Iranian diplomat says US sanctions impeding coronavirus patients treatment

PESHAWAR: Terming the United States sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran as illegal and inhuman, a senior Iranian cultural diplomat on Saturday said the curbs were impeding the treatment of the coronavirus patients in his country.

Taking part in a video the conference, Director General of the Iranian Cultural Centre in Peshawar Aqai Mehran Eskandaryan said the US sanctions and other tough actions were having highly negative impacts on the people of Iran at a time when the country was struggling to deal with the Covid-19 which was a global challenge.

The Iranian cultural envoy said the coronavirus had killed 150,000 people the world over to date and affected a far greater number, putting to test the entire humanity. Mehran Eskandaryan said the coronavirus pandemic had once again proved that human beings were helpless despite making scientific advancement. “This serious situation calls for displaying mutual love and friendship and saying goodbye to hatred, enmity and war,” he stressed.

The Iranian cultural envoy said the concepts such as national security had lost importance as the security of Baghdad, Damascus and Sana could not be separated from that of London and Rome. Similarly, he pointed, the welfare, health and security of the people living in New York and Tokyo could not be delinked from those living in Islamabad, Tehran and Beijing.

Mehran Eskandaryan said a classic Persian poet, Hafiz Sherazi, had said long ago that if a human being is in trouble, the entire humanity feels the pain. He said the great poet composed a long poem to highlight the very basic link of this human society. “In our times, this link has become a reality,” he said while pointing out to the present coronavirus pandemic.

Elaborating on his point, the Iranian diplomat said the global pandemic of coronavirus, which had no precedent in the history, had proved how much the fate of the human beings was inter-linked. He said in such a painful situation when the people the world over were busy in dealing with this global health crisis, the people of Iran were facing more problems and sufferings as they have been deprived of, since long, the access to food items, medical equipment and essential medicines due to the US sanctions.

The Iranian diplomat recalled that the International Court of Justice had delivered a short judgment, saying that trade, civil aviation, and medicines should not be part of the sanctions re-imposed on Iran. He said the curbs by the US, which he termed illegal and inhuman, had made the treatment of coronavirus patients difficult in Iran. The diplomat deplored at a time when humanity was faced with a global threat in the form of coronavirus, and unity was needed to counter that, the US was warning other states to comply with the relevant Security Council resolution and was punishing the violators.

This is, he pointed out, was leading to a new wave of hatred, revenge and enmity. Mehran Eskandaryan said that under the four sections of the Geneva Convention, patients cannot be denied the healthcare. Besides, even in case of an armed clash, this right cannot be overlooked. But, he argued, the US one-sided actions, illegal and inhuman sanctions had deprived the common citizens of Iran of the right to medicines and healthcare. The diplomat said the coronavirus patients in Iran were facing problems with treatment and care due to the US sanctions and it was time for all conscientious people in the world to raise a voice against the US sanctions against his country and demand steps for lifting these restrictions, keeping in view the coronavirus challenge. He said the right to life and healthcare was the human right of every coronavirus patient. “Thus, there should be a strong voice to call for lifting the US sanctions against Iran so that the ailing people should get the needed healthcare and treatment”, he added. The Iranian diplomat made a passionate appeal to the Christian religious figures and institutions at the world level, especially Pope Francis and others to take notice of sufferings of the people of Iran and play a role to ease the human miseries the Iranians were facing due to the US sanctions.