As a first step in the arrangement, Iran has released five American-Iranian citizens from prison and now they are either under house arrest or in a hotel.

The prisoners are Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, who had been jailed on charges of spying, as well as two others whose families withheld their names.

“This is just the beginning of a process that I hope and expect will lead to their return home to the United States,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Thursday. “There’s more work to be done to actually bring them home. My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare.”

It is said that the three named prisoners and one other person were transferred on Thursday from Evin Prison to a hotel in Tehran where they will be held for several weeks until they are allowed to board an airplane.

Mohammad Jamshidi, a top aide to President Raisi, was quoted by the official government news agency IRNA that American prisoners will remain in Iran until all the funds from South Korea are released.

It is worth noting that the U.S. is to blame for all moratoriums made in such talks because it had illogically and futilely resisted all legitimate demands by Iran. The American officials thought they had the upper hand in the talks and gave the cold shoulder to any proposals.

Iran has always been keen on any kind of negotiations but the U.S. officials tend to comport themselves in a way that they are always right! But on the contrary, they showed no sign of logical behavior.

Such a deal can be contemplated as a victory for the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi who called it “honorable diplomacy.”

There are some speculations that Tehran is limited to having access to its own frozen funds, with claims that Tehran can submit orders to a bank in Doha for food and medicine and a limited number of medical equipment and a bank in Doha would pay for the goods. Then Qatari companies would deliver them to Iran. Iran has no direct access to the funds at all.

In reaction to such claims, Mohammad Marandi, advisor to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, has said that Iran will have direct and full access to its unfrozen assets in South Korea.

Noting that the Qatari companies will have no role, Marandi said that the Iranian banks will have full control and can use the unfrozen assets for buying goods and services without any restrictions.

Qatar’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Regional Affairs Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz al-Khalifi said that Doha believes in resolving disputes through peaceful means and dialogue.

It is up to Iranian authorities to determine the manner of application of the unfrozen funds.

Given the role of Qatar in facilitating the dialogue between Washington and Tehran, the Qatari diplomat clarified, “We hope that the agreement between the United States and Iran will lead to an agreement on the nuclear issue.”

In this regard, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday saying the process to release $6 billion in Iranian money wrongfully blocked in South Korea under the guise of U.S. sanctions on Iran is currently under progress.

“Iran has received the necessary guarantee for the United States’ commitment to its obligations in this regard,” the statement added.

The statement followed after reports emerged that Iran and the U.S. had reached an agreement on a prisoner exchange that also included the return of Iranian assets.

The ministry said the transfer of funds has always been a priority and it is up to “the Islamic Republic and competent Iranian authorities” to determine the manner of application of the unfrozen funds.

The statement further said in addition to unfreezing the money, the ministry has been pursuing the release of Iranian inmates as part of its “inherent duties.”

It went on to say that the prisoners had been arrested and held across American jails “illegally and under the vain pretext of their bypassing of the U.S. oppressive sanctions.”

“The release of the prisoners will be realized soon,” the statement said, adding that the Iranian-American inmates subject to release were still in Iran.

However, a number of narratives indicate that the release of the prisoners is contingent upon the delivery of Iranian money to certain accounts.

Several of the Iranians jailed in the U.S. would soon be released, it said, adding that Iran still holds several American prisoners whose release is being pursued by the U.S. government.

Iran has consistently stated its willingness to exchange detainees with the U.S. as a humanitarian issue, on the condition that the latter behave “realistically.”

Sayyid Badr Hamad al-Busaidi, the Foreign Minister of the Sultanate of Oman, who has been serving as a mediator in the talks between Tehran and Washington, stated that he thought the two nations were close to reaching a prisoner swap agreement in an interview with Al-Monitor that was published on June 14.

According to Reuters, Iran has let four jailed Americans to leave the Evin prison in Tehran and enter house arrest. A fifth American was already being held at home.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement, “As part of a humanitarian cooperation agreement mediated by a third-party government, Iran and the U.S. have agreed to reciprocally release and pardon five prisoners. The transfer of these prisoners to out of prison marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement.”

Also on Thursday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani tweeted that the funds were being released and that the imminent release of the Iranian held in the U.S. will take place “within the same framework.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated on Monday that the Tehran government will continue to repatriate its frozen assets in some countries, including Japan.

Speaking to reporters in a regular news briefing, Nasser Kanaani emphasized that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had also discussed the matter of the financial claims on the sidelines of the October 2022 United Nations General Assembly session in New York.

