TEHRAN, Iran, June 15
Trend:
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson denounced South Korea’s “blind” obedience to the US, saying Seoul has no right to freeze Iranian assets.
“Our action is not anything new, as we have been pursuing the money South Korea owes us for a long time," MFA Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said at a press conference on June 15 referring to Iran’s action to free billions of dollars of assets frozen in banks of South Korea due to the US sanctions, Trend reports citing IRIB.
“South Korea has subjected more than half a century of relations with us to interference from others," he said. "South Korea’s blind obedience to the US and its move to use the unilateral US pressure as an excuse [for blocking Iran’s assets] are not acceptable to us.”
Referring to US pressure on countries dealing with Iran he says that “they have no right to block the Iranian nation’s assets for some time.”
He went on to say that the Foreign Ministry has taken the necessary and legal measures to unblock the money.
On June 12, Hossein Tanhaee, the chairman of Iran and South Korea’s joint chamber of commerce announced that Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were between $6.5 billion and $9 billion.
Tanhaee added that not only Korean banks refuse to release Iran’s money; some of them have also demanded commission and maintenance fees for Iran’s accounts.