"Rancid": Iranian Newspaper Close to IRGC Lashes Out at South Korean Ambassador

The Iranian hardline newspaper Javan, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has called the South Korean ambassador to Tehran "rancid" and claimed even his expulsion from Iran would not be sufficient punishment. The reason? His recent donation of 2,000 N-19 masks to a private hospital in Tehran.

"The ambassador of a country that has taken seven billion dollars of Iranian money hostage is showing off with a package of masks, and some stupid Iranians are helping him humiliate us, which increases the billion-dollar damage a hundred times over," the newspaper bawled on Tuesday, November 2. Javan also accused the managers of Atieh Hospital in Tehran of being “ignorant” for taking the donation from Yun Kang-hyeo: "The managers of this hospital do not have any understanding, even at the level of novice media or political activists."

Officials and other Iranian media also lined up to attack the South Korean ambassador. It comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries, as South Korea continues to hold onto around $7bn of Iranian assets frozen due to US sanctions. Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh called the donation “a joke”, adding: “no nation will tolerate another nation [stealing] from it.”

In response to the attacks, the Republic of Korea in Tehran’s official Twitter account posted: "The Iran-Korea friendship is 60 years old. Korea provided $27 million in assistance to Iran in supporting Afghan refugees, as well as about $8 million assistance in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, including one million AstraZeneca vaccines and one million masks and PCR kits."

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