Iran spokesman slams South Korea over frozen assets

SEOUL (AP) — An Iranian government spokesman has called South Korea a “hostage taker” over freezing Tehran’s $7 billion in assets there. Ali Rabiei’s comments on Tuesday come a day after Iran seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. While Iran claims it seized the ship over polluting the Persian Gulf and the strait, the move came just ahead of a South Korean diplomat heading to Tehran to negotiate over the funds frozen amid a U.S. pressure campa