Two months back, in a series of lengthy exposes (see here and here), we profiled the ins and outs of the ‘petrogold’ trade that allowed Iran to skirt international sanctions that froze Tehran out of the banking system by way of conduits and shady go-betweens in Turkey and Dubai.
The tale is long and winding and should probably be adapted for the silver screen, but really, the mechanics were pretty simple. Couriers simply carried briefcases full of bullion through Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport and flew to Dubai where the gold was then carted off to Iran.
The Dubai intermediary became necessary because gold exports to then-pariah state Iran were becoming too suspicious. Here’s a bit from Reuters ca. 2012 that details the switch: ‘Turkey exported a total $2.3 billion worth of gold in August, of which $2.1 billion was gold bullion. Just over $1.9 billion, about 36 metric tons, was sent to the UAE, latest available data from Turkey’s Statistics Office shows. In July Turkey exported only $7 million of gold to the UAE. At the same time Turkey’s direct gold exports to Iran, which had been fluctuating between $1.2 billion and about $1.8 billion each month since April, slumped to just $180 million in August.’
This post was published at Zero Hedge on 03/07/2016.
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