Iran's Khamenei calls for domestic production, reduced dollar role

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Friday identified domestic production as the primary solution to the country's economic woes, calling for reduced dependence on the US dollar and increased focus on self-sufficiency during a message marking Government Week. In his address, Khamenei urged the administration to pay "serious attention" to interconnected economic challenges including inflation, unemployment, and price management while stimulating growth through targeted investment in useful and necessary sectors. "The main key to resolving all these issues lies in relying increasingly on domestic production," he said, insisting that "resistance economy" policies must sit at the center of the government's agenda.

Currency collapse and sanctions

The supreme leader's remarks came as the Iranian rial plummeted to a new record low against the US dollar, breaching 2 million rials to $1 on the free market this week amid fresh American sanctions designed to strangle the economy. Khamenei, who assumed leadership following the assassination of his father in US-Israeli strikes and has not appeared in public since, stressed that ensuring adequate supplies of essential and specialized goods remains necessary. He added that imports should be used "properly and wisely" only when domestic production proves insufficient, suggesting that encouraging local manufacturing while managing imports and prices could gradually eliminate the "dark spots" in Iran's economy until they disappear completely.

Technology and wartime resilience

Khamenei called for deploying technologies and innovations proposed by young Iranian elites across agriculture, industry, communications, and education, arguing that their timely application could produce significant advances throughout the economy. He noted that smarter management, greater involvement by specialists and technology experts, and the activation of new capacities would help drive the country toward genuine expansion and development. The supreme leader also praised the government's wartime efforts to provide essential goods and services, repair key damaged infrastructure, and manage energy supplies despite intensified sanctions and blockades that have complicated logistics.