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Iranian officials in their own media
Opinion “How about the vaccine exchange with Korea?”
On the 4th (local time), the Iranian Revolutionary Guard published a video of the process of capturing the Korean national ship ‘Korea Chemi’ (17,426 tons) in the Strait of Hormuz, an important route for the transportation of crude in oil-producing countries. from the Middle East. The video, believed to have been shot from a helicopter, includes a scene of a small high-speed boat belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard approaching Korean chemists. FARS News Video Capture
Isn’t Iran’s true intention to buy Korea’s COVID-19 vaccine by proxy? Iran reaffirmed that the issue of the detention of Korean ships on the 6th is a “completely technical problem” related to marine pollution, and showed a strong attitude that “it is not necessary” in the plan of the visit to Korea. However, the detention time is too subtle and the answer is too harsh to say that it is a “ completely technical question ”, like Iran’s superficial claim, which inevitably deepens the government’s complaints about which is the real one. interior of Iran. In this regard, the fact that attracted great interest in Korea on the 5th is that Iran tried to purchase a Cobiz 19 vaccine using a portion of around $ 7 billion (7 trillion won) of crude oil stored in Korea. Since 2010, Korea and Iran have entered into won trade agreements through the Central Bank of Iran accounts opened in Korea. However, when the United States selected Iran as a Specially Designated International Terrorist Organization (SDGT) in September 2019, trade between the two countries practically came to a halt. As a result, about 7 billion to 8 billion dollars (about 7.6 trillion to 870 trillion won) are tied to Korea. Iran, which is suffering greatly from US economic sanctions, has vigorously requested the return of funds by appealing to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July last year, saying it can sue the Korean government. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 5th, so far 12,49507 cases of Covid 19 have been confirmed in Iran, of which 55,560 have died. Buying a vaccine is inevitably an urgent national task. The Foreign Ministry admitted on the 5th that discussions have taken place between South Korea and Iran. A Foreign Ministry official said: “The Iranian government (CoVex Co., Ltd., an international project for the joint purchase of a vaccine for Corona 19) was trying to secure a vaccine through the ‘Kobex Facility’. We discussed various ways with the US Department of the Treasury on the issue of using Korean won funds to make the payment. It got special approval from the US Department of the Treasury and we were going to pay accordingly, but if the Iranian side converts it to dollars during the sending process, the money goes to the US bank, but the government of The US has yet to make a decision due to concerns about what to do with this money. “He said. In other words, Iran was considering a humanitarian item, the Corona 19 vaccine, with frozen funds stored in Korea, and the US. It approved it, but did not trust the US, so the final decision was not made. It means that we know that considerable diplomatic efforts have been made to resolve this issue on the basis of this. over the cups to secure the vaccine.
