Raisi presents to parliament motion to appoint arbiters in dispute with South Korea over frozen assets

The motion, devised on a proposal by the vice presidency for legal affairs, was forwarded with a cover letter addressed to Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf on Saturday.

The motion was forwarded “in order for the legal procedure to be taken.”

After former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, he imposed a range of sanctions on the Islamic Republic as well as on third countries doing business with Tehran.

Since then, seven billion dollars in Iranian assets, paid by South Korea to purchase Iranian oil, has been frozen in South Korean banks.

Several attempts to unfreeze the assets have failed so far.

The motion forwarded by the Raisi administration to the Iranian Parliament will potentially open a new path toward resolving the issue, according to Tasnim news agency.

In early October, Iranian media said intensive talks were underway with the US through a regional mediary to pave the way for the release of billions of dollars of Iranian assets blocked in other countries in exchange for the release of American prisoners in Iran.

The focus on the negotiations had been reportedly the Iranian funds frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions on Iran.