Tehran, Aug 5 (AFP) The Iranian central bank's top foreign exchange official has been arrested, the judiciary said today, a day after he was sacked.

Ahmad Araghchi, who was a vice-governor at the bank in charge of forex, was arrested along with several other unnamed individuals including a government official and four currency speculators, said judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejeie in a statement, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

Araghchi, the nephew of deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, was fired by the new governor of the central bank yesterday, apparently over his handling of the currency crisis.

Iran's rial has lost more than half its value since April, in part over fears of renewed sanctions by the United States.

An ill-judged attempt to fix the value of the rial in April triggered widespread black-market speculation and accusations of rampant corruption by those with access to cheaper government currency rates. (AFP) CPS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)