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| On the afternoon of the 5th of last month, an employee at the Korean Chemie Ship Management Company in Haeundae-gu, Busan, is checking CCTV showing the Korean Chemie being captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. 2021.1.5/News1 © News1 Reporter Yeo Ju-yeon |
The U.S. launched an air raid on a Syrian militia facility supported by Iran. It is expected that Iran’s backlash against attacks directly aimed at pro-Iran forces.
Accordingly, some are concerned that if the conflict between the United States and Iran intensifies, the’post-storm’ will affect the detention of Korean ships detained in Iran.
Defense Ministry spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on the 25th (local time) that “at the direction of US President Joe Biden, the US military launched an air strike on the infrastructure used by armed groups supported by Iran in eastern Syria this evening.” Revealed.
“The air strike was approved as a response to the recent attacks and ongoing threats against US and coalition troops in Iraq,” said Kirby. The U.S. Department of Defense explained that the air raid destroyed several facilities of militias supported by Iran, such as Kataib Hezbollah (KH) and Kataib Said Al-Shuhada (KSS).
The attack is interpreted as a response to a rocket attack on the US military base in Erbil, Iraq on the 15th. At that time, a rocket attack killed one civilian and injured a number, including one American soldier.
It is observed that the decision of the Biden administration’s air strike has a variety of messages. First of all, it is an analysis that it has declared that there is a clear difference from the time of the Barack Obama administration.
Iran, the leader of the Islamic Shiite group, has been supporting government forces led by President Bashar al-Assad after civil war in Syria in 2011. Former President Obama said several times that the Al-Assad regime would punish military personnel with chemical weapons, but he did not implement it.
On the other hand, President Biden approved the air raid more than a month after taking office. It is an observation that it is a kind of’trailer’ that the execution of military action is different from that of Obama’s time.
Second, it is an assessment that it threw a clear warning message against Iran. In particular, the attack came while the Biden administration is attempting to talk with Iran ahead of negotiations to return to the nuclear agreement (JCPOA).
Currently, the US and Iran are fighting each other, calling for compliance with the nuclear agreement and lifting of sanctions. In particular, in addition to the existing nuclear agreements, the US is in a position that it should also include damage to regional order and ballistic missiles.
Park Won-gon, a professor of International Area Studies at Handong University, said, “The Biden administration said,’I will raise a problem with Iran acting as an unstable factor in the region’, but this case seems to be one of them.” Said.
If the conflict between the United States and Iran intensifies and the cold air flows, observations are raised that it will adversely affect the Korean vessel detention case.
On the 4th of last month, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard captured the Korean Chemie in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz for environmental pollution. Iran decided on the 2nd to release 19 Korean Kemi ship crew members, but retained its decision to detain the captain and ships.
Iran is in a position that the export price of crude oil, which is currently frozen in Korea, is $7 billion (about 7.6 trillion won) and the case of detaining ships is’separate’. However, the government is constantly pressing the government to resolve the frozen fund problem.
Currently, it is known that the United States has agreed to transfer some of the funds agreed between Korea and Iran to Switzerland regarding the frozen funds issue.