Iran’s local currency hit another record low against the U.S. dollar Monday, extending a historic slide on concerns about new American sanctions due to be imposed next week. Scrambling to put a floor under the rial, Iran’s central bank late Sunday promised new measures to restore calm. It didn’t say what those measures were, but they will likely be the first major moves for the new central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati. The rial traded at 119,000 to the U.S. dollar Monday, according to Bonbast, which tracks unofficial currency-market rates. The currency fell through the 100,000 per dollar level for the first time Sunday and has almost halved since early May. The currency’s slump and a spike in demand for gold were “not proportional to economic realities,” the central bank said. New U.S. sanctions set to take effect Aug. 6, covering Iran’s trade in gold and other precious metals, its […]