TEHRAN (Iran News) – “Mask of Impudence”. It seems the Islamic Republic of Iran’s passiveness and to some extent its political considerations have emboldened South Korea and this country even dares to insult Iranians while it has frozen the country’s billions of dollars in its banks.
Recent South Korea’s donation of 2,000 face masks to a hospital in Tehran has triggered controversy as the country refuses to release several billion dollars of Iranian oil money in line with anti-Iran U.S. sanctions.
Some social media users have responded to the move on the South Korean Embassy’s twitter page calling on Seoul to release Iranian funds immediately and this Koreans’ move faced backlash in the country.
“Iranians are not in need of the small number of masks you have bothered to donate. And just for your information, Iran is now an exporter of masks,” a social media user wrote on the embassy’s page. “Release the Iranian nation’s funds if you are so determined to look civilized.”
Another user wrote that “Atieh Hospital should not have accepted such humiliation.”
Some others said the South Korean Embassy has insulted the Iranians rather than sending a friendly signal.
The angry reactions poured in after the Korean embassy in Tehran announced in a Twitter post that ambassador Yun Kang-hyeon donated the face masks to Atieh Hospital on October 26 to “help the Iranian people overcome Covid-19.”
The donated masks by Koreans turned into sign of imprudence of this country that once Iran was its third-trade partner in the West Asia.
For kind information of South Koreans, the masks that they donated to Atieh Hospital are valued less than $100 and I think Iranians’ daily donations even in the worst economic condition is more than $200,000 excluding secret and big donations by benefactors.
Iranians are famous in the world for its hospitality and open-handedness and one can see it in cases like hosting refugees and helping the oppressed people in the world. Therefore the country does not need such an insulting donation which is more humiliation than donation.
The interesting point is that South Koreans have blocked Iran’s money in their banks under the pretext of the U.S. sanctions and they are not ready to unblock the assets and now in a humanitarian gesture donate 2,000 masks.
Iranians never need such aids and donations because they are rich enough to handle its own affairs even in the current sanctions condition and Koreans are better to use the masks in order to cover their hypocrite nature.
Of course related Iranian officials should be blamed for not taking serious international legal action to give a lesson to this Southeast Asian and other states which have frozen its assets.
God willing the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a wise move banned the imports of South Korean home appliances and now it is the nation’s turn to show its good will by punishing the south Koreans through giving due responses.
In early October, a row between Iran and South Korea over more than $7 billion in funds for oil shipments frozen because of U.S. sanctions intensified, with Tehran threatening legal action.
“We have $7.8 billion of our money blocked in South Korean banks,” said Iranian lawmaker Alireza Salimi, who is involved with the case.
South Korea took delivery of the Iranian oil “but did not pay for it”, he told AFP.
“It is not a reliable trading partner and it should pay interest on the money it is improperly holding.”
South Korea stopped purchasing Iranian oil after former U.S. President Donald Trump exited the nuclear deal in 2018, re-imposing the harsh sanctions and threatening to punish anyone buying crude from Iran.
That year, Iran-South Korea trade fell by half compared to 2017, when it had stood at $12 billion, according to Iran’s embassy in Seoul. The volume of trade tumbled to just $111 million by mid-July 2020, according to embassy figures.
After Iran threatened to take legal action against South Korea, some meetings took place between the officials of the two countries to resolve the issue. To alleviate the tension, South Korean Embassy in Tehran had some programs like sending COVID-19 vaccines to Iran and now the face mask donation.
South Koreans should better to unblock Iran’s assets instead of donating the country face masks because Iran is a big, rich and power country and it is not a poor or begging one to stretch its hands for getting humiliating assistance. If they want to follow blindly the U.S., it is their own business but they should not involve Iran in their ties with the U.S. and taking hostage Iran’s money.
So we recommend South Koreans to stop insulting moves and instead they are better to return Iran’s money if they want their past reputation in Iran and the region is not tarnished. Only the release of the assets can to some extent alleviate this anger and insult.
Of course, Iranian officials are also recommended to take due response to any move from any country instead of seating and waiting for the public response.
