By Philip Iglauer
While Robert Einhorn, the U.S. point man on nonproliferation, is in Seoul to persuade Korea to join new sanctions against Iran, Tehran’s chief representative here pushed right back.
Iranian Ambassador to Korea Ahmad Masoumifar said Seoul should follow its own economic and national interests, describing pressure from Washington to join new sanctions as tantamount to the U.S. imposing its domestic law on international law.
U.S. sanctions are “a dangerous idea” meant to impose U.S. domestic law internationally, and the Korean government will be the first to lose if it goes along with it, Masoumifar added.
“If the Korean government takes this course of action, it will be the first loser,” Masoumifar said Tuesday in an interview with The Korea Times at the Iranian Embassy in Seoul.
“It is not difficult for Iran to substitute its clients. We are producing about 80 million barrels and there is demand for about 90 million,” he said. “If (the Korean government) is to curb and limit relations with Iran, it will lose in future relations with Iran.”
The three day visit by Einhorn, the State Department’s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, which ends today, comes amid mounting global tension over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Late last month, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that imposes tough new sanctions against financial institutions dealing with the central bank of Iran accused of financing the nuclear weapons program.
Masoumifar compared the international pressure that Iran is facing now to the international buildup in 2003 leading to the war in Iraq.
“The same thing happened to Iraq, and a war broke out based on baseless accusations and unproved reports, for example, from The Sunday Times, and a war broke out in which more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis were killed,” he said. “The U.S. government, based on unfounded reports and accusations, attacked Iraq and destroyed that country.”
Einhorn, who last visited Korea in early December, is accompanied by Daniel Glaser, the U.S. Treasury’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes.
Korean officials said that Seoul has not yet made a decision on the level of cuts of oil imports from Iran. One hypothetical scenario has Seoul cautiously cutting imports of Iranian crude to the 2010 level.
Masoumifar described relations with Korea as historically dating back more than 1,500 years, during a one-hour interview at the Iranian Embassy, a modernist structure of concrete and glass, more office building than diplomatic mission. He said his countryoil export relationship with Korea dates to when bilateral relations started 50 years ago.
This is a landmark year for Iran and Korea, as the two nations will celebrate half a century of ties with cultural events planned including concerts and a National Day reception.
Global tensions have placed the two countries in an awkward position.
While Seoul is engaged with Pyongyang on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, Iran is accused of secretly developing nuclear weapons in violation of the international Nonproliferation Treaty, a charge the Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied.
“As Iran has repeatedly declared, our activities are peaceful and for civilian electricity production, and are under the supervision of the IAEA,” Masoumifar said. “In Iran we try to set laws according to Islam and, based on the Islamic religion, the production and development of such weapons is prohibited.
“Our motto is nuclear energy for everybody, nuclear arms for nobody,” he added.
Oil industry observers in Korea acknowledge that the cost of U.S. sanctions could be onerous to Korea, as its refinery capacity is specifically geared to cheaper Iranian crude and the Korean economy is energy intensive. South Korea with its heavy industrial base is the world’s fifth-biggest oil importer.
Saudi Arabia is Korea’s top crude supplier at 850,000 barrels a day. Kuwait is No. 2 exporting 350,000 barrels and Iran No. 3 with about 260,000, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are No. 4 and 5, respectively.
One report estimates that decreasing oil imports from Iran to the 2010 level would cost Korea about $100 million, under ideal circumstances where Seoul can substitute those imports with other Middle East sources.