Hemmati pointed to the CBI policy of open market operations and said that most countries in the world carry out their monetary and inflation control policies through open market operations, reported Tasnim News Agency.

“These operations are an important tool in the structure of central banks across the globe,” the official added.

“Iran’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves are unprecedented over the past decade, but we will not inject these [reserves] to the market because they are the country’s strategic reserves and support for the CBI,” Hemmati said.

The remarks come against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and the US, with Washington imposing new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The US has ratcheted up pressure on Iran since May 2018, after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Since then, the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to reduce Iran’s oil exports to “zero,” and has sent an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber squad, an amphibious assault ship, and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to try to stack up pressure on Tehran.

Iranian officials, however, have dismissed such moves as psychological warfare, saying the country has its own ways of circumventing the American sanctions.

On the domestic and export metal and mineral trading hall of IME, 173,808 tons of various products worth close to $284 million were traded, according to ime.ir.

At this trading hall, 140,051 tons of steel, 3,285 tons of copper, 5,000 tons of aluminum, 160 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 12 tons of precious metal concentrate and 300 tons of zinc ingot, as well as 3kg of gold bullion were traded.

The report indicates that on domestic and export oil and petrochemical trading halls of IME, 460,031 tons of various commodities with a total value of $424 million were traded.

Also 175,302 tons of bitumen, 69,827 tons of polymer products, 27,918 tons of chemical products, 1,235 tons of insulation, 1,518 tons of base oil as well as 7,500 tons of sulfur were traded.

The IME was set up on September 20, 2007 in accordance with Article 95 of the new law of the Securities Market of the Islamic Republic of Iran following the merger of agricultural and metal exchanges of Tehran. The merger marked a new chapter in Iran’s capital market providing many trading opportunities for customers, both at home and abroad.

Economic and industrial sectors benefit from the exchange. The IME currently offers various services, such as performing as the first market providing access to the initial offering of the listed commodities in the IME; price discovery and price making for Iran’s over-the-counter (OTC) trade; secondary markets and end users; providing a venue for government sales and procurement purchases; providing a trading platform and user interface; providing clearing and settlement services; risk management; technology services; and training market participants.