Iran’s Security Chief Admits “Most Difficult Time in History” Amid War With United States

Rial Plunges to One-Third of Its Previous Value

As the war with the United States has dragged on for over seven months, Iran's top security official has made the rare admission that the Iranian economy is facing the most serious crisis in its history.

According to The New York Times (NYT) and Iranian state media on October 4 (local time), Mohsen Rezaee, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Iran’s top security chief, made these remarks at a high-level government meeting held the previous day.

During the meeting attended by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and others, Secretary Rezaee stated that the Supreme National Security Council would provide every possible form of support to overcome the current situation. President Pezeshkian also acknowledged the worsening economic situation in a statement released the same day, saying, "We have adopted a new response framework to manage these exceptional circumstances," although the details of these measures were not disclosed.

The Iranian economy has deteriorated rapidly since the outbreak of the war triggered by a surprise U.S.-Israeli attack last February. More recently, U.S. maritime blockades and intensified sanctions have pushed the Iranian rial exchange rate to a record high of 2,567,000 rials per U.S. dollar. Given that the rate stood at about 1,500,000 to 1,600,000 rials per dollar before the war, the value of the currency has plummeted to one-third of its previous levels in just half a year.

As the economic crisis continues to burden people's livelihoods, nurse and teacher walkouts as well as demonstrations by public and private sector workers—including retired government employees demanding pension payments—have become increasingly frequent.

Meanwhile, negotiations with the United States have been fraught with difficulties over the sequence of implementation. The two countries signed a ceasefire roadmap (MOU) last July with Pakistan as mediator, but it effectively fell apart due to a dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz. In response, Iran proposed a "7-day confidence-building plan," under which it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, provided that the United States lifts the maritime blockade, immediately returns frozen assets, exempts crude oil exports from sanctions, and halts hostilities. However, with sharp disagreements between the two sides over which should come first—the lifting of sanctions or the reopening of the strait—final agreement appears unlikely in the near term.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.