Iran's Gold Reserves Surpass 340 tons

"The volume of Iran's gold reserves is estimated to be over 340 tons by now," Deputy Head of Iran's Geology Organization for Exploration Affairs Behrouz Borna said on Saturday.

He noted that there are currently 15 gold mines in Iran and by beginning extraction of two other mines this year the volume of the country's gold reserves will even increase further.

Borna said that Iran ranks 12th in Asia and 42nd in the world in terms of gold reserves.

Last year, Borna announced the discovery of three new gold mines in Saqqez city in Kurdistan province (Western Iran).

In November, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Mahmoud Bahmani said that the country's gold reserves have reached an unexpected high level which is sufficient for Iran's domestic needs for the next 15 years.

"Our Gold reserves were enough to help us at least for 15 years," Bahmani told reporters on the sidelines of the Islamabad G8 Summit at the time.

"We believe these reserves are enough for us for the next 15 years, even if we don't import foreign gold," he said.

Bahmani said that Iran does not use its gold reserves as a bartering tool in exchange for foreign goods, despite sanctions that bar Tehran from using US dollars and Euros in financial transactions.

Despite Iran's compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Washington and its Western allies accuse the country of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and the unilateral western embargos for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Political observers believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for the other third-world countries.