As noted earlier, the rial is continuing to lose its value under the weight of Western sanctions and is now trading at a record low against the dollar. The regime's response:
Mobile telephone text messages that included the word "dollar" in English or in Farsi were censored, with the message not being received, AFP noted. The Farsi word for "foreign money" was also blocked. But text messages containing the words "USD", "euro" or the $ symbol were all transmitted and received normally.
Such text blocks on the word "dollar" were implemented before in Iran, on January 10, when the rial also dived precipitously. The country's two main mobile phone service providers, MCI and Irancell, claimed at the time they were not filtering messages.
Several Iranian websites that usually give real-time foreign exchange rates had the dollar rate blanked out on Monday. One website, mesghal.ir, did give a dollar rate, but at 25,650 it was lower than that reported by money-changers.
Just like the chicken.
(Photo by Adam Jones)
The Dish 