According to Hossein Tanhaei, the two sides have agreed to exchange machinery and technical equipment instead of money exchange for their trade.

In an interview with IRNA on Sunday, Tanhaei said South Korean officials and businessmen have been coming to Iran more frequently in recent months.

“With the easing of sanctions, small and medium-sized companies in this country (South Korea) are making great efforts to resume trade with Iran, and on the other hand, large companies in South Korea have also announced their readiness to re-join the Iranian business scene,” the official said.

Emphasizing that trade with South Korea is expected to begin in the next three to five months, he added: “As for Iran’s blocked money in this country, it is stipulated that instead of paying in cash or exchanging manufactured goods, technical equipment and machinery will be exported to Iran.”

He stated that Iran and South Korea had already experienced $4 billion in annual trade, adding: “If the agreements between the two sides are implemented in the coming months, and given the interest of traders to join these economic exchanges, we can expect this figure to recover quickly.”

“South Korean market is rich in terms of technical, electronic and petrochemical items and a high volume of trade in this field can be put on the agenda,” Tanhaei stated.

Back in April, South Korea had released $30 million of the Islamic Republic’s frozen oil money in the Asian country to be used for purchasing COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Tanhaei, South Korea had reached an agreement with the Islamic Republic on releasing $1 billion of the mentioned frozen funds but so far only a small portion of this agreement has been realized.

Once one of Iran’s major oil buyers, South Korea has reduced its trade with Iran and held back the release of several billions of dollars of Iranian oil money under the pressure from the White House.

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According to Tanhaei, South Korea had reached an agreement with Iran on releasing $1 billion of the mentioned frozen funds but so far only a small portion of this agreement has been realized.

The official underlined the significance of the negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) for the return of the country’s blocked resources in other countries, saying: “If the negotiations reach an agreement, the process of repaying South Korea’s debt to Iran will be facilitated and accelerated.”

Iran and South Korea appear to be moving toward settling the thorny issue of Iran’s assets after a few rounds of failed negotiations in January. They are eager to find a solution to the issue. Over the past few months, both of them had proposed a number of solutions none of which broke the deadlock over the assets.

Back in January, Tanhaei had announced that the Islamic Republic was going to negotiate to barter its $7 billion of frozen oil money in South Korean banks for the COVID-19 vaccine and other basic goods.

“Yesterday, we had a meeting with First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri about our country’s blocked money in South Korea, and suggestions were made to be presented to South Korea on how to barter our money in this country with a variety of goods including COVID-19 vaccine,” Tanhaei told ILNA on January 3.

During his visit to Iran in January, Jong-kun met with Iran’s central banker to discuss how to release the Iranian assets. According to Iranian media, the South Korean diplomat proposed to provide Iran with ambulances and coronavirus test kits using Iran’s assets, but Iran rejected the offer, saying that it wants to use the money to purchase foods and medicines. Iran also said that the Korean proposal did not include the release of all Iran’s frozen assets.

With the negotiations still going on, Tehran and Seoul seem to be in the final stage of resolving the assets issue given South Korea’s close contacts with the Biden administration, which has promised to rekindle diplomacy with Iran by reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA.

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Chung also met with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian parliament speaker. The talks mainly focused on ways to release the Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks.

During the meeting, Larijani welcomed the prime minister of South Korea and stressed the need to develop relations between the two countries in various fields.

Larijani also pointed to the blocked funds in South Korea, saying, “Our resources are entrusted to your country’s banks and your government should try to be trustworthy in this matter.”

The advisor to the Supreme Leader added, “Our resources should be released as soon as possible so that it does not adversely affect the relations between the two countries.”

Prime Minister Chung, while expressing satisfaction with his meeting with Larijani, promised that his government will seek to find an immediate solution for the release of Iranian resources.

He also stressed the need to develop long-term relations between the two countries in all fields.

“Nations know their friends in difficult days”

In the separate meeting with Chung, Ghalibaf harshly critiqued foreign policies followed by South Korea.

Pointing out that the relations between Iran and South Korea should return to pre-2018, Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf said, “Nations know their friends in difficult days. Therefore, the expectations of the Iranian people from South Korea have not been met.”

He said, “We believe that the vast, ancient and historical continent of Asia has a lot of potential. Therefore, expanding convergence among Asian countries is an important strategy in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I believe that Asian countries should pay attention to the issue of convergence and be at the forefront of world peace and progress by prioritizing comprehensive cooperation, including industry, technology and culture.”

Referring to the good relations that the two sides enjoyed prior to the illegal sanctions on Iran and expressing satisfaction with the visit of the prime minister’s visit to Tehran, Galibaf said, “Unfortunately, South Korea currently has no place in Iran’s foreign economic relations. In other words, economic and political relations, which were at the highest levels, have declined.”

South Korean firms, including LG and Samsung, left Iran after Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, quit the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and imposed illegal sanctions on Tehran.

“If your ambassador in the Tehran Grand Bazaar asks people what has been the behavior of South Korea since 2018, he will realize that this behavior is not acceptable at all and the mentality of the people towards your country is negative,” Ghalibaf remarked.

The senior lawmaker said that all the nations in the world, especially the civilized and cultured nation of Iran, have come to know their friends in difficult days, seriously criticizing the action of Korean banks in blocking Iran’s access to its foreign currencies.

“We expect from you to provide immediate and practical solutions to solve the problem of Iran’s currencies and free our blocked funds,” the speaker pointed out.

