Tehran maintains it has paid its dues to the world body regularly and that the economic sanctions have made payments increasingly difficult for the country.
Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has strongly condemned a United Nations decision to strip Tehran of its voting rights at the UN General Assembly.
In a letter to the UN chief Zarif said taking away Iran's voting privileges violates the UN Charter and the spirit of sovereign equality of member states.
He said Iran failed to pay its dues because of extreme conditions imposed by the US on its banking relations. Zarif stressed that Washington's "economic terrorism has faced Iran with difficulty buying food and medicine, let alone paying its UN fees”.
He accused the United States of attempting to mass starve the Iranian people, and condemned the United Nations’ inaction on anti Iran sanctions.
In the meantime, Iran maintains that it has always paid its dues to the international body, despite the sanctions.
The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, declared that the country has regularly paid its UN membership dues during the past years, despite unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, which have made financial transactions difficult for the Islamic Republic.
Mr Khatibzadeh said Tehran has been in talks with the UN treasury to settle the debt. He also urged the world body to introduce a self transaction channel after the US blocked the previous channels used by the Islamic Republic to transfer money.
The foreign ministry spokesperson said Iran has proposed using its frozen assets in South Korea to pay off the arrears.
He said the United Nations Secretariat is completely aware of the details of the issue, which he said Iran was not to blame.
According to a statement by the UN General Assembly, as of 21st of May 2021, five member states are subject to provisions of article 19 of the charter, including Iran and the Central African Republic.