He continued by pointing out that the Japanese government has frequently stated that it is willing to pay off its obligations and that it is now making an effort to do so.

Back in February, Kanaani also said that Tehran had been signaling that it is ready to exchange detainees with the U.S. on an “unconditional” basis and without tying the exchange to other matters.

Kanaani emphasized that by releasing a dual Iranian-American citizen months ago, Tehran demonstrated its good faith, while the U.S. has not yet reciprocated.

In a letter dated July 22, President Raisi referred a government bill to Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf to take legal actions to release the frozen Iranian assets.

The bill, officially called “the Referral of Dispute between the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Government of the Korean Republic for Arbitration,” was ratified by the cabinet of ministers on July 5.

The financial dispute between Iran and South Korea dates back to 2018, when the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and started slapping economic sanctions on Iran. Before 2018, South Korea had been the third-largest buyer of Iranian oil and the top customer of Iranian condensates. The oil trade between Tehran and Seoul resulted in the accumulation of some $7 billion in Iranian oil revenues in South Korean banks.

With tensions between Tehran and Washington exacerbating, Seoul moved to block the Iranian funds for fear of falling afoul of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The move irked Iran, which continued to demand that South Korea release the frozen funds. In a bid to get its funds, Iran held several rounds of talks with South Korea that some of which were within the framework of the broader talks between Iran and the West.

On June 20, a senior Iranian lawmaker revealed new details about Oman’s mediatory efforts to de-escalate tensions between Iran and the United States, saying Tehran had agreed to an Omani offer in this regard.

The lawmaker, Shahriar Heidari, who is the deputy chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the Omani initiative has also struck a responsive chord with South Korea.

“Oman and Qatar are two good and reliable neighbors of Iran. Many times, they announced their readiness to resolve the differences between other countries and Iran. Oman has announced its readiness to resolve disputes between South Korea and Iran. We have no fundamental differences,” Heidari told.

He added, “Our dispute is about Iran’s blocked money in South Korea. In this regard, Oman has made a proposal that has been approved by Iran and South Korea. We hope that this proposal will be implemented.”

Back in May, officials from the United States and South Korea held talks over unfreezing Iranian funds held in South Korean banks, according to a South Korean daily.

The talks were focused on releasing the $7 billion Iranian funds that have long been blocked in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The funds are oil revenues dating back to the period prior to the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran in May 2018.

Citing diplomatic and government sources, the Korea Economic Daily said, “Korean and U.S. government officials are involved in working-level discussions under Washington’s leadership to unfreeze the Iranian funds.”

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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.

The post “Mask of Impudence” appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The insulting move, that occurred on October 26, annoyed the Iranians, as they started to recount all the actions the Republic of Korea took against Iran.

In 2018, when former U.S. president Donald Trump left the JCPOA, South Korea was one of the first countries to leave the Iranian market. Samsung and LG, two electronics giants, left Iran despite the fact that they had largely captured the Iranian market and made great profits.

But the story did not end here. Over $10b of Iranian assets are frozen in the Korean banks at the request of the United States. Iran has been asking Seoul to unfreeze the assets.

However, the diplomatic efforts have not yet been able to break the ice. As a retaliatory measure, Iran banned import of electronic home appliances from South Korea for two reasons: First, to boost domestic capabilities, and second, to put pressure on the Koreans to take effective measures in releasing Iran’s blocked assets.

But South Korea started acting unexpectedly. It started to put a heavy amount of pressure on the Iranian students studying in South Korea. Several Iranian students reported that Korean universities have emailed them letting them know that their October and November funds will be frozen. In fact, the emails were a warning to the Iranian students to prepare themselves for incoming financial problems. The students posted screenshots of the emails on social media, and soon, the Iranian embassy in Seoul stated that the problem is solved, as they have negotiated with the Korean government. The universities started sending emails, retracting previous statements, saying that the issue was not their fault, and it was instructed to them by the Korean administration.

In October 2021, Iran announced the ban on the import of Korean home appliances to the free trade zones, showing that they are serious in retaliating against the Koreans.

However, the recent move by the Korean embassy added salt to the existing wounds.

The Tehran Times asked the Korean embassy for an explanatory statement on this “gesture”. They replied by saying that in a matter of hours, they will prepare a statement and send it to the newspaper. However, after waiting for a few hours, nothing came from the embassy. They just sent a tweet explaining that they have sent several aid packages to Iran during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as financial aid to be used for Afghan refugees residing in Iran.

