Closure of 'Unauthorized' Exchange Offices One Day After Implementation of JCPOA

The Organization for the Protection of Consumer Rights, the Central Bank, and the police closed 'unauthorized' exchange offices in Tehran one day after the official lifting of international sanctions against Iran. According to the IRIB news agency, inspectors from the Organization for the Protection of Consumer Rights and the Central Bank closed 'unlicensed' exchange offices in Istanbul Square and Ferdowsi Street in Tehran on Tuesday, January 28. The Asr Iran website also reported that some 'unauthorized' exchange dealers attempted to 'resist against the officers, which led to their shops being closed with police intervention.' The Director General for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency at the Organization for the Protection of Consumer Rights, who supervised the execution of this operation alongside a special judge, reported the closure of 13 'unauthorized' exchange offices. During international sanctions, exchange offices were one of the channels for transferring money from Iran abroad and vice versa, and in this regard, an official from Hassan Rouhani's government stated that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government had given '20 billion dollars of the government's foreign income' to 'a few specific exchange dealers' to keep the dollar rate low through their sales, thus benefiting them with 'very large sums.' Meanwhile, the Asr Iran website noted that following the implementation of the JCPOA, some groups are trying to 'disrupt the currency market and interfere with the country's economic process.' Unauthorized exchange offices in Tehran have been closed multiple times by the police and responsible authorities in recent years, but they have resumed their activities after a while. For instance, in August 2015, an official from the Central Bank of Iran warned that with the expiration of the deadline for exchange offices to obtain licenses, law enforcement would begin to deal with unauthorized exchange offices starting Thursday, August 29, and their activities would be considered 'currency smuggling.' Central Bank officials also reported the closure of several 'unauthorized' exchange offices in Tehran on January 26, 2015, stating that these closures would continue. Additionally, in November 2013, the Central Bank of Iran announced the cancellation of licenses for 67 exchange offices. In 2012, after a sudden increase in the prices of foreign currencies in the Iranian market, government officials accused some exchange offices of disrupting the currency market. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, himself identified 22 individuals as 'the main culprits of the currency market chaos' without naming them in October of that year. Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad's first vice president, also announced on October 22, 2012, the arrest of an individual named 'Jamshid Bismillah,' whom he claimed was responsible for disrupting the Iranian currency market.