Ties Between Iran, South Korea Shaken over Frozen Funds

The South Korean ambassador to Tehran announced the delivery of $1.2 million worth of medication to help Iran fight the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: South Korean Embassy's Twitter account
The South Korean ambassador to Tehran announced the delivery of $1.2 million worth of medication to help Iran fight the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: South Korean Embassy's Twitter account
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Ties Between Iran, South Korea Shaken over Frozen Funds

The South Korean ambassador to Tehran announced the delivery of $1.2 million worth of medication to help Iran fight the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: South Korean Embassy's Twitter account
The South Korean ambassador to Tehran announced the delivery of $1.2 million worth of medication to help Iran fight the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: South Korean Embassy's Twitter account

Relations between Iran and South Korea have been shaken over funds frozen because of US sanctions.

Iran called on Friday for South Korea to release billions of dollars in frozen funds.

“South Korea’s ban on Iran’s use of its central bank resources to buy basic goods, medicine and humanitarian items is in no way acceptable, and we expect the South Korean government to lift this restriction as soon as possible,” President Hassan Rouhani said, in remarks carried by state news agency IRNA.

He instructed the head of the Iranian central bank to follow up the matter through legal channels and international forums, IRNA said, according to Reuters.

Rouhani did not cite a figure for the frozen funds, but the news agency Borna quoted Hossein Tanhayi, head of the Iran-South Korea chamber of commerce, as saying between $6.5 billion and $9 billion belonging to Iran was blocked in South Korean banks.

“Iran intends to take legal action against this ..., but this is not an easy path and it is time-consuming,” Tanhayi said.

South Korea’s imports of Iranian oil have been zero since May 2019, when the United States revoked waivers which had allowed some countries to continue buying Iranian oil without falling foul of US sanctions.

The United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after President Donald Trump withdrew from a deal to lift them in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran calls the US sanctions economic warfare.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in May that preliminary steps had been taken to set up a channel to allow Iran to use funds in South Korea to buy humanitarian goods. Weeks later South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Seoul was sending $500,000 worth of medicine to Iran.



Iran's Khamenei Rejects Trump's Call for Unconditional Surrender 

This handout picture released by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking to members of Iran's air force in Tehran on February 7, 2025. (AFP photo / Handout / Khamenei.ir)
This handout picture released by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking to members of Iran's air force in Tehran on February 7, 2025. (AFP photo / Handout / Khamenei.ir)
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Iran's Khamenei Rejects Trump's Call for Unconditional Surrender 

This handout picture released by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking to members of Iran's air force in Tehran on February 7, 2025. (AFP photo / Handout / Khamenei.ir)
This handout picture released by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shows him speaking to members of Iran's air force in Tehran on February 7, 2025. (AFP photo / Handout / Khamenei.ir)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a statement read by a television presenter on Wednesday that his country will not accept US President Donald Trump's call for an unconditional surrender.

In his first remarks since Friday, when he delivered a speech broadcast on state media after Israel began bombarding Iran, Khamenei said peace or war could not be imposed on the country.

"Intelligent people who know Iran, the Iranian nation, and its history will never speak to this nation in threatening language because the Iranian nation will not surrender," he said.

"The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage."

Thousands of people were fleeing Tehran on Wednesday after Israeli warplanes bombed the city overnight, and a source said Trump was considering options that include joining Israel in attacking Iranian nuclear sites.

Israel's military said 50 Israeli jets had struck around 20 targets in Tehran overnight, including sites producing raw materials, components and manufacturing systems for missiles.

A source familiar with internal discussions said Trump and his team were considering a number of options, which included joining Israel in strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran had conveyed to Washington that it would retaliate against the United States for any direct participation, its ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said. He said he already saw the US as "complicit in what Israel is doing".