South Korea has used $18 million in Iranian funds frozen in Korean banks to settle Tehran's arrears to UN budgets, Seoul announced on Sunday, which will allow Iran to quickly recover its right to vote at the United Nations.
Read alsoEight states, including Iran, lose their right to vote at the UN
This payment was made Friday in cooperation with the United States and the United Nations, after Iran had "
urgently requested
" South Korea to pay the sum owed, explained the South Korean finance minister in a statement.
"
The payment of contributions to the UN of Iran (more than 18 million dollars) has been made
", confirmed the Iranian diplomatic mission.
As of Friday, UN sources had indicated that just over 18 million dollars from Iran had been released to Seoul to settle the UN.
This amount was the minimum of the arrears owed by Tehran to the United Nations to be able to recover its right to vote within the Organization, lost at the beginning of January.
Iran has more than $7 billion in funds earmarked for oil exports, frozen in two South Korean banks due to US sanctions.
"
Iran's right to vote in the UN General Assembly should be immediately restored with this payment
," the South Korean ministry added.
Iran was South Korea's third-largest trading partner in the Middle East before the United States unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and reimposed trade-crippling sanctions.
Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations provides for the suspension of the right to vote in the General Assembly for any country whose amount of arrears is equal to or greater than the contribution owed by it for the past two full years.
On January 11, the UN Secretary General announced that Iran had to pay 18.4 million dollars to recover its right to vote.
Last year, Iran had already lost its right to vote due to non-payment.
Tehran had said it could not meet the minimum required for its debts to the UN due to economic and financial sanctions imposed by the United States.
After several months of negotiations, Tehran was able in June to use funds blocked in South Korea to pay the minimum debts required and recover its right to vote, just before the election of new members to the Security Council of the UN.
