IRNA – Iran's Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade joined the campaign to boycott Samsung amid the protests to the move by the South Korean electronics giant in excluding Iranian athletes from its smartphones gift handout.


'Excluding Iranian athletes from those who receive Samsung smartphones in the Olympic Winter Games is insulting and the move is doomed,' Mohammad Shariatmadari said.

Organisers of the Winter Olympics said Wednesday that athletes from North Korea and Iran would not receive the Olympic-edition of its Galaxy Note 8 due to the 'existing UN sanctions'.

'Following the Foreign Minister, I will not use the brand's smartphones either, unless the company officially apologizes,' he said.

Earlier today, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that he would boycott Samsung smartphones in response to the conduct of the Korean company.

Shariatmadari said in a sarcastic manner that he wondered why the exports of the Samsung smarphones were not affected by the sanctions, but giving only four devices to the Olympic athletes is banned under the sanction regimes.

Some informed sources also reported today that the Minister of Communication and Information Technology is seeking to ban imports of the smartphones if the company does not excuse its conduct until the end of the day.

Following the controversial move by Samsung, South Korea's ambassador Kim Seung Ho was summoned to Iran's Foreign Minsitry.

The ministry warned that the company should apologize, or it will have serious repercussions for trade between the company and Iran.

Iran is one of the big markets of Samsung smartphones.