Tehran's methods for resolving acute issues in international politics are becoming increasingly harsh - and at the same time proving effective.

The South Korean case is worthy of a separate study.

On January 4, 2021, the Hankuk Chemi tanker was detained in the Persian Gulf, navigating the Persian Gulf under the flag of South Korea.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval ships surrounded the vessel and, boarded, escorted it to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

There were 20 people on board the South Korean tanker: five Koreans, 11 Burmese, two Indonesians, two Vietnamese.

The vessel carried 7,200 tons of petrochemicals, including ethanol, and "the tanker has repeatedly violated environmental protocols since sailing from the Saudi port of Jubail," the IRGC claims.

According to the DM Shipping Co., which owned the tanker, the ship was in international waters when the captain urgently informed the company via audio that the Iranian military was boarding and demanded to follow them to the Iranian port for an inspection, ignoring questions about the reasons for the detention and route change.

After that, the captain activates the pirate attack warning system, thanks to which the video signal from the surveillance cameras installed on the tanker is turned on and transmitted.

And the entire Iranian special operation is being broadcast live.

At DM Shipping Co.

claim that three months ago the vessel was checked accordingly and no malfunctions were identified, and if there were any leaks or pollution from the tanker, other vessels would have already notified Hankuk Chemi about it - fortunately, the route is quite busy and active.

The company expressed confidence that the tanker will be released in a day and will continue to sail to the port of Fujairah, the United States called for the immediate release of the South Korean tanker and notified that the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy, based in Bahrain, is aware of the incident and is monitoring the situation.

A South Korean anti-piracy unit stationed in the Strait of Hormuz was dispatched to the area.

But what could the South Koreans do with their special forces?

Invade Iran's borders and start a war?

Of course not.

And the Iranians knew this: because of a chemical tanker with Burmese, Vietnamese and Indonesians accompanying the chemical tanker, they do not start a war, even if there are five of your citizens.

And Iran is not detaining foreigners and foreign ships in order to sort it out and release.

Long years of sanctions have introduced the tactics of taking hostages - people, ships, companies - into use in Iranian politics in order to bargain and get the best possible for the saved life or freedom.

It is not for nothing that the South Korean tanker turned on the pirate attack warning system.

Only Iran, trained by its American partners, even legally conducts hostage-taking.

“The South Korean tanker was seized by Iran due to environmental pollution in the waters of the Persian Gulf.

At the time of the arrest of the Iranian Navy, the ship was in the territorial waters of Iran.

The problem of the tanker will be resolved within the framework of the judicial process.

Naturally, the Iranian government cannot interfere in the trial, ”said Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

A tanker is moored in the port of Bandar Abbas, five South Korean citizens are held hostage in a prison.

What the US says there, in Iran, few cares.

On January 10, an impressive team of diplomats under the leadership of South Korean First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong Kun arrives in Tehran from Seoul to rescue the tanker.

With a team of South Korean diplomats - the country's financial officials.

And it's clear why.

All the covers of Iranian newspapers triumphantly print photos of a huge Korean delegation arriving in Iran to bow, and write: "$ 7 billion of Iranian resources are frozen in Korean banks!"

And it turns out that it was not the Iranians who took the tanker hostage, but the Koreans who took Iranian money hostage.

Yes, exactly in this formulation.

Chairman of the Iranian Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Kamal Kharrazi said at a meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Korea that $ 7 billion of Iranian resources were taken hostage by Korean banks.

The meeting with the high-ranking South Korean diplomat was attended by the head of the Iranian Central Bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, who over the past year has become an important figure in Iranian politics: it is he who leads all the battles to free Iranian money from banks in other countries, frozen by Trump's orders.

Iran is so wounded by the last years of Trump's rule and his anti-Iranian policies that it does not even try to hide its resentment.

“We had assets in other countries, and we had access to them, despite US sanctions, but we were never able to get access to our assets in South Korea, which was one of Iran's main trading partners,” he said at the meeting. with Koreans the head of the Central Bank of Iran Hemmati.

"A year and a half ago, I spoke with South Korean officials, including the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy, and they promised to help, but they never did anything."

“$ 7 billion has been frozen in South Korean banks for more than two years,” he summed up.

Upon arrival on Sunday evening, the South Korean delegation met with Zarif's first deputy, Abbas Arakchi.

The South Korean diplomat began assuring Tehran that Seoul is determined to restore confidence in bilateral relations in the Christian new year.

“Restoring and expanding our bilateral relations will make sense only when the problem of unfreezing and releasing Iranian funds from your banks is resolved,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Deputy Prime Minister replied.

And in response to Choi's call to resolve the issue of the seizure of a South Korean oil tanker, he advised South Korea to avoid politicizing the issue and resolve the case in the Iranian judicial system (here, as they say, there is only one answer: “You’d better come to us, to Kolyma”).

Translated from the diplomatic: money in the morning - chairs in the evening (tanker).

From Sunday to Tuesday, a South Korean delegation of representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Finance, and possibly the government listened to numerous lectures on morality and lost opportunities.

(Watching one of the main buyers of your oil rush back and forth across the Persian Gulf, buying oil from Saudi Arabia, is probably really painful, and therefore the victim needs to be heard.)

"The freeze on Iran's financial resources in South Korea is a lack of political will in Seoul, not sanctions imposed by the Trump administration," - Abbas Arakchi, Iran's first deputy foreign minister.

“Years of sanctions have made Iran self-sufficient in many areas, including the production of household appliances, so Korean companies missed out on good opportunities in Iran,” - Kamal Kharrazi, chairman of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations.

“South Korea's behavior is a big mistake.

It is unacceptable for a serious country like yours to freeze Iran's assets by order of a third country.

I believe that South Korea should not jeopardize old and close relations with Iran because of the relations of other countries and a person like Trump, ”- the head of the Iranian Central Bank Abdolnaser Hemmati.

Well, time is on Iran's side: the last ten days of Trump's rule and his unprecedented position in the United States give South Korea and many other former partners of Iran to think again, to refuse to follow Trump's policies and remember friendship with Tehran.

Now there will be nothing for this, or maybe even the other way around - the Democrats who come to the White House and hate Trump fiercely will pat on the head for it.

Let's see what the South Korean Foreign Ministry leadership replied to the Iranians in Tehran: "Providing Iran with access to its assets in South Korea is one of the main priorities of the South Korean government."

Well, now the "most eastern" in this entire diplomatic history.

The visit of the delegation of the South Korean Foreign Ministry was planned, for a long time standing in the calendar of the two foreign ministries of the two countries, and was supposed to be devoted precisely to the problem of unblocking Iranian money.

The speaker of the Iranian diplomatic department Said Khatibzadeh stressed this with subtle sarcasm.

And the tanker was hijacked exactly one week before the Korean visit - of course, quite by accident.

"The Korean ship Hankuk Chemi has been arrested for repeated violations of Iran's environmental legislation and is due to pay compensation for environmental damage," said Chairman of the Iranian Shipping Association Masoud Polme.

Proving something in Iranian territorial waters, and then in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court is a trick beyond the control of any master.

This is Iranian realpolitik.



The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.