US Bans Major Obstacle to Iran’s Battle with COVID-19, Zarif Tells UN Chief

In a letter to the UN chief, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced the US’ sanctions as a major obstacle to the Islamic Republic’s fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic, urging that such unilateral and illegal sanctions should end.

Foreign Minister Zarif sent a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, and forwarded the copies of the letter to directors of all international organizations and to his foreign counterparts across the world.

In the letter, the top Iranian diplomat has called for an end to the sanctions imposed by the government of the United States, which he slammed as a major obstacle to Iran’s battle with the coronavirus outbreak.

Foreign Minister Zarif has emphasized in the letter that despite Iran’s scientific capabilities and the commitment that the country’s health system has shown to the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, the US’ sanctions on legal trade and the preconditions that the United States’ authorities have set recently in order to prevent the sale of medicine, medical equipment and humanitarian supplies have posed serious obstacles to the efforts to battle against the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.

The Foreign Minister further cited examples of the US’ measures against Iran, pointing to the effect of the secondary sanctions on Iran’s oil sales as well as the private sector’s exports of other products and a consequent reduction in the ability of the government to provide subsidy for the basic commodities consumed by the Iranian citizens, the private sector’s reduced capacity for production and employment, the multilayered nature of sanctions on the financial sectors, transportation, insurance and banks for preventing the sale of medicine and medical equipment to Iran, the refusal to supply the Iranian airlines with the components, tools and navigation software with the purpose of grounding Iran’s aviation sector, and the recent measure from the American companies to obstruct the use of information technology in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Foreign Minister Zarif noted that those anti-Iran measures are somehow rooted in the international community’s inaction in the face of the illegal measures of the government of the United States.

He has finally stressed the necessity for an immediate end to the US government’s economic terrorism against people of Iran, and has highlighted the duty of the United Nations and the Member States to support the Iranian people and government’s call for an end to the US government’s policy.

Foreign Minister Zarif has asked the UN Secretary-General to have the text of the letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly and the Security Council.

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