SEOUL – South Korea today sends a delegation to Iran to seek the release of a tanker seized by Iranian forces in the Gulf waters, with a senior diplomat continuing a planned visit to Tehran on Sunday amid tensions of more than $ 7 billion Iranian funds are frozen in Korean banks due to US sanctions.
The news of the visits came when the Foreign Ministry in Seoul summoned the Iranian ambassador to South Korea for a meeting and requested the earlier release of the tanker with the flag of South Korea and its crew of 20. . It was carrying a load of more than 7,000 tons of ethanol when what were allegedly pollution violations were seized on Monday.
The incident comes as Iran increasingly shows signs of willingness to assert its claims in the region, while elected US President Joe Biden is preparing to step down as Donald Trump later this month.
On Monday, Tehran also said it had resumed 20 percent uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility: the Trump administration reinstated sanctions against Iran in 2018 after Washington withdrew from Tehran’s nuclear deal in 2015 with six major powers.
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Iranian Ambassador Saeed Badamchi Shabestari, when asked about the status of the ship’s crew before his meeting with the Seoul Foreign Ministry, told reporters “everyone is safe.”
Iranian state television earlier quoted a Tehran government official as saying that Korean Deputy Prime Minister Choi Jong-kun would visit before the tanker Hankuk Chemi was seized to discuss Iran’s demand that the frozen funds be released.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam told Foreign Minister Seoul in an information session on Tuesday.
“In the earliest possible time, a delegation at work level led by the regional director will be sent to Iran to try to resolve the issue on the ground through bilateral negotiations,” Choi said.
The ship’s Busan operator, Taikun Shipping Co. Ltd., told Reuters there was nothing before the seizure of the vessel that Iranian authorities might investigate violations of environmental rules.
“If it was really marine pollution, as they [Iranian media] says, the coastguard first had to approach the ship, “said Lee Chun-hee, director of Taikun, telephonically.” But instead, armed soldiers approached the crew and said they needed to be investigated. “
South Korea’s foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, said on Tuesday she was making diplomatic efforts to release the tanker and that she had made contact with her counterpart in Tehran, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Tilak Doshi, a visiting senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, the National University of Singapore, said the incident was an example of Iran’s willingness to enlarge its muscles as Joe Biden prepared to adopt, and that the frozen assets are likely to be acquired in talks with Seoul.
“In the negotiations on the release of the tanker and its crew, the release of funds by South Korea will undoubtedly be the biggest demand from the Iranian side,” he said.
Last Sunday, the Tehran Times reported that Iran was hoping to negotiate an agreement to use the frozen funds to exchange ‘vaccine doses’ in the fight against the global coronavirus pandemic and other commodities.
According to Yonhap, a Foreign Ministry official said the Iranian government was trying to secure vaccines through the global COVAX initiative, backed by the World Health Organization. Tehran was in talks with the ministry and the US Treasury to pay the doses with South Korean won, Yonhap said, citing a source in the ministry.