MNA – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati to push South Korea to release billions of dollars of Iran's oil-export revenues.

In a phone conversation on Friday, Rouhani ordered Hemmati to take all the necessary actions in line with pushing South Korea to release Iran’s oil-export revenues and assets.

The president urged the CBI governor to follow the case via holding political talks as well as taking legal measures through international bodies.

"South Korea's ban on Iran's use of central bank resources to buy basic goods, medicine and humanitarian items is never acceptable, and we expect the South Korean government to lift this restriction as soon as possible," the president said.

Earlier this week, the top Iranian baker had called on South Korean banks to release Iran’s oil money frozen under US pressure, warning that the Islamic Republic reserves the right to take legal action under international law.

“It is appalling to see that South Korean banks have conveniently neglected their obligations, common international financial agreements, and decided to play politics and follow illegal and unilateral US sanctions,” Hemmati told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Iran could launch legal action to gain access to the funds, he said, without naming the lenders in question.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says South Korea is about $7 billion in arrears for oil exported before the Trump administration last year reimposed penalties on Iran’s crude sales.