The chairman of the Iran-Japan Joint Trade Committee says details of talks for Japan’s purchase of Iran oil have not been revealed yet but since the past, there have been some countries like Japan and South Korea which used to use Iran oil and the whole system of their refineries had been designed based on Iran’s oil.
Iran and South Korea have planned to start negotiations next month in Seoul to devise a mechanism as to how to release Iranian funds frozen due to US sanctions.
While on a three-country tour of the Middle East this week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has showcased a wide range of exports, a combination of heavy-hitting military hardware and glossy pop culture, demonstrating his country’s growing presence in the fields of entertainment, energy and weaponry.
Secretary of Iran-South Korea Joint Chamber of Commerce Pouya Firouzi says the trade between Iran and South Korea is at its lowest level and Iran’s exports to South Korea have been around $54m in eight months in the current Iranian calendar year and the figure does not worth mentioning comparing to the previous billion-dollar trade volumes in the past.
"US sanctions on Iran have harmed his country’s economy," South Korean ambassador Yun Kang-hyeo told ILNA.
S.Korea imports no Iran crude oil for October and a year ago, preliminary data from Korea Customs Service showed on Monday.
“The $3.5 billion that was claimed to have been released was not related to the Iranian funds in Iraq," the Head of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, Yahya al-Eshaq Told ILNA.
US Special Envoy for Iran held spoke Thursday with a South Korean diplomat to discuss cooperation over negotiations to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Tensions between Iran and South Korea, stemming from frozen Iranian assets, are spilling over into other areas now, with Tehran banning the import of South Korean home appliances and Seoul blocking the bank accounts of Iranian students.
In a telephone conversation, between the Foreign Minister of the Republic of South Korea, Chung Eui-Yong, and the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein Amirabdollahian, the latest developments related to Iran's access to its financial resources in South Korea were discussed.
