Iran Central Banker Says Still No Sign of South Korea Funds: Q&A

The governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Abdolnaser Hemmati, answered questions put to him by Bloomberg in writing about billions of dollars Iran has trapped in South Korea because of U.S sanctions. Some Iranian officials have linked Iran’s seizure of a tanker in the Persian Gulf earlier this month to those frozen funds. Questions to Hemmati, who met with a delegation of South Korean officials last week, were limited to this topic.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been prevented from using its funds with Korean banks, as a result of the Korean banks’ full cooperation with the maximum pressure policy of the United States against Iran. This policy is against international law and not justified by legal principles. Therefore, we believe that those Korean banks should pay the damage suffered by the Islamic Republic of Iran during these two years. The amount of such damage is a technical issue which should be determined by banking and financial experts.