Kianoush Rostami is to sell his Rio 2016 Olympic gold medal to help earthquake victims ©Getty Images

Iranian Olympic weightlifting champion Kianoush Rostami has announced that he will sell his gold medal to aid the victims of Sunday's (November 12) earthquake which rocked his country.

At least 452 people have been left dead following the natural disaster, which also struck neighbouring Iraq and measured in at a magnitude of 7.3.

Most of those who died lived in Iran's Kermanshah province, to the west of the country.

Thousands of people were injured with homes and entire villages left in ruins.

"I consider it my duty to take a step, however small, to help my beloved fellow countrymen who have suffered as a result of the quake," Rostami said to Tansim.

"I am returning the gold medal, which is theirs by right, to my people.

Hundreds have been left dead in Iran following the earthquake which struck the country ©Getty Images
Hundreds have been left dead in Iran following the earthquake which struck the country  ©Getty Images

"I will auction off the medal and use the proceeds to help the quake victims."

Twenty-six-year-old Rostami won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics in the under-85 kilograms class.

He won silver four years earlier in the same division at London 2012, and is also a double world champion.

Rostami, who has faced visa problems for the World Championships in Anaheim in the United States later this month, would not be the first athlete to sell an Olympic medal for a good cause.

Piotr Malachowski, the Rio 2016 silver medallist in the discus, sold his medal to raise money for a three-year-old boy suffering with a rare form of cancer.

The Pole's contribution allowed Olek Szymanski to travel to the US for treatment.