Economic policy of Forouqi's government during occupation of Iran (August 1941)

Mohammad Ali Forouqi has multidimensional character. Critical role that he did when Iran had been occupied was not possible for any politician. A hotly debated controversy in Iranian history is the devaluation of the rial immediately after the occupation of Iran by the Allied forces. Dr Mosharraf Naficy, the finance minister who is associated with this devaluation, is criticized severely and even branded a traitor and foreign agent. He, on the other hand, has defended his decision with regard to the exchange rates and claimed that there was no devaluation. The Second World War as an episode in the modern history of Iran has received little attention.1 In particular, the economic condition of the country is rarely mentioned let alone studied. The present article aims at making a small contribution to the subject by studying the controversial issue of the devaluation of the rial.