Iran urges Japan to release Iranian frozen assets, says delay 'unjustifiable'

After holding the United States responsible for not fulfilling commitments of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JOCPOA) or the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Iran on Sunday asked Japan to immediately free frozen funds as a result of US economic sanctions on Tehran over its ambitious nuclear programme. Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi called the delaying of the release of the Islamic republic’s assets in Japanese banks as “unjustifiable,” the Iranian government website noted.

In his meeting with the visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Raisi demanded that Tokyo remits the billions of dollars Iranian assets stuck since former US President Trump’s enforced his unilateral embargo under the US policy of ‘maximum pressure’ to bring Iran to its knees. 

Iranian President Raisi told his Japanese counterpart that Tehran has complied with all its obligations under the JCPOA and "it is the Americans who have not fulfilled their obligations and unilaterally withdrew from the international agreement and expanded sanctions."

He continued, "Naturally, a country that has adhered to its obligations should be commended, and if a country that has withdrawn from the deal and not fulfilled its obligations must be reprimanded, and the Americans must be accountable to the world public opinion."

Stating that Iran holds no doubts about the principle of negotiation, Raisi asked "With what justification should the US sanctions against the Iranian nation continue?"

Japan, an ally with Iran, has been caught between the bilateral feuds between Iran and Washington since Yoshihide Suga’s predecessor Shinzo Abe’s presidency. Even when the two countries have sought to enhance diplomatic and economic ties, and maintain friendly relations, Japan has remained unresolved about curtailing US-imposed sanctions on the Islamic republic regime.

[Iran's Raisi's first meeting with Japan. Credit: Twitter/@moteging]

Both Japan as well as South Korea are the major technology exporters to Iran and have held billions of dollars in assets since Trump warned countries, including India, against buying oil from Iran or trading unless Iran scaled back nuclear stockpiling, becoming compliant to JCPOA terms. Earlier this year, South Korea stated at a presser that it had managed to resolve a dispute over $7 billion frozen assets blocked from Iran after the US, in a more lenient approach, allowed Iran to use frozen funds to settle its debts to Japan and South Korea. 

Japan and South Korea-linked firms have been permitted to receive payments from US-targeted Iranian accounts to pay for exports, the US State Department had announced in a statement in April. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a waiver easing the stringent sanctions on Tehran, and extending it by 90 days as "these repayment transactions can sometimes be time-consuming," a State Department spokesperson told reporters. The waiver, although, did not allow Japan or South Korea to transfer any funds to Iran.

Iran asks Tokyo to mediate and push US to ease 'tyrannical' sanctions

As Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi arrived in Tehran for a dialogue with newly-elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a former Iranian deputy foreign minister to succeed Zarif under the Raisi administration on 21 August, Iran stressed for Japan to mediate and push the United States to ease the sanctions.

[President Raisi, who just took office earlier this month, meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Credit: Twitter/@moteging]

Diplomatic sources told the Iranian press that Raisi discussed US sanctions in telephone talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He held a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and held discussions on a range of issues including overturning what he called 'tyrannical' US sanctions. Japan’s Motegi, meanwhile, is on a trip to the Middle East and is also expected to visit Israel.