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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — <\/span>Iran\u2019s currency hit a record low Monday as Washington prepared to announce new sanctions it said would be an \u201ceconomic D-Day\u201d and would add further pressure on an economy already battered<\/a> by previous sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade.<\/p>\n The rial dropped to 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar as trading opened on informal currency markets. Iran\u2019s official Central Bank rate stood at around 1.5 million rial to the dollar, but the informal rate is what most Iranians pay. <\/p>\n The currency had already been under pressure before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28<\/a>, with double-digit inflation and negative growth, but has been hitting new record lows as nearly six months of war have taken an even greater toll. <\/p>\n Still, U.S. President Donald Trump has been unable to win concessions from Iran<\/a>, which continues to keep a firm grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, the key waterway through which a fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil transited freely before the war began. Iranian attacks and threats have severely hampered that traffic during the war.<\/p>\n Iran and Oman, which is on the opposite side of the strait, are reportedly in the final stages of agreeing upon a plan<\/a> for joint management of the waterway, which regional officials have said would include having ships to enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through a route controlled by Oman.<\/p>\n Trump has been sharply critical of Oman, an American ally, threatening to bomb the country<\/a> if it \u201cgets in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Oman\u2019s foreign minister was to visit Iran on Tuesday for new talks. <\/p>\n In an attempt to break the impasse with Iran, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised even stronger sanctions<\/a> than those already in place would be announced Monday, including secondary sanctions on countries that continue to do business with Iran. <\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump decimated Iran\u2019s economy to a point where the rial has never been weaker and inflation has rarely been higher,\u201d Bessent wrote Sunday in an opinion piece in the Financial Times. \u201cThe regime\u2019s final refuge now lies in the self-deception of fearful nations that still believe accommodating aggression can secure a durable peace.\u201d<\/p>\n