The response was surely unconvincing. The Iranians felt “insulted” by the move. Iran does not need 2000 masks, as it is self-sufficient in producing masks. It has exported masks to neighboring countries, such as Afghanistan and Oman. The move was scornful and demeaning.

If South Korea wishes to mend ties with Iran, it should have an envoy who is gifted with diplomatic intelligence.

The post Korea needs diplomatic judgement appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Speaking in a press conference, Head of Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers (AHAM) Mr. Mohammad Reza Dayyani said currently LG’s share of Iran’s TV market is 16%, Samsung’s is 17% and Sony’s is 8% while the country is under sanctions and imports of those products are banned.

He went on to say that during the past three years, imports of the home appliances have been banned and it has led to the rise in production and occupation in this industry but now some people condemn production and defend imports.

Dayyani reiterated that today the mafias of importing the home appliances who feel the danger have started attack at domestic products and defended imports and they try to bring down this successful industry of the country.

He said in recent years huge investment has been done in this industry and imports of the home appliances will lead to the bankruptcy of the investors. He stated that for this reason producers wrote a letter to the Supreme Leader and called for banning the imports of the foreign-made home appliances.

Dayyani also criticized South Koreans and said while the Koreans were not ready even to reply to Iranian’s e-mails, they have announced readiness to send home appliances to Iran in exchange for Iran’s frozen assets.

He said South Koreans in 1960s banned imports of Japanese electronic goods for 12 years and even sales of Japanese goods were banned in their stores. He added that even the U.S. permanently changes the tariffs on imports to support its industries.

Dayyani reiterated that the association does not seek full ban on imports but it wants imports of home appliances to be managed and controlled for a period of five years in order that home-made products can improve their quality and standards to compete with foreign rivals.

He added that Turkey due to its policy last year earned $45b through production of home appliances production which was two times of Iran’s oil revenues and we should study how Turkey has been able to achieve such success.

Meanwhile the data released by Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry indicates that manufacturing of TV sets in Iran has increased 11.7 percent during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, As reported, 447,700 TV sets have been manufactured in the five-month period of this year.

Manufacturing of home appliances in Iran has risen 8.7 percent during the first five months of the present year, as 2.61 million sets of such products have been manufactured inside the country.

Home appliances manufacturing has also increased 78 percent to stand at 15 million sets in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

Rise in home appliances manufacturing and export has been also planned for the current year.

The post Foreign-Made TVs Account for 40% of Iran’s Market appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Speaking to ILNA, Firouzi said that soon the chamber will have a meeting with South Korean Ambassador to Tehran and the frozen assets will be one of the major topics on the agenda and in the meeting some major points raised by the private sector will be discussed.

He went on to say that the chamber has one goal on its agenda for continuing the activities and cooperation with South Korea in the field of transferring of technology and knowhow and therefore, and  imports of the goods from South Korea will be out of question on the agenda.

On the latest development and condition of trade between Iran and South Korea, Firouzi said that Iran is still waiting for resolving the issue of the frozen assets in Seoul and as long as no positive step is not taken in this regard, the proceeding of other issues will be impossible. He said regarding the medicines and medical issues and coronavirus, the condition is the same and at first the system for payment and exchanges should be defined to let the authorized companies to engage in trade.

He reiterated that as long as these issues are not resolved and financial exchanges are not resolved, one cannot see happening of any major breakthrough.

On the possibility of unblocking Iran’s money in Seoul, said South Korean officials have promised a lot but as long as those promises are not fulfilled, they will be void and baseless. Firouzi added that since the U.S. exit from the JCPOA and reimposition of new round of sanctions, South Koreans have given some promises and practically tens of million dollars were released but the major amount of the money is still blocked and this has created some social and political sensitivity.

Pointing to the trend of trade balance of the two countries, Firouzi said that the trade balance between Iran and South Korea without inclusion of oil sales was $842m in 2017 and $550m in 2018, adding that it declined to minus $493m in 2019 and minus $540m in 2020 and this year it has been minus $96m.

Earlier this month South Korea’s new Ambassador to Tehran Yun Kang-hyeon s said Iran’s frozen oil money in his country will be used to pay off Korean companies that had previously exported basic commodities to Iran.

Speaking in a meeting with the Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Masoud Khansari, Yun noted that the money cannot be used for exporting new items to Iran except for basic goods or medicine.

In the meeting, the two sides discussed the latest state of trade relations between the two countries and explored ways for improving economic ties.

