Iran becomes a player again in gold and other PMs While Iran will be allowed to buy and sell precious metals, including gold, it will be barred from accepting them as payment for oil or any other sanctioned transaction, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the details.
Iran has purchased gold as a hedge against a balance-of-payments crisis threatened by the decline in its exports and tight limits on its access to hard currency.
Before the U.S. ban on all Iranian trade in gold was imposed in July, the country’s imports of the precious metal rose to a high of more than $1.5 billion a month in mid-2012 as Iranians bought gold to safeguard against inflation and its declining currency, the rial.