No Time for Vindictive Policies

Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi bemoaned the lives lost to the new coronavirus in Iran as a result of medical shortage caused by American sanctions, stressing that this is no time for “vindictive” policies. 
Iran came under sweeping sanctions by the US in 2018 after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal. 
The restrictions have hampered the supply of medical goods while the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic. 
In an article for the Guardian, Hanachi noted that urban administrators in Iran are facing a public health crisis due to the sanctions.  
“We could do differently, like every country in the world. But we are operating against the backdrop of the most extreme sanctions regime in history,” he wrote.
The US embargo, he explained, not only prohibits Americans from conducting lawful trade with Iran, but forces other countries to refrain from doing legitimate business with Iranians, even the selling of medicines.
“[US] President Donald Trump administration’s refusal to halt its economic warfare against Iran is directly impeding our efforts to deal with a virus that knows no borders,” he said, adding that politicians need to realize that pursuing national interests is not separate or contrary to that of international interests.