© Khunaspix Dreamstime.
By Alex Lennane
Iran’s reserves of hard currency are drying up fast as western sanctions make it increasingly difficult for the country to sell its oil or to repatriate currency from the oil it does manage to export. The Iranian rial has plummeted to half its value in the last year. Importers will now face a three-tiered exchange rate system, with luxury items subject to an unfavourable free market exchange rate.