Iranian tutorial Mohammad Marandi has warned that Tehran would contemplate South Korea an enemy and will strike its financial and army pursuits throughout the Persian Gulf if Seoul joins the US-led struggle on Iran.
Talking on Al Mayadeen’s The Grand Standoff, Marandi said South Korea’s involvement in efforts to safe freedom of navigation by way of the Strait of Hormuz would expose its pursuits within the area to Iranian retaliation.
“If the South Koreans take part on this struggle towards Iran, Iran will see it because the enemy,” Marandi mentioned, including that Tehran would search to “destroy no matter belongings South Korea has on this area”.
These targets wouldn’t essentially be army installations, he mentioned, and Iranian strikes might embody South Korean belongings in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
“So the Koreans are very weak to Iran,” mentioned Marandi. “Iran can damage them very badly.”
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His feedback got here as South Korea considers potential naval contributions to efforts to revive freedom of navigation by way of the Strait of Hormuz, a significant waterway for international vitality provides.
Varied choices are into account, however no determination has been made, South Korea’s presidential workplace mentioned on Friday.
The workplace mentioned normal choices had been mentioned on doable army contributions, together with fight participation, noncombat roles and search operations, Al Jazeera reported.
“Please be suggested that nothing has been determined but regarding precise contributions,” the presidential workplace mentioned.
Seoul was contemplating sending army belongings to the area and looking for approval from parliament, South Korean media reported.
Choices into account included a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol plane and a naval logistics help ship, a report by The Guardian said.
South Korean broadcasters additionally reported {that a} navy explosive ordnance disposal crew might be included.
Any new deployment of army personnel must be reviewed by South Korea’s Nationwide Safety Council, handed by a decision of the cupboard and authorised by the Nationwide Meeting, the presidential workplace mentioned.
The talk comes as South Korea faces mounting pressure from Washington to affix efforts across the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump has blasted Seoul for not backing the US struggle on Iran and tied the spat to wider strains within the US-South Korea alliance.
South Korea additionally depends heavily on the waterway for its vitality provides.
Final yr, the nation relied on shipments traversing Hormuz for 61 p.c of its crude oil imports and 54 p.c of its naphtha imports.
Marandi mentioned the potential contribution was not prone to be a game-changer within the battle and mentioned South Korea had little army functionality to contribute to the US.
“What’s a ship or two from South Korea going to do? It’s silly,” he mentioned.
However he warned that any participation might have financial implications far past army belongings.
“Iran is not going to solely goal the South Korean army belongings, however Iran might simply destroy their financial belongings throughout the Persian Gulf area,” Marandi mentioned.
Underneath stress from Washington, South Korea expanded the deployment of an anti-piracy naval unit from Somalia to waters across the Strait of Hormuz in 2019.
Nonetheless, South Korea’s defence minister mentioned in March that any considerably totally different mission within the strait would require parliamentary consent.
