Dehghan said on Saturday that the bill sent to Iranian parliament earlier in the day on blocked funds in South Korea was to obtain the permission of the legislature on the Article 139 of The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
With the consideration of the mutual agreement for promotion and protection of investment between Iran and South Korea, Iran will take any legal action needed to secure the release of the frozen assets in Seoul, he added.
The official made the remarks hours after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a letter sent a bill to Iranian parliament on referring the dispute with South Korea to international arbitration.
The bill, ratified by the Cabinet on July 5, aims at retrieving the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)’s frozen funds in South Korea as well as damages caused by the delay in their release.
Iran has more than $7 billion worth of blocked funds from the sale of oil and petrochemical products in the past to South Korean in two banks in the country.
Over the last five years, Seoul has refused to release the money under the pretext of complying with US sanctions against Iran.
South Korea was the third largest customer of Iranian crude oil before 2018, when the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and slapped harsh economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
According to Article 139 of The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, resolving the litigation related to public and state property or referring it to arbitration is contingent, in each case, upon the approval of the Council of Ministers, and must be communicated to the country's parliament.
Accordingly, in cases where the party to the dispute is a foreigner and in important internal cases, it must also be approved by the parliament.
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