Finance

Bagheri: South Korea obliged to release Iran’s assets

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has stressed that regardless of the outcome of the talks between Tehran and P4+1 group in Vienna, the South Korean government is obliged to release blocked Iranian money

Unilateral U.S. sanctions cannot justify non-payment of debts to Iran, Bagheri said in a meeting with South Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong Kun in the Austrian capital Vienna on Thursday.

The senior Iranian diplomat also stated that South Korea’s illegal and unjustifiable refusal to repay its debts to Iran would be a dark point in the history of relations between the two countries and that Seoul must act as soon as possible to release Iran’s assets.

During the meeting the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Korea also referred to the importance of Seoul-Tehran relations and offered some explanations about frozen Iranian money in South Korea, adding that the country is trying to pay its debt to Iran.

Tehran wants Seoul to quickly release nearly 8 billion dollars in funds for crude imports frozen because of American sanctions.

Before the sanctions came into effect in 2018, the Islamic Republic was South Korea’s third-largest trade partner in West Asia.

Iran has warned that it would take legal action against the South Korean government if it continues to refuse to pay its debt.

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