Iran raises voice as S. Korea can lose billions in investments

June 29, 2012 | Asia, Government & Regulations

Iran_oil_sanctionsIran seriously change its relationship with South Korea, if the country continues to follow the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, Iran’s ambassador to South Korea Ahmad Masumifar said, IRNA reported.

South Korea said on Monday it would halt imports of Iranian crude from July 1 due to a European Union ban on insuring tankers carrying Iranian oil, becoming the first major Asian consumer of Iranian crude to announce suspension of imports.

South Korea, the world’s fourth largest buyer of Iranian crude, has said it had no plan to provide state guarantee like Japan to continue its imports and the economy ministry has said it had already secured most of its replacement oil from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Ambassador Masumifar warned that import of Korean companies’ goods in Iran can be stopped completely if the oil exports from Iran are stopped.

Last year trade turnover between Iran and South Korea reached approximately $10 billion.

Such companies as LG, Samsung, Hyundai, Hanjyn, Daewoo Shipbuilding can suffer a lot because of the billions-worth investments made in Iran.

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi warned South Korea on Thursday that Tehran would reconsider ties with Seoul if the country stopped importing oil from Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The United States earlier this month extended exemptions from its sanctions on Iran’s oil trade to seven more countries including South Korea.

Asia’s top buyers of Iranian oil have cut imports by more than a quarter of a million barrels per day in the first five months of the year as they prepared for U.S. sanctions that take effect on Thursday and the curbs to be imposed by the EU.