Introduction of Successor to Detained Currency Deputy of Iran's Central Bank

Following the arrest of Ahmad Iraqi, the former currency deputy of Iran's Central Bank, Gholamreza Panahi, who previously served as the currency deputy of Bank Melli, has been appointed as the acting head of the currency department of the Central Bank. Abdolnaser Hemmati, the Governor of the Central Bank, appointed Mr. Panahi to this position on Sunday, August 21. The IRNA news agency reported that Panahi's work experience includes "head of the foreign department, director of international affairs, deputy CEO of Bank Melli in currency and international affairs, deputy director of East Tehran branches of Bank Melli, and head of the free zone branches of this bank." According to Fars, Panahi holds a master's degree in banking management. Ahmad Iraqi had been the currency deputy of the Central Bank since August 2017, but was arrested by the judiciary in mid-August of this year. He is the nephew of Abbas Iraqi, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, and has faced severe criticism in recent months for his performance at the Central Bank and the decline in the value of Iran's national currency. A few days after Abdolnaser Hemmati replaced Valiollah Seif, Mr. Iraqi was dismissed from his position. Before his dismissal, several media outlets reported on Hemmati's decision for this action aimed at "organizing the currency market." Shortly after the dismissal, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman for the judiciary, announced Iraqi's arrest, stating that he was detained along with several others as part of the investigation into "disruptors in the country's monetary and currency system." The currency and gold market in Iran has been highly turbulent in recent months, particularly before the announcement of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, with the price of each U.S. dollar even surpassing 12,000 tomans. Following Hemmati's appointment as the head of the Central Bank, who introduced the organization of the currency market as one of his priorities during his inauguration, a new currency package was introduced by the government to stabilize the currency market. However, the implementation of this package only managed to reduce the dollar price for one day, and according to reports from Iran, on Sunday, each U.S. dollar was traded at 9,253 tomans in the secondary market and up to 10,200 tomans in the free market.