Iran not to forget US medical terrorism: embassy

“When the outbreak of dangerous coronavirus (COVID-19) has been affecting the world increasingly and people of more than 150 countries have been facing it, some of the inhuman acts have a negative impact on the coordinated and worldly fight against this fatal and contagious disease,” the statement read.

“The US sanctions are not only against humanitarian norms of international law and judgments of the International Court of Justice, rather depriving of Iran from access to medicine, medical equipment and violates the rights of access to health care and right of life for the people of Iran,” it added.

“Undoubtedly all the quarters who by complying with cruel US sanctions, prevent the import of much-needed equipment, medicine and benefitting of people of Iran from earnings of the exports of oil and non-oil products are partners to this crime against humanity and are responsible for this atrocity. The historical memory of the Iranian nation will never be erased in this regard,” said the embassy.

The statement said, “The US government has hypocritically and unequivocally declared that drugs and food are not subject to sanctions and is ready to help Iran, but on the other hand, at this critical juncture of the virus outbreak, by exploiting the media’s focus on the new virus, the US government has stepped up sanctions against Iran and seeks to prevent international aid and assistance from being transferred to the Iranian government.”

The embassy in the statement further said, “The cooperation of relevant international organizations, in particular the World Health Organization, with the support, cooperation, and assistance of the people and the government in friendly countries such as China, Pakistan, Turkey, Germany, France, Japan, Qatar, Azerbaijan, and Russia is very encouraging and promising. The Iranian government and nation will never forget the help of these kind-hearted nations in difficult days.”

While the countries are trying to boost cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, the US still continues its unilateral sanctions against Iran which have affected the country’s power to contain the outbreak.

The new sanctions come as China and Russia, in particular, have urged the US to remove its sanctions on Tehran since the restrictions could interfere with Iran’s efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

As of Saturday, the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak, officially known as COVID-19, in Iran rose to 1,556 with 20,610 confirmed cases.