Iran paying price of opposing US unilateralism

Iran’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations says the Islamic Republic is today paying the price for standing up to America’s expansionism and unilateralism, which he warned pose the greatest threat to global security.

Addressing a United Nations session on America’s economic embargo against Cuba, Eshaq Al-e Habib said Thursday that Washington has also imposed sanctions against the people of Iran since the triumph of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which dethroned the US-backed Pahlavi regime.

“Within the last four decades, the US has imposed unilateral coercive measures on the Iranian people at an increasing rate,” he said, calling sanctions the telltale sign of America’s “interventionist and short-sighted” policy.

The UN General Assembly voted 187-3 on Thursday to pass a resolution that for the 28th consecutive year condemned the embargo.

The United States has put Cuba under an economic blockade for over 60 years, immediately after severing ties with Havana in 1961.

Al-e Habib noted that sanctions not only hamper global peace and prosperity but also prevent a fair world order, which is necessary for sustainable growth.

Iran’s deputy UN envoy said being under sanctions for six decades is the harshest and the longest-running unilateral punishment against any country.

“In reality, Iran and Cuba are paying the price for their resistance and on their independence from the United States’ colonialist policies,” he said.

“The established norms have even targeted importation of medicine and medical equipment, thus patients, women and children, refugees, poor and those in vulnerable situations have become the prime targets of the US genocidal economic terrorism against all principles of international law.”

US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions against Iran which were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers. He left the deal in June 2015.

Al-e Habib said the United States claims that it is concerned about the Iranian nation yet it endangered ordinary Iranians by sanctioning critical parts for more than 200 Iranian passenger planes as the first step after abandoning the nuclear agreement.

Also addressing the General Assembly on Thursday was Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who said there had been “an escalation in aggression” against Havana under Trump.

The Trump administration “does not hide its intention to economically asphyxiate Cuba and increase the damage, shortages, and suffering of its people,” Rodriguez said.

Havana says the embargo has caused it $138 billion in economic damage.