National
0

Int’l Community Urged to Ignore US Sanctions to Help Fight Viral Outbreak

Iran’s top diplomat explained that secondary sanctions make it virtually impossible for Iranians and other Iran-based individuals and entities to import medicine and medical equipment needed for combating the novel coronavirus
Int’l Community Urged to Ignore US Sanctions to Help Fight Viral Outbreak
Int’l Community Urged to Ignore US Sanctions to Help Fight Viral Outbreak

Iran’s Foreign Ministry called on the international community to disregard the United States’ sanctions against Tehran, while the country is grappling with the global pandemic of the new coronavirus. 
Aides of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held separate meetings with foreign envoys in Iran on Sunday to brief them on the latest developments in containing the disease and obstacles posed by the US sanctions to the supply of health and hygiene products, ISNA reported. 
They stressed that the American illegal and unilateral restrictions are the main impediment in the “comprehensive” and “effective” fight against the new illness known as COVID-19, emphasizing the need for the international community to refuse to recognize and implement those sanctions. 
Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran in 2018 after it withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal. The purpose of its so-called maximum pressure campaign is to force Iranian leaders to renegotiate a new deal covering more areas of Iran's activities.
The diplomats also handed over Zarif's letters to his counterparts on the issue, following his earlier correspondence with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
In the letter, the foreign minister has outlined how the US economic terrorism is specifically and directly undermining efforts to fight the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran. 
Zarif highlighted that although Iran's medical facilities and personnel are among the finest in the world, the country’s efforts to identify and treat its patients and combat the spread of the virus are stymied by “the economic terrorism" perpetrated by the US government. 
"[The US is] bullying others to refrain from engaging in legitimate trade with Iran … trying to drain and deplete our public as well private sector resources necessary for the very survival of the Iranian people," the letter read. 
It also explained that secondary sanctions make it virtually impossible for Iranians and other Iran-based individuals and entities to import medicine and medical equipment. 
"Even if foreign suppliers are found and the required items can be purchased with our assets abroad, myriad US shipping, insurance, financial and banking sanctions make such trade nonviable," he said. 
Imports of medical sterilizers from the European Union alone, for instance, have dropped by 75%, according to Zarif, and the same unfortunate trend is apparent in other aspects of Iran's trade with Europe.
The restrictions also prevent many Iranian citizens from accessing information from their own government about how to deal with COVID-19.
"Google’s immoral censoring of AC 19—the new Iranian app designed to help our citizens identify potential virus symptoms—is due to US economic terrorism, which does not spare Iranian developer accounts—whatever their purpose," it elaborated. 
In the end, Zarif asked those countries to join the Iranian people in demanding that the US government abandon its malign approach against Iran.
President Hassan Rouhani had earlier sent letters to a number of world leaders, informing how efforts to fight COVID-19 pandemic in Iran have been “severely hampered” by US sanctions and urging them to cease observing them. 

Add new comment

Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints

Financialtribune.com