Iranian deputy president for legal affairs says the country will spare no legal efforts to force South Korea to release nearly $7 billion worth of Iranian funds that have remained blocked in the country for the past 5 years.







“With the consideration of the mutual agreement for promotion and protection of investment between the two countries, the legal office of the Presidency will spare no legal efforts to return the nation’s properties,” Mohammad Dehghan said in a post on domestic social media platform Virasty on Saturday.

The post came hours after Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi submitted a bill to the Iranian parliament that asked for the approval of the legislature to refer the dispute over the funds with South Korea to international arbitration.

The move comes after Iran repeatedly asked South Korea to stop complying with Washington’s unilateral regime of sanctions on Iran and repatriate the funds.

Economic and political authorities of the two countries have held rounds of negotiations in the past three years to work out a solution on the issue.

Dehghan said, however, that despite the legal measure initiated by Iran, the path will still be open to secure the release of the funds in South Korea through political channels.

Dehghan said the bill submitted to the parliament on Saturday is based on the Article 139 of the Iranian Constitution which requires the administration to secure the approval of the country’s parliament before going to arbitration on cases related to public or governmental assets.

By Mehr