UANI Statement on Collapse of Iran’s Rial

(New York, NY) – United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Governor Jeb Bush and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following statement after Iran’s rial fell below 1,000,000 rials per U.S. dollar.

“The news today that Iran’s currency dropped to a record low of 1,039,000 rials to the U.S. dollar demonstrates that the Iranian people have fully lost faith in the Islamic Republic. Iran’s economy is imploding, and dissatisfaction is skyrocketing, due to the Ayatollah’s failures and mass corruption across his regime. While ordinary Iranians struggle to make ends meet, Khamenei and his brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continue to further enrich their pockets at the people’s expense. The 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment, released by the U.S. intelligence community today, noted that “the economic, political, and societal seeds of popular discontent could threaten further domestic strife akin to the widescale and prolonged protests inside Iran during late 2022 and early 2023.”

“The rial is plummeting due to the success of President Trump’s renewed maximum pressure campaign. Just last week, his administration, for the first time, sanctioned a Chinese teapot refinery that was on UANI’s list of Iranian oil purchasers. Since he assumed office, President Trump has also authorized sanctions on 33 vessels evading U.S. sanctions that first appeared on UANI’s “Ghost Fleet” list. To date, he has sanctioned 37 vessels in total since January 2025.

“The destruction of Iran’s proxies by the United States and Israel has further degraded confidence in the regime and sapped its economy. President Trump’s development of a credible military threat against the regime by threatening to hold it responsible for attacks by the Houthis on international shipping, which UANI recommended in its action plan for President Trump’s first 100 days in office, has accelerated the crash of the rial. 

“We urge President Trump to continue implementing his maximum pressure campaign. This policy will restrict the regime’s ability to fund its terrorist proxies across the region and bolster its ruthless, suppressive machinery at home. It will provide the space necessary to erode the power of the Islamic Republic and for the Iranian people to realize their democratic aspirations.”