Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 26 / Trend, N. Umid
Iranian police arrested about 28 unauthorized foreign exchange dealers, including 8 foreigners in the central city of Qom, Qom Province Police Commander Brigadier General Kazem Mojtabaei said, Mehr news agency reported.
He went on to note that, police seized foreign currencies including US dollars, dinars and Saudi riyal from the suspects.
In October 2012, Iran arrested several people on charges of manipulating the foreign exchange market.
Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said in October 2012 that about 30 suspects have been arrested in the country, adding that large amounts of foreign currency and golden coins have been seized from the arrested.
The USD rate in Iran increased from 13,000 rials in the beginning of 2012 to 25,000 in mid September, but suddenly rose to 36,000 on Iran's open market in late September during the course of one week.
When the foreign currency rates started jumping, many Iranian currency rate websites were either shut down or suspended work.
After a long time, the US dollar price fell below 30,000 rials last week. The USD was sold at 29,400 rials on the free market on Monday.
The recent visit of President Hassan Rouhani to New York created a positive psychological atmosphere in the market. So, foreign currency exchange rates have declined.
Yesterday, on the Iranian free market, the USD was sold for 30,700 rials.
