Chamber Denies Release of Forex Assets Blocked in South Korea

The secretary of the Iran-South Korea Chamber of Commerce denied reports that the US had given approval to the South Korean government to unblock Iran’s currency held in that country.  
Pouya Firouzi pointed to recent rumors that Iran could use its forex assets to import home appliances from South Korea.
“We enquired with South Korean officials and found the reports rumors were unwarranted,” he was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Even if true, Firouzi said, importing home appliances would not be Tehran’s priority. “Medicine and medical equipment are the main import needs.”  
Tehran has long complained about Seoul’s refusal to unlock the assets to buy essential goods and medicine including the Covid-19 vaccine. Its diplomatic efforts so far have been in vain.
Seoul has been pressed to unblock more than $7 billion of Iranian assets frozen due to the US economic blockade. Korean officials have said for months that they are in talks with Washington on ways to release the money without violating the unilateral sanctions imposed by Donald Trump in 2018.
The East Asian country had earlier agreed to release $1 billion of the assets, a deal which was apparently foiled by US obstructions.
South Korea was a major buyer of Iranian oil before the sanctions. Iran accounted for almost 15% of Korea’s oil imports at the time.