Iran executes ‘Sultan of Gold Coin’

By Ahmet Dursun

ANKARA

Iranian authorities on Wednesday executed a gold dealer known as “Sultan of Gold Coin” for allegedly “disrupting” the country’s economic system.

Vahid Mazloumin and his assistant Mohammed-Esmaeil Qassemi were hanged in the capital Tehran, the official Iranian television said.

Mazloumin and his assistant were arrested by Iranian authorities in July for allegedly hoarding gold with a view to manipulating the local currency market and making illegal profits.

The Islamic Revolutionary Court – which deals with national security issues – had sentenced the two men to death in October.

The execution comes as Iranian authorities are struggling to keep the economy under control in the face of U.S. economic sanctions.

In August, the U.S. imposed fresh economic sanctions on Iran, which mainly targeted the country’s banking sector, a few months after Washington withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

A second phase of sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector officially started on Nov. 5. However, Washington granted temporary waivers to 8 biggest buyers of Iranian oil, including Turkey, for a 180-day period.