S. Korea Must Release Iran’s Frozen Assets Regardless of Vienna Talks Outcome: Deputy FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri said it is South Korea’s duty to release Iran’s frozen assets regardless of the result of the ongoing negotiations in Vienna on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Ali Baqeri and Choi Jong-kun, South Korea’s vice foreign minister who has traveled to Vienna for talks on Iran’s blocked assets in the East Asian country, met in the Austrian capital on Thursday.
During the meeting, Baqeri underscored Seoul’s duty to unfreeze Iran’s assets.
The United States’ unilateral sanctions can be no justification for refusing to pay the debts to Iran, he said.
Baqeri said Seoul’s unlawful and unjustified refusal to release the assets would mark a dark page in the history of bilateral ties, urging South Korea to unblock them as soon as possible.
The South Korean official, for his part, stressed the importance of Seoul-Tehran ties and said his country is making efforts to pay its debts to the Islamic Republic.
The meeting, which was held at the request of the South Korean side, was not directly linked to the negotiations to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) underway in Vienna.
Iran and the remaining signatories of a 2015 nuclear deal on Monday resumed discussions to remove sanctions on the Islamic Republic and bring the US back to compliance with the agreement.
The South Korean foreign ministry on Wednesday said Choi Jong-kun had arrived in Vienna with a delegation to “explore ways to resolve the issue of frozen Iranian assets in Korea” through consultations on the sidelines with Iran and in coordination with the US, France, Germany and Britain.