Majlis to Summon Ahmadinejad

The Iranian parliament, Majlis, will summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be questioned over troubles with the country’s national currency, the rial. It will be the second time a sitting president has been summoned by Majlis in less than a year. State television reported on Sunday that 77 lawmakers signed the petition for summon on Saturday, blaming the president and his cabinet for mismanaging the currency crisis. (IRIB/Associated Press, 4 November)

In September, the rial began a sharp decline in its value against the dollar, and by early October it was in free fall, plummeting to a historic low of 36,000 rials to the dollar in open markets. (Only a year earlier, the rial was traded at the rate of 11,500 to the dollar.) In the past few weeks, the rial has seen a modest rise in value, trading at between 31,000 to 33,000 rials to the dollar.