Iranian officials in their own media
Opinion “How about’bartering’ a vaccine with Korea?”
On the 4th (local time), the Iranian Revolutionary Guards released a video of the process of capturing the Korean national ship’Korea Chemi’ (17,426 tons) in the Hormuz Strait, a major crude oil transport route in Middle Eastern oil producing countries. The video, which is believed to have been shot from a helicopter, includes a scene of a small high-speed boat belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard approaching the Korean chemistry. FARS news video capture
Is Iran’s real intention to’buy a proxy’ for Korea’s Corona 19 vaccine? Iran reaffirmed that the issue of detaining 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 time of detention is too subtle and the response is too harsh to say that this issue is a completely’technical issue’ as Iran’s superficial assertion, which inevitably deepens the government’s grievance about what Iran’s’real inside’ is. In this regard, the fact that attracted great interest in Korea is that Iran attempted to purchase a Corona 19 vaccine by using a portion of about $7 billion (7 trillion won) of crude oil stored in Korea. Since 2010, Korea and Iran have been making trade settlements in won through the accounts of the Iranian Central Bank 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 virtually ceased. Accordingly, about 7 billion to 8 billion dollars of Iranian money (about 7.76 trillion to 870 trillion won) is being tied to Korea. Iran, which is suffering greatly from US economic sanctions, has strongly requested the return of funds by appealing to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July of last year, saying that it can sue the Korean government. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 5th, there have been 12,49507 confirmed cases of Corona 19 in Iran so far, of which 55605 have died. The purchase of a vaccine is bound to be an urgent national task. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs admitted on the 5th that discussions have been conducted between South Korea and Iran. An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The Iranian government (an international project for co-purchasing a vaccine for COVID-19) was trying to secure a vaccine through’Kobex Facility’. We discussed various ways with the U.S. Treasury Department over the issue of using Korean won funds to make payment. The US Treasury Department received special approval, and accordingly, we tried to pay, but if Iran converts it into dollars during the remittance process, the money goes into the US bank, but the US government has yet to make a decision because of concerns about what to do with this money.” Said. In other words, Iran was considering a humanitarian item, the Corona 19 vaccine, with frozen funds stored in Korea, and the approval of the United States fell, but it did not believe in the United States, so the final decision was not made. If so, Iran also knows that Korea has made considerable diplomatic efforts to solve this problem on the basis of goodwill. There is no reason to put harsh pressures on ships to secure the vaccine.
article announcing that Iran plans to pursue negotiations with South Korea to exchange (barter) the freeze funds and the Corona 19 vaccine.” alt=”A 3-day 3 days to announce that Iran plans to pursue negotiations with South Korea to exchange (barter) freeze funds and corona 19 vaccine <테헤란 타임스> Article
At this point, there are comments from Iranian officials that should be considered. On the 3rd, Iran’s English-language press met with Iran’s First Vice President Shag Jahangiri and Hosein Tanhai, Chairman of the Korea-Iran Chamber of Commerce and Industry the day before, saying, “The bank of Korea’s oil exports freeze funds and Covid19 vaccines and other goods were exchanged. )”. One thing to pay attention to here is that Iran uses the expression barter, which means’barter’. President Tan Hai said, “I will propose how to exchange our money and the corona vaccine in Korea. “We will see how much Koreans are willing to cooperate in bargaining for certain items on our list,” the article said. Following, citing officials, Iran suggested raw materials, medicines, petrochemicals, auto parts, household electronics, etc., in addition to the COVID-19 vaccine as specific items that Iran wanted. Combining the comments of South Korean government officials with those of Iranian officials in the following estimates are possible. Iran has hurried to buy vaccines to cope with the growing number of corona19 confirmed cases in its country, and Iran, under severe economic sanctions from the United States, tried to use the enormous amount of money that South Korea is holding, worth 7 trillion won. The first plan was to purchase directly from Iran through Kobex facilities. However, in the process of passing Iranian funds through the US bank, the United States recognized the risk of seizing this money again, and eventually failed to make a decision. If so, how about Korea buying vaccines on behalf of Korea and replacing them with frozen funds in Korea (Barter)? However, Iran wasn’t sure whether Korea would cooperate in the current situation where countries are struggling to secure vaccines. President Tan Hai also says, “I will watch.” Eventually, it may have needed a’diplomatic leverage’ that could move the Korean government. Of course, as officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeatedly stated, “predictions are not allowed,” and of course, you must respond to the situation with various scenarios. Currently, Iran has repeatedly emphasized that the issue of detaining ships is a thorough technical problem. However, in the bloody international politics of the Middle East, it is difficult to believe the word as it is when you consider the hard history of Iran, which has survived by confronting the’Marshal of Cheolcheonji’ the United States, the’rival’ Israel, and the equally hated’rival’ Saudi Arabia. The diplomatic temperament is inevitably different from that of Korea, which has been’diplomacy in the greenhouse’ under the Korea-US alliance. There is a possibility of raising the bargaining power by avoiding direct bargaining, saying that vaccines and vessel detention have nothing to do with it, and there is a possibility that demands such as an exchange (barter) of the Corona 19 vaccine will be poured out at once. By Gil Yoon-hyung, staff reporter [email protected]