NOURNEWS - Two years have passed since South Korea blocked $ 7 billion to $ 9.5 billion in Iranian assets, and despite Tehran's diplomatic efforts and even the president's order to the central bank governor to pursue these demands, Seoul has not taken effective action.
South Korea was one of the top five buyers of Iranian oil products before the US imposed sanctions on Iran, and even after the sanctions were imposed in 2018, the Koreans were granted a 180-day exemption, during which nearly 350,000 barrels of oil and condensate were consumed by them daily and they also bought gas from Iran, but have not yet paid for these products.
Seoul, which has the most blocked financial resources in Tehran, has used US sanctions as an excuse for non-payment of Iran's claims and debts, and Korean officials have used US sanctions as a pretext for retaliation and criticism of their indebtedness to Iran.
The only move by South Korea over the past two years to pay its financial obligations to Iran is to send special goods and two million $ 500,000 worth of coronary heart disease kits to Iran, in exchange for the country's debt to Iran. Between $ 7 billion and $ 9 billion is a very small amount.
Of course, Seoul once promised to send a $ 2 million shipment of medicine and food, including crude oil and animal feed, but that promise has not yet been fulfilled, and South Korea continues to beat the drum of non-cooperation with Iran.
In such a situation that Seoul has not taken an effective step to fulfill its obligations to Tehran, various solutions have been offered by the Energy Commission of the Iranian parliament, politicians, legal activists, etc., so that perhaps by implementing these strategies and returning part of Iran's debts to the country, To some extent, the dissatisfaction of 84 million Iranians with their violated rights should be reduced.
Recently, the Energy Commission of Iranian parliament proposed two solutions to South Korea, the first solution was to return the blocked Iranian money and then the purchase of technical and industrial equipment (non-sanctioned) by Iran in the same amount, some Iranian diplomats also used the method of paying oil debts In the cover of a humanitarian canal similar to the canal launched by Switzerland in the form of food and medicine, they recommended that, unfortunately, Seoul has not implemented any of these viable strategies.
South Korea's blind adherence to the United States and the non-payment of Iran's demands have changed the way people look at the country, which was once considered a friendly country. It is expected that the persistence of South Korea's ill-will towards Iran, which refuses to buy even the basic goods, medicine and humanitarian items of the Iranians with the blocked money, will remain in the memory of all patriotic Iranians.
At the same time, the prospects of bilateral relations as well as future Tehran-Seoul cooperation are expected to be affected by this behavior of the Koreans, and the continued negligence of them in terms of their commitments to Iran will diminish the long-term relations between the two countries.
NOURNEWS