In a tweet on Sunday, Shamkhani said that the US sanctions are unlawful, and US president Donald Trump is more dangerous than the Coronavirus.
“The US opposition to the International Monetary Fund’s granting of a loan to Iran for the purchase of the items needed to deal with the Coronavirus is a real example of crime against humanity,” reads Shamkhani’s tweet.
The sanction of health items is an illegal & inhumane act & a symbol of #Trump‘s open hostility to the Iranian people.
US opposition to granting #Iran‘s requested facilities from @IMF to provide items needed to deal with #CoronaVirus is a real case of crimes against humanity.— علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) April 5, 2020
Iran has repeatedly stated that the US economic sanctions are taking the Iranian people’s lives, as the country is battling against the novel coronavirus.
Tehran’s call for the United States to lift the sanctions on humanitarian grounds has been echoed by Russia, China, the European Union, and the United Nations.
Earlier, Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Washington of hampering health efforts through economic and medical terrorism.
“We had always said the sanctions are unjust, but coronavirus revealed this injustice to the world,” said Zarif in a video.
Months before the coronavirus pandemic, the Human Rights Watch said “the sanctions have largely deterred international banks and firms from participating in commercial or financial transactions with Iran, including for exempted humanitarian transactions, due to the fear of triggering US secondary sanctions on themselves.”