Iran appoints new central bank Governor after record currency fall and mass protests

Iran on Wednesday (December 31, 2025) appointed a new Governor to the central bank after the former one resigned following a record currency fall against the U.S. dollar that sparked large protests.

The plummeting of the rial, Iran’s currency, sparked the largest protests in the country in three years, with rallies that began Sunday (December 29) and continued until Tuesday (December 30).

A report by the official IRNA news agency said President Masoud Pezeshkian’s Cabinet appointed Abdolnasser Hemmati, a former Economics Minister, as the new Governor of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He replaces Mohammad Reza Farzin, who resigned on Monday.

Experts say a 40% inflation rate led to public discontent. The U.S. dollar traded at 1.38 million rials on Wednesday, compared to 430,000 when Farzin took office in 2022. Many traders and shopkeepers closed their businesses and took to the streets of Tehran and other cities to protest.

The new governor’s agenda will include a focus on controlling inflation and strengthening the currency, as well as addressing the mismanagement of banks, the government’s spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani wrote on X.

Hemmati, 68, previously served as minister of economic and financial affairs under Pezeshkian. In March, parliament dismissed Hemmati for alleged mismanagement and accused his policies hurt the strength of Iran’s rial against hard currencies.

A combination of the currency’s rapid depreciation and inflationary pressure has pushed up the prices of food and other daily necessities, adding to strain on household budgets already under pressure due to Western sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

Inflation is expected to worsen with a gasoline price change introduced in recent weeks.

Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord that lifted international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on Iran’s nuclear programme. That deal unravelled after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from it in 2018, during his first term. (AP) GRS GRS