No agreement with US yet, Iranian lawmaker says

Iran has never opposed American investment, the spokesperson for President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration said on Monday, adding that it is the United States that has chosen to isolate itself from Iran’s economic potential.

“We have never had a problem with US investment,” Fatemeh Mohajerani told local media. “It is they who have deprived themselves of Iran’s vast opportunities.”

She added that if an agreement were reached, the US could fully benefit from Iran’s economic capacity.

"This year, we will definitely pursue the removal of zeros," Farzin told an annual monetary and foreign exchange policy conference in Tehran. "It has been tried in about 70 countries such as Russia, Turkey, and Germany, and proven effective when implemented at the right time."

The announcement marks the clearest signal yet that Iran is moving forward with the redenomination plan first proposed in 2019 and approved by parliament in 2020.

The new currency system would peg one toman to 10,000 rials, aligning official usage with the informal practice already common among Iranians, who long abandoned the rial in everyday transactions.

Farzin stressed that the plan is being accompanied by broader reforms in the banking system, following the ratification of new legislation earlier this year.

"This is a year of transformation," he said. "We are moving from an old model of banking governance to a new one, underpinned by a series of newly approved laws and regulations."

Still, the move comes amid persistent economic headwinds. Iran’s inflation rate has hovered above 40% in recent years, and the national currency has lost more than 95% of its value over the past four decades.

A 10,000-rial note, once worth around $150 before the 1979 revolution, is now valued at less than 10 US cents.

Critics argue that striking zeros from the currency without addressing Iran’s underlying economic challenges—such as fiscal imbalances, monetary instability, and international sanctions—may prove cosmetic.

“The problem is not the four zeros, but the persistent inflation and monetary mismanagement,” economist Jamshid Assadi said in an earlier analysis. “Without reforms to central bank independence, fiscal discipline, and financial transparency, the redenomination will not have a lasting effect.”

Past experiences in countries like Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Argentina have shown that currency redenominations alone do little to stabilize economies without deeper structural reforms. Conversely, countries such as Turkey and Germany only succeeded after implementing broad fiscal and institutional changes.

Iran’s caretaker Economy Minister Rahmatollah Akrami echoed some of these concerns at the same conference on Monday, warning that limited independence of the Central Bank, unclear inflation-targeting frameworks, and a lack of transparency have all contributed to Iran’s recurring macroeconomic instability.

“The effectiveness of monetary policy tools is limited in the absence of institutional strength,” Akrami said, urging a “redefinition of the Central Bank’s role” within Iran’s economic governance.

The new currency rollout is expected to span up to a few years, during which both the rial and the toman will circulate simultaneously. The Central Bank will oversee the withdrawal of rial notes and coins and their replacement with the new toman units.

While the psychological effect of dealing with smaller numbers may ease some frustrations for the public, analysts warn that without tackling deeper problems—such as rising liquidity, declining purchasing power, and a weakening private sector—the benefits of redenomination will be limited.

As global sanctions continue, not only for Iran's nuclear program, but for the country's human rights abuses and support of Russia's war on Ukraine, the economy is in its worst condition since the founding of the Islamic Republic.

Over one third of Iranians live below the poverty line with unemployment plaguing the population.

“The real question is whether this is meaningful reform—or just another economic shock dressed up as policy,” wrote Iran’s Jahan-e Sanat daily back in 2019 when the reform was first proposed.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to steer US President Donald Trump away from backing Israeli plans for a possible military strike on Iran, Bloomberg reported, citing two individuals familiar with the matter.

The report comes as Trump is set to depart Monday for Saudi Arabia, marking the first international trip of his second administration. Saudi Arabia will be the first stop on a four-day tour of the Middle East.

An unconventional proposal for a joint nuclear consortium involving Iran and three Persian Gulf Arab states has been suggested during the latest round of indirect negotiations, Iran's Khorasan daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper cited an unofficial suggestion that would see the formation of a shared nuclear consortium between Iran and three countries on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.

This concept, according to the report, could potentially address Tehran's desire to maintain its nuclear technology while alleviating safety and transparency concerns among its regional neighbors and the West.

Khorasan said that the idea could reconcile the impasse between demands for zero uranium enrichment and Iran's current enrichment levels of 60%.

The proposed consortium could involve enrichment in Iran below 5% under a joint stock company with the participation of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and potentially a symbolic share for the United States.

The Iranian daily highlighted two potential benefits of this initiative: preserving Iran's domestic fuel cycle and providing neighboring countries with reassurance through joint regional oversight.

While acknowledging that the proposal is still in the conceptual stage, Khorasan suggested it could offer a way out of the current stalemate.

The concept of a nuclear consortium could align with recent remarks by Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mentioned "useful and innovative ideas" in the negotiations.

A so-called “123 Agreement” is being discussed as part of ongoing US-Iran nuclear negotiations, Jewish Insider reported, citing a source familiar with the talks — a detail later rejected by a spokesperson for US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

The 123 Agreement refers to Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, which establishes the legal framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation between the United States and other countries. It sets out safeguards to prevent nuclear weapons development but does not explicitly require the signatory to give up uranium enrichment, Jewish Insider's report said.

According to the report, the source said that the 123 Agreement is part of the current discussions being led by Witkoff. However, when asked about it, a spokesperson for Witkoff told Jewish Insider: “The sources don’t know what they’re talking about.”