According to Yun, if the U.S. sanctions on Iran are lifted the amount of South Korean investment in Iran will be such that Iran’s blocked resources in the Asian country will be insignificant compared to them.

The post Iran Major Assets in S. Korea Still Blocked appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The waiver, signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, allows the transfer of Iranian funds to exporters in Japan and South Korea, according to a notification sent to U.S. Congress by the State Department.

The waiver allows Iranian money that had been frozen as a result of American sanctions to be freed up without violating the law.

“Allowing these funds to be used to repay exporters in these jurisdictions will make those entities whole with respect to the goods and services they exported to Iran, address a irritant recurring in important bilateral relationships,” the waiver states.

As reported, the waiver has been given to the Japanese and South Korean governments for 90 days allowing them to complete their transactions.

“The secretary of state previously signed a waiver to allow funds held in restricted Iranian accounts in Japan and Korea to be used to pay back Japanese and Korean companies that exported non-sanctioned items to Iran,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The waiver comes during an almost one-month pause in the talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which the former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018 and reimposed sanctions mainly targeting Iran’s oil sector.

Last week, senior economy officials from South Korea and the United States held talks on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Venice, Italy to discuss releasing Iran’s frozen oil money in Korean banks.

Several billions of dollars of Iranian oil revenues have been frozen in South Korean and Japanese banks since September 2019, when Washington’s sanctions waiver for the Asian countries’ imports of Iranian oil expired.

The post U.S. waivers Iranian oil trade, allowing access to frozen assets in S.Korea, Japan appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Speaking to ILNA, Tanhaei said that sanctions and freezing Iran’s assets have affected the trade ties between Iran and South Korea as the trade volume is currently in its lowest level in the past 15 years.

On the fate of Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea, he said South Koreans most probably would return the money via banks of Woori and IBK, adding that some portion of the money will be paid through purchasing goods and some would be in cash.

He went on to say that based on the recent talks with Seoul, it seems the problem of the frozen assets would be resolved soon and it had direct relation with the result of the nuclear talks in the JCPOA.

Tanhaei noted that South Koreans are trying to keep their relations with Iran and they are planning for Iran’s frozen assets but it is still unknown how they would return the money.

He reiterated that Iran has asked South Korea to return its money in cash or if they want to give goods, it is better they do not give made goods and instead they give us industrial or medical equipment. He admitted that Koreans are still silent on it but it seems they want to give goods in exchange for the money.

Tanhaei added that Iran has received medical products in exchange of some part of its money and it is ready to vaccine in exchange of the remaining part of the money.

He expressed hope South Koreans give Iran medical, petrochemical and chemical equipment which will help the country to have better investment for the future.

The post Tehran-Seoul Trade Hits Record Low in 15 Years appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The two sides remain technically at war, since fighting in the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953 that was never replaced with a peace treaty.

North Korean gunfire hit a Southern guard post on May 3, prompting Seoul’s soldiers to return fire a few minutes later and broadcast warnings.

The UNC — which monitors compliance with the ceasefire — opened an investigation into the shooting and concluded that “both sides committed Armistice Agreement violations”, it said in a statement, AFP reported.

The probe found the North’s Korean People’s Army fired four 14.5mm small-arms rounds, which were responded to by two volleys from South Korea.

But the investigation was “unable to definitively determine” whether the North’s gunshots were fired “intentionally or by mistake”, the UNC said.

The North’s military did not offer a “formal response” when the UNC invited it to take part in the investigation, it said, adding that the South’s forces provided “full cooperation”.

Seoul’s defense ministry expressed regret over the announcement of the findings and said its troops were following their response manual.

Despite its name, the Demilitarized Zone is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

The last time the two sides exchanged fire on the border was in 2014. North Korean soldiers also shot at a defecting soldier in 2017, but the South did not fire back.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in agreed to ease military tensions on their border at a summit in Pyongyang in September 2018, among other agreements.

But most of the deals have not been acted on, with the Pyongyang largely cutting off contact with Seoul following the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump, which left nuclear talks at a standstill.

The post UN Says Both North, South Korean Broke Armistice appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News, Korea Republic became the first team to qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship Thailand 2020 knockout stage after it claimed a 2-1 win over Iran at Tinsulanon Stadium in Songkhla, Thailand on Sunday.

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’s effort nine minutes after the interval meant the Koreans had to negotiate a difficult period in order to extend its winning start to the competition.

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

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