Tight US sanctions targeting Tehran have effectively halted the exports of South Korean humanitarian goods to Iran, the East Asian country's media reported on Thursday, citing a source
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2019) Tight US sanctions targeting Tehran have effectively halted the exports of South Korean humanitarian goods to Iran, the East Asian country's media reported on Thursday, citing a source.
According to the Yonhap News Agency, Washington has recently requested that Seoul shares the details of the exports, and this has complicated financial transactions between South Korea and Iran for shipments of food and medical items.
In September, Washington announced new sanctions against Iran for its alleged role in the recent drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. The United States, in particular, sanctioned Iran's Central Bank for providing billions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the intelligence unit of the IRGC, dubbed Quds Force, and Hezbollah. It also sanctioned Iran's National Development Fund, which the US Treasury Department says is a major source of foreign currency and funding for the Quds Force, Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.
Washington, in particular, required third countries to provide information on trade with Iran.
The United States said last year that it was withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran and reimposing sanctions. The restrictions returned in two phases, with sanctions on Iran's oil trade going into force in November 2018. The United States initially granted several countries, including South Korea, waivers to keep importing Iranian oil, but this spring, the White House decided to end the exemptions.
According to the media outlet, since the end of sanction waivers for imports of Iranian oil, South Korean companies have faced difficulties with using the national currency, the won, in selling medicine, medical equipment and other humanitarian products to Iran.
