Gov't spokesman: Iran considers South Korea's freezing of assets unfriendly

Tehran, July 14, IRNA - Iranian Government spokesman Ali Rabiee said on Tuesday that Iran is not looking for tension with South Korea and South Korea's action to block Iran's property is an unfriendly, destructive, and unconstitutional after over decades of trade between the two countries. Rabiee said that $8 billion of Iran's resources are blocked in South Korea. He said that the behavior of the South Korean government is incomprehensible under the current circumstances, adding that the Government of South Korea does not provide a required answer while there is no legal ban for returning Iranian money and it is not clear why the government of South Korea was willing to jeopardize its relations with Iran in an unprecedented way by willing to succumb to the US pressure. Referring to the point that it is not only the Iranian government to be upset by the Korean government's behavior, but he also added that today, the people and public opinion do not have a good view of this action of the South Korean government. Rabiee expressed hope that South Korean authorities take action before it is too late and before it negatively influences the long-term relations of the two countries. Regarding Iran’s official reaction for its property restitution, he said that it is being pursued in international bodies, and if the Seoul action continues, Iran will take appropriate measures. Responding to a question about Iran's business relations with Venezuela, he noted that “my interview with a foreign journal was misinterpreted while the issue was not a matter of help to Venezuela and such issues have not been raised from Venezuela". Rabiee added that what is in the business relations of Iran and Venezuela such as relationships and trade exchanges are like with other countries, and Iran has the same relations with different countries in the world. He called for avoiding misunderstanding and said that Iran-Venezuela trade is not an exception to Iran's commercial and international rules with other countries and the price of export goods will be in the same way.