Ghalibaf noted, “The expectation of the Iranian people has not been met by South Korea; even businessmen with good relations with South Korea are dissatisfied with the practice.”

However, the senior MP called the Korean prime minister’s visit to Tehran an appropriate step to improve the relations between the two countries.

“You are an experienced person in the field of politics and macro-management of the country. Therefore, you must see and understand the effects of the failure of Trump’s maximum pressure policy,” Ghalibaf added.

He said, “I believe that no issue can hinder a good cooperation between the two countries, including in humanitarian areas, medical issues such as COVID-19, supply of basic goods, etc. I hope this visit will help resume political, economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries in the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relationship. I hope this cooperation will be done at the best level.”

In the end, the speaker of the parliament called for parliamentary diplomacy and Iran’s parliamentary cooperation with the Korean Parliament. “This cooperation can lead to the development of relations between the two countries.”

He also invited the speaker of the Korean Parliament to visit Tehran.

For his part, Chung said he was the first South Korean prime minister to visit Iran in 44 years.

“Of course, in the past years, I visited Iran as the speaker of the parliament, and I met with high-ranking Iranian officials, so I hope this trip will be the resumption of good relations with Iran,” Chung said.

Pointing out that the next year coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Iran and South Korea, the prime minister said, “In the Korean culture, the numbers 60 and 70 are important, so next year could be the beginning of good relations between the two countries.”

Referring to the good historical relations between the two countries, the top South Korean official added, “Undoubtedly, the visits of the officials of the two countries have led to the preservation of these relations; but unfortunately, from 2018 onwards, the relations between the two countries faced obstacles, which we are trying to remove.”

While confirming the words of the speaker of the parliament that the next century is the century of Asia, Chung continued, “Accordingly, I believe that Iran and South Korea, as two Asian countries, should maintain and strengthen their relations.”

Stating that a number of South Korean economic and political officials are accompanying him in the visit to Iran to find solutions for problems created in relations between the two countries, he said, “Considering the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in South Korea’s foreign relations, every effort will be made to overcome problems.”

Prime Minister Chung also expressed hope that Ghalibaf would accept the invitation of the speaker of the Korean Parliament to visit Seoul.

“Such a trip can be the beginning of new relations between the two countries and will help solve problems,” he pointed out.

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Stating that freezing our assets in South Korea is Iran’s main challenge with this country, he said, “We had assets in other countries, and we used and had access to them despite US sanctions. But we have not yet been able to access our assets in South Korea, which has been one of Iran’s main trading partners.”

He pointed to his visit to South Korea, saying, “A year and a half ago, I had talks with South Korean officials, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, about this issue, and they promised to help and cooperate, but unfortunately, it has not worked out yet.”

Hemmati highlighted, “There were even correspondences with Korean officials that, despite promises, were fruitless and we could not even use our assets to buy goods and medicine.”

“$7billion has been frozen in South Korean banks for more than two years,” he said expressing hope that this issue, which is an obstacle to Iran-South Korea relations, will be resolved as soon as possible.

“The main goal of these talks is definitely to solve the banking problem,” he added.

Regarding South Korea’s attitude towards Iran’s assets in this country, Hemmati noted, “This attitude of South Korea is a big mistake and it is basically unacceptable for Korea to freeze Iran’s assets following a third country order.”

Emphasizing that business partners must be together in sensitive and difficult situations, he said, “We expect the South Korean government to decide independently, regardless of the orders, including the US government.”

He also emphasized legal proceedings in this regard, saying, “If this issue is not resolved, we will continue the legal paths we have started and will continue to pursue our rights and use our assets in Korea.”

Stating that South Korea should not trust the Americans, Hemmati noted, “I believe that South Korea should not base its old and intimate relations with Iran on the relations of other countries and a person like Trump.”

South Korean delegation arrived in Tehran on Sunday in order to discuss Iran’s access to its financial resources.

The delegation’s trip was agreed upon before the seizure of the offending Korean ship, and its main agenda is to discuss how to access Iran’s financial resources in Korea.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Jong-Kun also held a meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araghchi on Sunday evening.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – South Korea is now consulting with Iran on how to provide security for the Strait of Hormuz and the possibility of sending troops to the Middle East, according to a South Korean official statements.

The post South Korea, Iran talk on Strait of Hormuz security appeared first on Iran News Daily.

First-half goals from Lee Dong-jun and Cho Gue-sung gave Kim Hak-bum’s side a two-goal half-time buffer, but Reza Shekari from Iran did a nine minutes effort after the interval meant the Koreans had to negotiate a difficult period in order to extend its winning start to the competition in AFC U-23 Championship.

The team’s perfect tally of six points from two matches means it is sure to advance to the knockout stage no matter what happens in Wednesday’s match against Uzbekistan, while Iran’s hopes of ending a 44-year Olympic qualification drought now weighs heavily on its final group stage fixture against China.

Iran had started the campaign with a 1-1 draw against defending champion Uzbekistan on Thursday.

Thailand 2020 also serves as a qualification to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where the top three teams, aside from host nation Japan, will represent Asia.

The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship is the 4th edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation for the men’s under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams are competing in the tournament.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – South Korea is negotiating with the United States over Iran’s call for Seoul to resume exports of humanitarian goods to the Islamic Republic after US sanctions virtually banned such trades.

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