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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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.

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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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