A serious dispute between Iran and South Korea attracts the attention of the international public. Tehran threatens a lawsuit if Seoul returns more than 7 billion dollars for the supply of Iranian oil, frozen in the Bank of South Korea due to US sanctions.
Islamic Republic of Iran was the third largest trading partner of South Korea and a key supplier of oil in the Middle East to the sanction policy of the United States.
In addition, Tehran imported industrial equipment from Korea, household appliances and spare parts for cars from Seoul.
The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul said in an AFP interview, which is “difficult to calculate and confirm” the exact amount of money.
South Korea stopped purchasing Iranian oil after the former US President Donald Trump refused a nuclear transaction in 2018, re-imparting harsh sanctions on Tehran and his trading partners.
According to the Iranian embassy in Seoul, the trade turnover between Iran and South Korea was twice (in 2017, the turnover was $ 12 billion) compared with 2017.
In January, the Corps of the Guards of the Islamic Revolution captured the tanker under the South Korean flag of Hankuk Chemi, and held it in hostages for three months allegedly because of the alleged violations of the rules for environmental protection.
Capture was widely covered in the press and regarded in South Korea as an attempt to make Seoul Return Frozen tools.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Hozein Amir Abdollahiyan warned that his country would sue South Korea. “The US pressure on Seoul is an obvious fact, but we cannot continue … close your eyes to this question,” he said.
According to him, if Seoul does not unlock funds, the government will allow Iran’s central bank to sue two South Korean lenders.