Iran stepping up criticism of South Korea over frozen funds

Noura Benadari

Iran is stepping up its criticism of South Korea because of the decision of Korean banks to freeze Iranian funds in them.

Iran’s mullahs keep threatening Seoul that they would take action, if the Korean banks do not release the funds.

In freezing the funds, Seoul implements US sanctions on Iran, which force different countries to hold back payments for Iranian oil shipments.

South Korea has suspended Iranian oil imports in compliance with the US sanctions. Nevertheless, this is bringing it under fire from Iran’s mullahs. They criticized the Iranian banks for freezing over $7 billion in oil payments since September 2019.

Iranian threats

On July 21, the Korean Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador in Seoul to protest threats by Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi on July 20.

Mousavi threatened to file a legal complaint against South Korea in international courts, in case diplomatic attempts to claim the Iranian funds at Korean banks fail.

He also accused Seoul of blindly following the US, according to the official Iranian news agency.

However, the Iranian ambassador in Seoul told Foreign Ministry officials that Mousavi’s remarks do not reflect the position of the Iranian government.

He called on South Korea to settle the funds issue and end the crisis.

Iran works hard to claim its oil money from other countries in order to get out of the financial crisis caused by the US sanctions on it.

This comes as the Islamic Republic battles to keep the lid on growing coronavirus infections.

The sanctions and the pandemic are causing a quick deterioration in economic conditions in Iran.

Iran says the US sanctions give it the right to use its frozen funds in the purchase of basic commodities for its people, including food and medicines.