When the Removal of the Dollar from Trade Led to a Loss of One Billion Dollars; Governments of Rouhani and Raisi Blame Each Other

The reduction of one billion dollars in the value of Iran's blocked funds in South Korea has become a point of contention between the officials of Ebrahim Raisi's and Hassan Rouhani's administrations, leading them to accuse each other on social media. In this context, the newspaper 'Iran', the official organ of the government, has come to the aid of Raisi's administration, stating that the negligence of the Central Bank during the presidency of [Abdolnaser] Hemmati in converting Iran's funds in South Korea into valid currencies caused a one billion dollar reduction in value over the past few years. This newspaper emphasized that with the decline in the value of the South Korean 'won' in recent years, about one billion dollars of the value of Iran's blocked funds has evaporated, blaming Abdolnaser Hemmati and the management team of the Central Bank under Rouhani's government. Meanwhile, Ali Khamenei, in his Nowruz speech on the first of Farvardin this year, emphasized the need to move away from the dollar, stating: 'One of the problems of our economy is dependence on the dollar. Some countries that have been sanctioned have cut their dependence on the dollar, and their situation improved; we must do the same.' Ebrahim Raisi also tasked the Central Bank on the 17th of Ordibehesht to collaborate with relevant agencies to create the conditions for conducting trade transactions based on the currency of Iran and target countries, and to take action to eliminate dollar transactions from the cycle of trade. Mohammad Mokhber, Raisi's first vice president, stated on the 3rd of Khordad that significant work is underway to eliminate the dollar in transactions between countries. Mokhber emphasized that until now, the dollar has been the most important lever of American superpower and sanctioning capability, and now 'the alarm of weakening this powerful lever has sounded.' The newspaper Kayhan, on the 10th of Khordad, defended the approach of Raisi's government and the Central Bank to move away from the dollar in global trade, stating that some countries allied with the US have also sidelined the dollar in some of their transactions and trade with their own currencies. The Fars news agency also discussed the history of dollar removal from official transactions in various countries in Farvardin. In this context, it noted that the history of efforts to eliminate the dollar from transactions dates back to the era of Muammar Gaddafi, the former leader of Libya, who was the first to try to remove the dollar from his country's transactions, and one of the reasons for Gaddafi's overthrow by the West was this issue. A member of the Chamber of Commerce stated: 'Dollarization' is ideological. The order from Raisi's first vice president for 'dollarization' in sports includes banning 'dollar' contracts with foreign athletes and coaches. The head of the Central Bank of Iran announced the 'liberation of frozen foreign currency resources' in South Korea. The reactions of newspapers to the exchange of dollars with several dual-national prisoners include: conservatives: victory without ransom; government critics: agreement out of necessity.