Iran, facing increasingly restrictive international sanctions, is hoarding gold at unprecedented levels, import data show. 

According to figures from Iran’s customs administration, between March 21 and September 20 — the first half of the Iranian calendar year — the country imported more than 43 tons of gold. The sum marks a 600 percent increase from the 7.3 tons imported during the same period last year, Iran International reports. 

Iran’s appetite for the monetary metal comes as the country’s economy is buckling under trade restrictions imposed by the international community in response to its nuclear program. However, gold offers Iran the opportunity to maintain trade relations with its partners and skirt international constraints. 

Such a tactic was employed by Russia in an effort to protect its monetary base after the international community responded to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The People’s Republic of China’s demand for gold over the past year — amid rising speculation that the country is gearing up to attack Free China — follows a similar story. Meantime, the value of the American dollar has plunged to an all-time low of less than, at the moment, one 2,600th of an ounce of gold. 

Iran’s use of gold in foreign trade is already being seen. According to a leak earlier this year of documents from an Iranian company with ties to the country’s defense ministry, Russia used gold ingots in a deal with Iran to acquire thousands of Shahed-136 drones. The Iranian-made weapons have become one of the most deadly in the arsenal Russia is using in the war against Ukraine. 

Further, earlier this year, the Islamic country joined the alliance known as BRICS, an acronym based on its initial five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. President Putin, in 2022, announced the group’s plan to issue a “new global reserve currency” to facilitate trade between its members. Were such a currency able to to challenge the long-standing supremacy of the dollar — which has no tie to specie —  America’s influence in world affairs could suffer. Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates have since joined the group as well.  

It remains uncertain, however, just how much gold Iran has managed to stockpile, Iran International reports. The central bank stopped regularly reporting its reserves under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2011, the former governor, Mahmoud Bahmani, claimed that Iran held 500 tons of gold. Though following a review conducted when Hassan Rouhani took power, the actual reserves in 2011 amounted to just 45 tons.