The chairman of the Iranian parliament's foreign policy commission has said that if the issue of frozen Iranian assets in South Korea is resolved, that could help the release of a Korean oil tanker seized by Tehran.

According to media reports in Iran, Mojtaba Zonnour, head of the parliament's Commission of National Security and Foreign Policy, made this remark during online talks earlier this week with his South Korean counterpart, lawmaker Song Young-gil, who chairs the Korean parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

Zonnour reportedly said that if Seoul swiftly returns the frozen assets, that could have an effect on the judiciary's decision on the tanker release.

Under U.S. sanctions on Iran, some seven billion dollars in payments for Iran's oil exports are currently held up in banks in South Korea.

The Iranian official called for substantive measures to build mutual trust, saying Korea has yet to make any move out of fear of U.S. sanctions.

But he argued the vessel was seized due to environmental reasons and not for the lifting of frozen funds, stressing the two cases are separate.

Local media also reported that Song has been invited to Iran.

Iran's judiciary had the oil tanker, MT Hankuk Chemi, detained in the Strait of Hormuz on January 4 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, citing pollution.