelligence officials had achieved “very good
results in detecting the roles [played by] foreigners and foreign television
networks” in the economic chaos, according to a report in Fars News, which is
affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Moslehi warned that the
ministry was constantly monitoring the movements of “those who conspire and
cooperate with foreigners” to incite “sedition against the goals of the
revolution.”
The Iranian intelligence minister added that Iranians should
be on the look out for foreigners whose goals are to disrupt the currency
market.
Iran’s national currency, the rial, has plummeted to an all-time
low this month, losing almost 40% of its value against the US
dollar. Some in Iran’s government have blamed the country’s economic woes
and the currency crash on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s economic mismanagement
as well as on Western sanctions. However, Iran’s intelligence ministry has also
blamed foreign plots for the fluctuating currency market.
Recently, the
ministry established a new website where it has invited members of the public to
report “suspicious activity” around the country. The ministry has also used the
site to publish claims that the US has planned to destabilize Iran including by
provoking economic unrest.