South Korea and Iran Foreign Ministers held phone talks, according to Yonhap

Ministerial calls of this kind between Seoul and Tehran have historically clustered around a narrow set of issues: Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks under sanctions, the treatment of Korean-flagged shipping and crews in Gulf waters, and the terms on which Korean refiners might resume Iranian crude purchases if sanctions were eased. The read-across for oil has run through the supply channel: past episodes of thaw between Washington and Tehran, or even hints of it, have priced the prospect of returning Iranian barrels and weighed on prompt crude, while purely bilateral contacts of this sort have rarely moved the tape on their own. The distinction that matters is whether the call is routine diplomacy or a precursor to movement on the frozen funds, since resolution of that dispute has previously served as an early marker of broader sanctions engagement. Without a statement of substance, the market signal is weak. The follow-ons worth noting are any readout from either foreign ministry, parallel contacts involving Washington, and positioning in Middle East crude differentials and freight where Iran-linked supply risk is most directly expressed.