AP: Iran moved on Tuesday to enforce a single exchange rate to the dollar, banning all unregulated trading after the country's currency, the rial, hit an all-time low.

The country's senior vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, was quoted by state TV as saying that the official "price of the U.S. dollar will be 42,000 rials as of Tuesday."

He also said that trading at any other price was forbidden and would be considered as "smuggling."

The decision came late on Monday after a two-day hike in prices of foreign currencies that saw rial trading at 62,000 to the dollar - an 18 percent drop since Saturday.

Government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said Tuesday that Iran brings in some 95 billion US dollars a year in foreign currency, mostly from crude oil exports, which resumed after the 2015 nuclear deal.

At the same time, 80 billion US dollars are spent on imports. However, Iran remains largely cut off from international financial networks because of U.S. sanctions.

Rial's slide is in part seen as stemming from fears the Trump administration will withdraw from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and impose new sanctions.

Iran has long had trouble managing its currency market. In 2012, the government tried to set an official, single rate for the currency but the attempt failed.