The Iranian president says his administration will do everything it can to save the national currency from plunging further out of control.
The semi-official Mehr news agency is quoting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying this is possible with the "huge reserves" of hard currency that Iran has. The report offered no details.
The rial hit a record low on Tuesday, with the U.S. dollar selling for 15,050 rials in foreign currency exchange offices.
The dollar sold for about 10,500 rials last December and in 1979 — the year an Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi — it was 70 rials against the dollar.
Iran has restricted cash withdrawals and allows banks to sell only $2,000 per year to each person traveling outside the country.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.