The 256,000-toman dollar and Mojtaba's claim of the world's fourth power

What he says

An English translation of the talk, which is in Persian. It was made with AI from YouTube's automatic captions and may contain errors; the Persian transcript is authoritative. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.

0:01 Hello. It is Wednesday, 8 Mehr 1405, September 30, 2026. According to Mr. Araghchi and Ms. Mohajerani, the spokesperson of the Pezeshkian government, last night, Tuesday night, America responded to Iran's seven-point plan, and Tehran is now evaluating the American response. As reported in the news, Qatari officials, who are acting as intermediaries, passing messages back and forth and trying to mediate, have been quoted as saying that the problem is the sequencing of the two sides' commitments: which comes first and which comes later.

1:01 In short, the Islamic Republic has put seven conditions on the table, such as ending the war on all fronts, including Iran and Lebanon, lifting the naval blockade, releasing its money, permission to sell oil, and the like. It has said these should be carried out within six days, and on the seventh day Iran will open the Strait of Hormuz and nuclear negotiations can begin. But America does not accept preconditions, and it has also said that it fundamentally does not accept what Iran is doing in the Strait of Hormuz. It seems that solutions have been found whereby some of these

1:54 would be carried out simultaneously. What America says is: let's first talk about the nuclear issue, and during the negotiations, Iran's demands will be discussed in parallel as the talks progress. It seems that now we have to wait for the Islamic Republic's response, and it is possible that things could be settled. But on the other hand, Mr. Netanyahu gave an interview today, because he too is on the eve of elections on October 27, and if elections were held now, the polls show that his rivals would win more votes and would form the cabinet, especially Mr. Eisenkot, the former chief of staff of the army, and

2:55 In this message he sent, standing in front of an airplane, he said: we have indications that our enemies will try to attack us before the elections. Also, Mr. Netanyahu's trip to the UAE, which was carried out secretly but leaked, a one-day trip in which he went urgently and spoke with Mohammed bin Zayed, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the UAE, the emir of the Emirates, has added to the ambiguity surrounding Israel's actions. Of course, the newspaper Haaretz and Israel's Channel 12 said that this urgent trip was about a news item that leaked a few days ago, that Mohammed bin Zayed, the UAE, had warned

3:57 Israel before the events of October 7 that Yahya Sinwar and Hamas were preparing to attack, and Netanyahu did not listen to them. These two news outlets, in fact two media outlets, said the trip was related to this. But many other media said the trip was aimed at coordinating with the UAE for an operation against Iran. Also, this morning, on a flydubai plane flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv, apparently a fight broke out mid-flight with the co-pilot, who attacked the pilot with a knife and wanted to take control of the plane, and

4:59 at the last moment the pilot opened the cockpit door, passengers and crew rushed in, and in short they wrested control from the co-pilot, and the plane was forced to land in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Many of the passengers were Israelis, and it was said that this was meant to be a terrorist act, and the finger of accusation has been pointed at Tehran. Like what happened in Britain: five people were arrested near an air base where American planes are stationed, though they were released on bail, and so far the British prime minister and a few other officials have said the Islamic Republic was probably involved in this operation that was supposed

6:00 to be carried out against this air base. In any case, these events are again raising the question of whether the peace negotiations will get anywhere or not; whether, while America and Iran are talking, Israel will attack Iran or not — it won't do so without America's permission; and basically whether the fire of war will flare up again or not. These are issues that, one could say, are perhaps the highest-priority matters for the country of Iran, because the fate of our country and the fate of millions of Iranians

6:54 depends on them. Three ships were also hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz today. Of course, Iran never accepts responsibility for these now, but it is said they came from the Iranian side. Following that, North Sea oil reached 17 dollars a barrel, and in Iran the exchange rate of the dollar against the rial passed 256,400 tomans per dollar. These are truly dizzying numbers, and these changes that happen within one day, or 24 hours, because of the fall in the rial's value

7:50 and the rise in the dollar rate affect all transactions in the country. That is, when the rial, the country's currency, is shaky, volatile, fluctuating and falling, no transaction can really take place calmly. From a small shopkeeper to a wholesale merchant, from a factory to an employee, everyone is standing there bewildered. The inflation rate for goods and people's necessities in the month of Shahrivar compared with Shahrivar of last year has reached close to 90 percent, and for some items this figure is much higher than 90.

8:46 Meanwhile, the Central Bank has announced that it is going to inject 2 billion dollars into the currency market, and every Iranian citizen with a national ID card can buy up to 1,000 dollars, but they haven't said at what price; they haven't announced it yet. This is one of those fruitless measures that has no effect. If the announced rate is lower than the free-market rate, long queues will form, and a black market for buying national ID cards and their numbers and so on will quickly get going. And if it is in line with the current market price, well, people can already buy right now. And basically, experience has shown that with these injections into the market, those who are behind the currency market bring the price down a bit,

9:43 buy everything up, and then when it goes back up they sell at a large profit. In any case, it is one of those fruitless decisions that doesn't even have the effect of a painkiller. Today, September 30, is the deadline by which America, 23 years after the attack on Iraq during Mr. George Bush's time, is withdrawing from its last bases in Iraq. It is also a test for the government of Mr. Ali al-Zaidi. And the pro-Iran forces, including Kata'ib Hezbollah, have announced right from the start that they are not willing to accept any deadline or timetable for limiting their weapons. And Iraq's security against the Hashd al-Shaabi forces, the various groups and the like, as well as terrorists like ISIS and others — these are

10:44 issues where we have to see in the coming days where things end up in Iraq. But yesterday, on the anniversary of the start of the eight-year Iran–Iraq war, Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei published a message, or a message attributed to him was published — of course it isn't clear whether he is alive or dead, or whether he wrote it himself or someone else writes it. A long, drawn-out message full of composition, flowery prose and verbiage. But two points caught my attention, setting the verbiage and so on aside. One is that he said some people consider us the fourth power in the world. I don't know who these people are, and why he should quote something like that.

11:44 The power of countries depends on their nations, and the power of nations depends on each nation's position in the global process of producing wealth, producing knowledge and producing culture. And when a country is now grappling with so many problems, a nation has reached bankruptcy, its growth rate has become minus 10 percent, its economy is in fact falling flat on its face, then we come and talk about being the fourth power in the world? Because, for example, they can fire projectiles and make the Strait of Hormuz insecure or make the Bab el-Mandeb insecure? What does this have to do with the power of a country and a nation?

12:41 He also said we have 30 million people ready to sacrifice their lives, and again I don't know how he states these numbers and how he believes them. This show they have put on, with the self-sacrificers and everyone coming out and so on, is one of those things that, for example, Mr. Naqdi used to say at one time too; he would say 20 million, I don't know, are in the Basij and so on. These are big lies. To this Mr. Mojtaba, if he exists, one must say: you'd better go over these kinds of statements in your mind a couple of times and examine them, so that you don't become a laughingstock. In hope of victory for Iran and Iranians.