#EndCOVIDSanctions: Iranian-Americans urge sanctions relief for Iran
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iranian-Americans took to Twitter this week using the hashtag #EndCOVIDSanctions to protest Washington’s continued economic pressure on Iran while the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Iranians have had to contend with both their own government’s negligence and crushing sanctions that slow the response and punish ordinary Iranians,” the National Iranian-American Coalition, which is behind the campaign, said in a statement.
In Iran, where more than 2,000 people have died after contracting coronavirus, human rights campaigners have repeatedly decried the impact sanctions are having on the health sector.
Iranians are struggling to obtain essential medicines and equipment, including gloves and masks for health workers, 50 of whom have reportedly died since the outbreak began, according to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“The sanctions have played a destructive role in aggravating the spread of the coronavirus,” Yasmine Taeb, an Iranian-American human rights attorney and Democratic National Committee official, told Rudaw English in an email.
“As an Iranian-American who recently lost a relative in Iran to the virus, it’s imperative for the administration to heed the call of countless global health officials and organizations, Members of Congress, as well as the UN, and even close allies such as the UK, to ease sanctions at this critical time,” Taeb added.
In a video message, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: “Even amid this pandemic, the US government has vengefully refused to lift its unlawful and collective punishment, making it virtually impossible for us to even buy medicine.”
He also tweeted a list of the supplies that Iran urgently needs, including 172 million masks and 1,000 ventilators.
“Viruses don’t discriminate. Nor should humankind,” he said.
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, alongside seven other lawmakers, have signed a joint letter calling on the Trump administration to temporarily lift sanctions on Iran to help its citizens combat the pandemic.
This sentiment was echoed by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who called for the suspension of sanctions in countries like Iran on Tuesday, saying “at this crucial time, both for global public health reasons, and to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries, sectoral sanctions should be eased or suspended.”
“International cooperation and solidarity are essential at all times, to advance human rights; they are also vital to advancing every country’s national interests at this time,” Bachelet added.
Many who support ongoing sanctions on Iran argue that easing pressure on Tehran would allow it to fund terrorism rather than relief.
Iranian activist and journalist Masih Alinejad tweeted on Tuesday: “Islamic Republic is using the deaths from #coronavirus as a pretext to break sanctions and get cash – not medicine – to send to Hamas, Hezbollah and Bashar al-Assad.
“It breaks my heart that #IslamicRepublic Lobby uses false narrative to spin a web of lies about situation in #Iran,” Alinejad added.
Despite its difficulties, Iran expelled a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team this week which had planned to set up a hospital in Isfahan, with many conservatives accusing them of being "spies".
The US has imposed one of its toughest sanction regimes on Iran as part of a “campaign of maximum financial pressure” primarily targeting Iran’s oil and banking industries.
The move was designed to force Tehran to completely suspend its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Sanctions were also imposed to undermine Iran’s extraterritorial operations across the region.
US-imposed sanctions have dealt a massive blow to Iran’s economy. The national currency has lost around 70 percent of its value and rates of unemployment and inflation have skyrocketed.
With additional reporting by AP