TEHRAN — Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced Thursday that it has arrested five people involved in the disruption of the foreign currency market.

According to a statement released by the ministry, in addition to the arrest of five people who had allegedly disrupted the Tehran foreign exchange market, the bank accounts of 841 illegal foreign exchange traders have been frozen.

The ministry warned against any illegal activity in the foreign exchange market, assuring the Iranian people that it would not allow trade and abuse in the informal market and would spare no effort to keep the foreign exchange market calm.

The value of Iran’s currency, the rial, dropped dramatically against foreign currencies over the past days, while it recovered its strength on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ever since May 2018, when the United States, under former President Donald Trump, pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, the rial has constantly lost its value against major foreign currencies.

Observers said that psychological factors concerning the current negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program had an impact on the recent depreciation in the value of the rial. However, officials of the country have blamed the black market traders’ disruptive acts for profit-seeking purposes.