A portion of Iran’s frozen money return as pharmaceutical items
"A portion of Iran’s frozen money in South Korea will return to the country in the form of pharmaceutical and medical products," the chairman of Iran and South Korea's joint chamber of commerce told ILNA.
Hossein Tanhaee said in an exclusive interview with ILNA news agency that there was no discussion on the return of the frozen money in cash and it is possible to gradually import Foodstuffs and animal feed after medication.
Answering to question about the volume of this agreement, Tanhaee added "I don't know yet about the volume of this agreement, but it depends on our efforts, and I hope that with the coordination of the Ministry of Health and the Central Bank, we will be able to return a large portion of this money," he said.
On June 12, the chairman of Iran and South Korea's joint chamber of commerce told that Iran's frozen assets in South Korea were between $6.5 billion and $9 billion.
Regarding the impact of sanctions on trade between the two countries, he said: "I do not have exact statistics at the moment, but the volume of bilateral trade between has sharply decreased."
“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.
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.
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