Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has advanced a motion in parliament concerning South Korea’s unpaid crude import debts to Tehran, according to a report from the official Islamic Republic News Agency on Saturday. The motion, presented to Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on July 22, is titled “Referring the dispute between the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the Republic of Korea government to arbitration.”
The bill, ratified by the cabinet on July 5, represents the commencement of legal processes to retrieve the CBI’s frozen financial assets in South Korean banks and to compel South Korea to pay compensation for the delay in debt settlement.
It is believed that Iran has over $7 billion locked in two South Korean banks, inaccessible due to fears of possible US sanctions. Prior to 2018, South Korea was one of Iran’s largest crude oil customers, before Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reinstated sanctions on Iran.