Hossein Rahimi, head of the economic security police of FARAJA (the Islamic Republic's police), told reporters on Monday, 5 October 2026, that under a directive from the Tehran prosecutor, action against websites that in his words announce false and unrealistic exchange rates had begun that same day.
According to the Entekhab website, Rahimi said any site that "announces false currency prices" will face serious judicial and police action. He made clear that the police's main complaint is with domestic websites that, according to him, publish exchange rates without a specific licence or coordination. IranWire described the remarks as a threat of judicial action against media inside Iran that publish exchange rates.
A new dollar record
The threat comes as, according to Independent Persian, the price of the US dollar on Tehran's open market reached a historic record of 273,100 tomans on Sunday, 4 October, and traded about 3,000 tomans lower on Monday morning. Comparing the current rate with the 27,000-toman dollar of a few years ago, the outlet judged the central bank's efforts to rein in the market by supplying foreign currency to have been fruitless.
The Islamic Republic's central bank had earlier issued a circular banning any loans for the purchase of foreign currency, gold and cryptocurrency, and threatening to refer offending managers to the judicial authorities. Iran's oil exports have also effectively come to a halt amid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
A history of crackdowns on economic media
The Islamic Republic's security and judicial bodies have repeatedly cracked down on websites and channels that publish exchange rates during previous spikes in the dollar's price; but these measures have so far failed to stop the rial's slide.
As the dollar hit a new record, the Islamic Republic's police threatened currency-rate websites with judicial action.
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