Iran "Rejects South Korea's Proposal to Send Ambulance"... South Korea "Never Made Such a Proposal First"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Mahmoud Vaezi, Chief of Staff to the President of Iran, announced on the 13th (local time) that he rejected South Korea's proposal to purchase and send ambulances using the funds of the Central Bank of Iran frozen in South Korea. On the other hand, the South Korean government countered that Iran had made such a proposal first and that negotiations had been ongoing since then.

On the same day, Chief of Staff Vaezi stated on the Iranian government website, "South Korea proposed exchanging the frozen Iranian funds amounting to billions of dollars for ambulances," adding, "Iran does not need ambulances."

Vaezi repeatedly emphasized that Iran needs the frozen funds in South Korea, not ambulances, and drew a clear line by saying that the visit of Choi Jong-geon, First Vice Foreign Minister, to Iran this week is unrelated to the detention of a South Korean vessel that occurred on the 4th. At the same time, he issued a warning that if South Korea fails to obtain permission from the U.S. side and cannot release the frozen funds, Iran is preparing preliminary steps for legal action.

Choi Jong-geon, First Vice Foreign Minister, visited Tehran on the 11th (local time) to secure the early release of sailors detained in Iran. Vice Minister Choi is taking a commemorative photo with Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Foreign Minister (right in the photo). Photo by Yonhap News

In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam rebutted at a briefing on the 14th, saying, "It is true that the Iranian side's opinion hoping to import ambulances was discussed, but we did not propose it first."

Approximately 7 billion dollars of Iranian oil export proceeds are deposited in won-denominated accounts under the name of the Central Bank of Iran, opened at two commercial banks in South Korea. South Korea and Iran had been settling payments for goods through these accounts since 2010 with approval from the U.S. Treasury Department, but the operation of these accounts was suspended and the funds frozen after the Trump administration tightened sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.