Referring to a letter by the UN Secretary-General António Manuel Guterres in which he has named countries for their debts to the international organization, Stéphane Dujarric noted that Iran is making efforts to resolve the issue, which comes as a result the money transfer problems it is facing.
He noted that Iranian officials have already announced that they have been in contact with the Secretariat for months to solve the problem which is mainly due to the unilateral US sanctions.
He added that the UN officials have been in close contact with the Iranian Permanent Representative office as well as other relevant Iranian officials.
He went on to stress that "It is quite clear to us that Iran has tried to find a way to pay the UN money."
The official further noted that the UN has been constantly exchanging views with Iran and is fully aware of Tehran's good will.
However, he reiterated, the UN has the duty of announcing to the General Assembly the list of countries that have not paid the specified amount.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN General Assembly this week that the Islamic Republic of Iran and eight other countries have not paid their dues to the UN budget, which jeopardizes their voting rights.
Subsequently, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Saeed Khatibzadeh stated that Iran had long been in contact with the UN Treasury regarding the introduction of a secure channel due to the blocking of US funding channels.
He underlined the fact despite sanctions Iran has always used its channels to pay the membership fees.
He stated that Iran's latest proposal is the payment of the debt through the use of blocked resources in South Korea by the UN with the permission of the Central Bank of Iran, which is being negotiated and coordinated by the UN Secretariat.
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