Iran General NewsSouth Korea to hold talks with U.S. and Iran...

South Korea to hold talks with U.S. and Iran over sanctions

-

Reuters: South Korea will soon start separate talks with the United States and Iran as it comes under pressure to join U.S.-led sanctions to force Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions, a government official said on Friday.

By Jeremy Laurence

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will soon start separate talks with the United States and Iran as it comes under pressure to join U.S.-led sanctions to force Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions, a government official said on Friday.

Resource-poor South Korea faces a conundrum over to whether to back close ally Washington and impose toughened sanctions against Tehran, or heed Iran’s warning that new sanctions could risk business deals and endanger a major source of oil.

A senior government official, who asked not to be identified, said Seoul would launch talks with the United States and Iran soon.

“In our discussions with the U.S., we will raise issues of the difficulties our companies will face (if new sanctions are imposed) … and will try to minimize the damage to our economy,” he said.

Iran is the fourth-largest source of crude for South Korea, accounting for about 10 percent of its supplies. Any disruption of shipments would have a big impact on Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which relies on imports for all its energy resources.

Billions of dollars are also at stake in Iranian contracts for South Korea’s construction firms and shipbuilders.

The Iranian ambassador to Seoul has told local media that South Korea risks losing substantial economic benefits in Iran if it follows the U.S. lead.

THREE IRANIAN FIRMS TARGETED

Local media have identified three Iranian businesses operating in South Korea — Bank Mellat, the Iranian Petrochemical Company and CISCO Shipping Company — as targets of sanctions.

Bank Mellat is considered at the heart of the U.S. demand, as the bank has been accused of facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for Iranian nuclear, missile and defense entities, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea is reviewing how to sanction the bank for suspected violation of a local law on foreign exchange trading, it added. Washington wants Seoul to shut down the bank’s local branch.

The United States declared Iran the biggest state sponsor of terrorism this month, ratcheting up pressure on its long-time foe even as President Barack Obama signaled he remained open to talking to Tehran about its nuclear program.

South Korea, growing faster than expected in the second quarter and outpacing regional peers as it recovers from the global financial crisis, is now focusing on boosting business conditions for small and medium sized firms. Many of them look to Iran as a crucial export market.

Iran is a $4 billion market for South Korea’s automobiles, home appliances and other consumer goods, and as many as 2,000 South Korean manufacturers have business links with the country.

Since June, the U.N. Security Council, the United States and the European Union have tightened sanctions on Iran over its refusal to enter into international talks on its nuclear program, which Washington fears is a cover to build an atomic bomb, but which Tehran says is for the generation of electricity.

At the same time, South Korea is locked in a protracted attempt to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms program, for which it needs Washington to add pressure on Pyongyang with sanctions implemented through the international financial network.

(Additional reporting by Lee Shin-hyung; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Sanjeev Miglani)

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

Call for release of two imprisoned journalists

Reporters Without Borders: Reporters Without Borders called today for...

Iran Nuke Fuel Program Starts at Mine

AP: SAGHAND, Iran - Iran's campaign to develop nuclear...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you