Tehran anticipated to regain its vote on the UN Basic Meeting after Seoul pays $18m dues utilizing $7bn Iranian funds frozen as a consequence of US sanctions.
Iran is anticipated to regain its vote within the UN Basic Meeting after South Korea paid Tehran’s delinquent dues to the world physique with Iranian funds frozen within the nation, Seoul says.
Sunday’s announcement echoed an analogous state of affairs the place Iran regained its UN voting rights in June 2021 after it managed to make the cost on its arrears.
Earlier this month, nonetheless, it introduced that US sanctions had impeded its capacity to pay for the second yr in a row.
Any launch of Iran’s frozen funds requires the approval of the US, which joined its European allies this week in saying solely weeks stay to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump took Washington out of the deal, re-imposing a collection of US sanctions. Iran later rolled again its compliance on most of the deal’s nuclear restrictions.
Seoul “on Friday accomplished the cost of Iran’s UN dues of about $18 million by means of the Iranian frozen funds in South Korea, in lively cooperation with associated businesses akin to US Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management and the United Nations Secretariat,” the finance ministry mentioned in a press release.
“Iran’s proper to vote on the Basic Meeting is anticipated to be restored instantly with the cost,” the ministry added.
The Seoul UN workplace was not reachable for remark exterior enterprise hours.
Iran urgently requested South Korea final week to assist pay the UN contribution with the frozen funds on considerations of the lack of its proper to vote within the 193-member Basic Meeting, the South Korean ministry mentioned.
Tehran has repeatedly demanded the discharge of about $7bn of its funds frozen in South Korean banks underneath US sanctions, saying Seoul was holding the cash “hostage”.
A South Korean finance ministry official declined to say how a lot of the Iranian frozen funds stay after this cost of UN dues and one other launch final yr, citing confidentiality legal guidelines.