Tehran, Iran – Iran has been importing tonnes of gold in the past few months as it hunkers down for more hardships under the United States’s “maximum pressure” policy.Iran has turned more to gold as a safe haven investment for more than a decade as it weathered never-ending economic storms exacerbated by sanctions over its nuclear programme and regional influence.
But the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian, who took over after an election last summer in the aftermath of his predecessor’s death in a helicopter crash, has taken it to new levels in the face of pressure from US President Donald Trump.
By January 19, the end of Dey, the 10th month of the Iranian calendar year, Iran had imported at least 81 metric tonnes of gold bullion, according to the country’s customs administration.
This was reportedly more than 300 percent higher in terms of value compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, and 234 percent more in terms of weight.
In late February, new customs chief Foroud Asgari told reporters that gold imports earned for exporting goods have surpassed 100 tonnes, without elaborating further. Advertisement
That would signal a more than three-fold increase compared with the 30-tonne total of the previous year.
Central bank chief Mohammad Reza Farzin claimed in December that 20 percent of the country’s foreign currency reserves have been turned into gold, and Iran possesses one of the highest ratios of gold to foreign exchange in the world.
Mohammad Ali Dehghan Dehnavi, the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, said last month that the country’s trade balance is ag …
