Iran's currency hits a new record low as war erodes the country's economic stability

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Iran's currency fell to a new record low on Tuesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar in a stark reflection of how the war in the Middle East has steadily eroded the Iranian economy.

The latest decline came just 27 days after the rial hit its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on Sept. 2. The currency has repeatedly reached new lows since the war began in February.

The Iranian economy has been under duress for years in the face of international sanctions. But a U.S. naval blockade on Iranian oil and new sanctions imposed since the start of the war have sent it into freefall.

Meanwhile, Iran's top diplomat said indirect negotiations with the United States aimed at reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz have become "more serious," while the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' chief spokesman Gen. Hossein Mohebbi on Tuesday called on Americans to take to the streets and protest the conflict.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian media late on Monday that the "current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz," the chokepoint of the war.

Araghchi made the comments shortly before departing New York — where he attended last week's gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly — and after meeting with Pakistani and Qatari mediators.

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