TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution on Thursday endorsed a call by local producers to ban the import of home appliances from two South Korean companies – LG and Samsung - to Iran.

The order by Ayatollah Khamenei followed after a number of local producers of home appliances said reports have surfaced about allowing import of home appliances from South Korean companies, and sought the Leader’s help in this regard.

The request comes as in recent years the Leader of the Islamic Revolution has been insisting on the importance of local production and banning the import of goods that their kinds are made at home.

Endorsing the local producers’ request, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution wrote a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi in which he asked if the report about imports from the two Korea companies is “true it means breaking the back of domestic home appliance companies which have newly been able to stand on their own foot to some degree.”

“Halt the emergence of this problem,” Ayatollah Khamenei insisted in the letter. 

Following the letter, the president ordered the industry and commerce minister to prevent import of home appliance from the two companies.

Reports of import from South Korea come as Seoul has been freezing about 7 billion dollars of the Iranian assets in the recent years upon an illegal request by the United States.

Moreover, Samsung and LG left Iran at the time illegal sanctions were introduced on Iran, leaving a bad memory of themselves in the minds of the Iranian citizens. 

Prior to the order by the Leader, some people and officials in the country said those companies which left Iran alone in difficult days should not be allowed to return to the country even if sanctions are lifted.

In the first sanctions that dated before the 2015 nuclear deal – JCPOA – LG and Samsung did not leave Iran. 

Banning the two South Korean companies from the 85-million Iranian market will be felt strongly by the East Asian country.