Iran’s Bank Mellat loses lawsuit in Korea over financial sanctions

An Iranian bank has lost a legal battle with Korea’s Finance Ministry to cancel a 2010 decision that suspended the bank’s local branch, a measure following international sanctions over Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program, court officials said Thursday.

The Seoul Administrative Court in a Thursday ruling rejected a request from Bank Mellat to nullify the decision, officials said.

Korea put 102 Iranian entities, including the Bank Mellat branch, and 24 individuals under government supervision in September 2010, as part of its package of sanctions to join a U.S.-led campaign to censure Tehran over its suspected nuclear program.

Bank Mellat, one of Iran’s biggest banks, filed the lawsuit with the Seoul court last September. (Yonhap News)