US sanctions prevented Iran from paying United Nations dues on January 19.
The spokesperson for the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Paulina Kubik, announced that Iran and a number of other member states have paid the financial arrears owed to them in the budget of the organization, effectively restoring the country’s voting rights.
It should be recalled that unilateral US sanctions prevented Iran from paying United Nations dues on January 19, putting it on a list of countries in arrears with several others.
It is worth mentioning that the right to vote of a member nation is suspended under the UN charter when its arrears equal to or exceed the dues it should have paid during the previous two years.
Last year, Iran’s unpaid dues resulting from unilateral US sanctions also made it lose a vote. After months of discussions, it was granted an exception, allowing it to access funds banned by the US Treasury, and it regained its vote in June, just in time for the election of new Security Council members.
South Korea announced Sunday that it had used $18 million in frozen Iranian funds to pay Tehran’s UN dues and restore the country’s voting rights.
The payment had been “completed” on Friday according to the Tehran mission to the UN.
In July, former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated Iran’s clear right to utilize assets illegally held in South Korean banks.
Before the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement and imposed crushing sanctions in a failed attempt to subjugate the country, Iran was South Korea’s third-largest trading partner in the Middle East.
Due to unilateral US sanctions, Iran has more than $7 billion in money for oil exports blocked at two South Korean banks.
Source: Almayadeen English
