According to customs data, the Iranian government imported more than 81 tons of gold from March to December 2024, but only one-third of it was sold in the market, leaving 61 tons unaccounted for.
The Iranian government has reported $6.3 billion worth of gold imports during this period, marking a 294% increase compared to the previous year.
Since November 2022, the Iranian government has lifted restrictions on gold bar imports and has provided facilities and incentives to facilitate gold imports.
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This policy has led to a sharp increase in gold bar imports. Mohammad-Hadi Sobhanian, the head of the Tax Affairs Organization, announced on January 15, 2025, that imports of gold, platinum, and raw silver are exempt from taxes and customs duties.
Due to currency transfer issues, the Iranian government is purchasing gold as a means to circumvent U.S. sanctions and compensate for its budget deficit.
It appears that most of the imported gold has been added to the Iranian Central Bank’s reserves.
With $6.3 billion divided by 81,591 kilograms of imported gold, the price per kilogram amounts to $77,214.
Based on the 28,500-rial “NIMA exchange rate” (a subsidized rate for essential imports, while the free-market rate is 950,000 rials per dollar), the price of one kilogram of gold is 22 billion rials (approximately $23,165 at the NIMA rate).
Customs data also lists the total value of imported gold as 180 trillion and 912 thousand billion tomans (approximately $190.4 billion at the free-market exchange rate).
By selling only one-third of the imported gold, the full amount of money spent on it has been recovered!!!
From January 17, 2024, to February 25, 2025, a total of 81,591 kilograms of gold was imported into Iran. However, only 20,088 kilograms of it—whether in the form of bullion or various types of coins—has been sold, which is about one-fourth of the total.
Based on the NIMA exchange rate of 285,000 rials per dollar, the price of each kilogram of imported gold was 22 billion rials.
In other words, considering the NIMA exchange rate of 285,000 rials per dollar, the purchase price of each kilogram of gold was 22 billion rials, whereas its selling price in bullion form reached 87 billion rials per kilogram. This means the gold bars were sold at 3.9 times their purchase price.
Budget deficit compensation this time through gold manipulation
The regime managed to recover the entire cost of the 81-ton imported gold by selling only about one-fourth of it (20,088 kilograms) at free market rates, despite purchasing it at the NIMA rate of 285,000 rials per dollar. This leaves three-fourths of the imported gold—61,503 kilograms—as pure profit for the clerics.
Based on the average selling price of bullion and various coins, the value of the more than 61 tons of unaccounted-for gold, which remains in the hands of the regime, is currently estimated at approximately 509.5 trillion tomans (5.095 quadrillion rials).
Moreover, the higher the price of bullion and coins rises, the greater the additional profit for the regime.
With this amount of money, the regime could once again purchase and import an additional 231.5 tons of gold at the NIMA exchange rate of 28,500 tomans per dollar.
To cover a massive budget deficit amounting to 8% of the total 2024 budget, the regime has once again looted the Iranian people. While Massoud Pezeshkian, the president of the Iranian regime, officially removed the NIMA exchange rate of 285,000 rials per dollar for medicine and essential food items, he instead used it to import gold—only to sell it at free market prices and further exploit the Iranian people.
