Consequences of Khamenei's Opposition to Negotiation; Dollar on the Verge of 90,000 Tomans

One day after Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, opposed negotiations with the United States, the value of Iran's national currency fell again against the US dollar, with each dollar approaching the 90,000 toman mark. According to reports published in some Iranian media, the price of each US dollar in Tehran's market on Saturday, February 20, reached 89,200 tomans, and the price of dollar remittances hit 90,000 tomans. A source in the Tehran market confirmed to the Persian section of Voice of America that the dollar crossed 90,000 tomans in transactions on Saturday. Additionally, the price of each gold coin also increased by 5 million tomans, reaching 74,380,000 tomans. On Friday, February 19, Khamenei claimed that 'negotiation with the US will not solve the country's problems.' Previously, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, had stated that he was 'willing to have a verified nuclear peace agreement with the Iranian government.' Khamenei claimed that the 'fruitless experience of about two years of negotiations with the US' in the 1990s did not mention the continuation of the nuclear program or the adventurous policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following the Supreme Leader's opposition to negotiations with the US, Hossein Shariatmadari, his representative in the Kayhan newspaper, labeled those who speak of negotiations as 'fools' or 'traitors' and called for the removal of such individuals from government responsibilities. In response, some supporters of the current government also called for Masoud Pezeshkian to resign in reaction to the prohibition of negotiations with the US. However, an official in the Islamic Republic's government emphasized that Masoud Pezeshkian would continue his activities under Khamenei's guidance to allegedly 'solve the livelihood problem' of the people.