Iran's free-market dollar rate, explained
The dollar has more than one price in Iran. What the free market is, why its rate sits above the official ones, and which rate this site shows.
Ask "how much is the dollar?" in Iran and the answer depends on which dollar you mean. Several rates coexist for the same banknote, and the gap between them has at times exceeded 50%. This guide explains each rate, why the gap exists, and which one Dolarchand shows.
Three rates for one dollar
The official (state) rate. Set by the government for its own accounting and designated allocations. It has not been a rate at which the public can freely buy dollars for years; its role is budgetary and administrative.
The Exchange Center (agreed) rate. Since February 2023, the Iran Center for Exchange of Currency and Gold has matched importers' and exporters' currency at a managed rate below the open market. Before it, the NIMA system (from 2018) played a similar role for trade currency. Access is rationed — ordinary households are not part of it.
The free market. The market anyone can actually use: licensed exchange shops and Tehran's cash market (long associated with Ferdowsi Street), plus dealer networks in other cities. Supply and demand alone set this price. When Iranian media or websites say "the dollar price" with no qualifier, this is almost always the rate they mean.
Why is the free market higher?
- Sanctions and constrained supply — when export earnings struggle to come home, fewer banknotes reach the market.
- Hedging demand — under high inflation, households move savings into dollars and gold; only the free market can serve that demand.
- Rationed cheap rates — when the same thing has two prices, the one available to everyone necessarily sits above the rationed one.
- Expectations — the free market reacts to political news in minutes; administered rates move by committee.
The lesson of 2018
The clearest natural experiment came in April 2018: the government declared the rate "unified" at 42,000 rials and criminalised trading at any other price. The free market didn't close — it went into the shadows, and within months the open rate was multiples of the decreed one. The "42,000 dollar" became one of the costliest policy episodes of the decade. The lesson: a decree can hide the real exchange rate from view, but it cannot set it.
Where Dolarchand's price comes from
The prices on the dollar page and across this site are the free-market rate — the rate flowing through exchange-shop cash trading, in Toman, updated continuously. To see its path through history, use the full price archive or the year-by-year pages — for instance the dollar in 1397, the year of that failed unification.
FAQ
Is buying dollars on the free market legal?
Buying from licensed exchange shops is the ordinary course of Iran's market. What has been restricted at various times is trading outside the licensed network; the rules have shifted over the years, so check the current state before large transactions.
Why do different sites show slightly different prices?
The free market has no single official print; each reference polls its own dealer network at its own moments. Small gaps are normal — a large, persistent gap usually means a stale rate.
What is the havaleh (transfer) rate?
The price of moving dollars between accounts rather than handing over banknotes. It usually sits a few percent away from the cash rate, reflecting different costs and risks.