Iran will remove four zeros from its currency to stem the economic crisis.

The Iranian economy is going through one of its most critical periods in decades. This Tuesday, the regime approved a plan to eliminate four zeros from the rial , its national currency, in an attempt to simplify transactions and alleviate the psychological pressure that inflation exerts on the population.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani bluntly acknowledged the magnitude of the problem:

“Our currency is practically unusable due to the inflation we have seen over the years.”

According to the bill, the current 10,000 rials will be converted into one new rial , pending approval by Parliament and the Guardian Council. In everyday life, Iranians use the toman , equivalent to 10 rials, but even this practical measure has become useless given the currency's collapse in value.

Today, ordering a cup of coffee at a mid-range establishment in Tehran can cost 1,300,000 rials . ATMs allow withdrawals of up to two million rials, forcing many to use card payments. To put this into context, in 2018, one dollar was worth 42,000 rials; now it's over 920,000 rials .

Annual inflation is hovering around 40% , driven by US economic sanctions , internal mismanagement, and corruption. The rial has lost half its value in just one year.

In 2020, a similar law was passed to remove zeros from the currency, but it was never implemented. This time, the context is more urgent: companies disconnected from the international banking system, difficulties in obtaining capital, and prices that change almost daily in supermarkets.

The government hopes the measure will have a positive psychological effect and facilitate transactions, although economists warn that without a comprehensive plan to control inflation, the zero cut could be only a temporary fix.

In a park in the capital, Mariam , 37, watches her children play while chatting with her childhood friend Sarah . Both are middle-class and have learned to live with less: fewer new clothes, fewer toys, and fewer vacations.

“It's difficult, but we've found a way to cope,” says Mariam. Although she supports the system, she admits that “it's impossible to resist sanctions indefinitely.”

Sarah, with a touch of irony, comments: “Some politicians only care about lining their pockets.”

For them, inflation is part of everyday life, but they warn that the younger generations have less tolerance for adversity:

“We tell our children to study, not to work; they're less resilient than we are,” Mariam reflects.

The zero cut comes in parallel with negotiations with the United States over Iran's nuclear program, in exchange for possible sanctions relief. Some analysts interpret this move as a sign of weakness, others as a pragmatic step to stabilize the economy.

The truth is that, beyond the amount on the bills, what's at stake is the country's ability to regain the trust of its people and its place in the global economy.