South Korea Told Not to Let U.S. Harm Iran Ties

Date: 13 January 2021 - 21:59

News ID: ۸۶۵۹۱

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- A senior Iranian lawmaker says South Korea should not allow the U.S. to harm its relations with the Islamic Republic and endanger the two Asian countries’ interests.
Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mojtaba Zonnour told South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun here that Seoul should try to preserve deep-rooted relations with Tehran and allow their immaculate record in bilateral cooperation lead to further expansion of ties in different fields.
He pointed to South Korean banks’ freeze of Iranian assets under the U.S. pressure, saying officials in Seoul are expected to take a wise measure and release the Iranian resources in order to prevent any damage to mutual relations.
"The inhumane U.S. move to impose sanctions on the Iranian nation is against international rules and regulations and Tehran does not want mutual ties to be affected by the ill-intentioned U.S. policies,” the Iranian legislator said.
The South Korean diplomat, for his part, said he had held constructive talks with Iranian officials on ways to promote relations and solve problems in the way of expanding ties.
He said his country was determined to release Iran’s foreign exchange resources.
Iranian authorities have said on several occasions that they expect South Korea to do more on the release of nearly $8.5 billion blocked illegally in two South Korean banks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif told Choi that the freeze by South Korean banks is a key hurdle to further expansion of relations between the two countries, calling on Seoul to take swift and necessary actions to settle the issue.