TEHRAN - The head of the Industries and Mines Committee of the Iranian Parliament has said Iran should not be a market for South Korean-made home appliance which is bowing to U.S. pressure by refusing to release the Iranian assets.

South Korea, which has filled the Iranian market with its goods, especially home appliances, has been refusing to unfreeze $7 billion of Iranian oil revenues since the U.S. imposed illegal sanctions against Iran.

"Seoul's justification for confiscating Iranian assets under U.S. sanctions is unacceptable because the United States is not allowed to impose its domestic laws on the international trade system," Ezatullah Akbari Talarpashti said in an interview with IRNA on Sunday. 

The MP said the Islamic Republic should take the necessary measures to prevent the import of Korean goods into the country.

On a plan by the parliament to reform the car market, the MP said: "Car import can only lead to market regulation if it is well managed. The fact that organizations or individuals and legal entities act to import cars without the necessary arrangements and management, the desired result of the administration and parliament will not be achieved to reduce car prices and create a competitive environment.”

Recently, the parliamentary adopted a legislation in which it allowed import of cars under certain circumstances.

The head of the parliamentary committee went on to say that the aim of the administration and the parliament is to defend the rights of the people.

"The parliament and the administration should deal with this issue wisely and this cannot be done hastily," he insisted.

Akbari Talarpashti stated that the provision of national interests is the goal of all projects related to exports and imports and added: 

Exports related to exports and imports will be successful only if they do not conflict the law, he pointed out.

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 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 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.  

MP calls on government to create competitive atmosphere for auto industry

Comparing home appliance and car markets, MP Akbari Talarpashti said the fact that car production in the country is in the hands of the administration is itself one of the barriers to production because government ownership increases costs and lowers efficiency.

"But this is not the case with home appliance production and due to the privatization of the country's home appliance manufacturing industries, there is hope for the development and prosperity of this industry, and even more support can be provided for the export of products in this field to neighboring countries and other markets."

The MP ruled out that home appliances are expensive due to the progress of these industries in the country.

It is hoped the administration allow the private sector take the driver’s seat in the car industry as in the production of home appliances, the MP remarked.

The administration's duty is to support and provide a situation for production of high-quality goods in a “competitive environment", he added.

Akbari Talarpashti called on the Raisi administration not to continue the previous plans in car manufacturing. "The revolutionary administration should take action to privatize the car industry with an open mind, because in a competitive environment with private sector management, our country can produce high-quality cars that can compete in domestic market and in regional and global markets," he opined.

He said Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a great opportunity for all Iranian industries to find markets for their products in the member states of the organization, he suggested.

The senior MP stressed the need to pay attention to the private sector, saying: "State-owned industries depend on cheap loans, state budgets, and facilities, and the Raisi administration must take industries out of this situation and leave it to the private sector and provide incentives for domestic and foreign investors and entrepreneurs."