Page 10 - MEOG Week 12
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MEOG PoLICy MEOG
The UAE is among Iran’s most outspoken foes in the region, but the two countries remain strong trade partners despite the political rhetoric.
The latest round of US sanctions comes as Washington intensifies efforts to choke the Ira- nian economy despite a massive coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the country that has killed more than 1,200 people.
The administration of President Donald Trump has resisted calls for freezing sanctions against Iran to allow it to deal with the deadly disease, instead imposing additional measures against the Iranian economy in the midst of the crisis.
On Wednesday, Washington also targeted several companies and individuals with sanc- tions for facilitating the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemicals.
While the US measures do not extend to Iran’s medical sector, Human Rights Watch explained in a report last year that sanctions deter global financial institutions from dealing with the Islamic Republic, impeding the import of medicine and medical equipment
Meanwhile, Iran has criticised Saudi Arabia and several of its allies for preventing the Non- AlignedMovement(NAM)fromissuingastate- ment condemning US sanctions against Tehran.
Iran has blamed US sanctions for hampering its ability to combat the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 18,407 Iranians and claimed 1,284 lives.
In an effort to contain the disease, the Islamic Republic made a request to Azerbaijan, the rotating head of the NAM, to issue a statement on behalf of the 120 countries it represents con- demning unilateral US sanctions: ‘It is regret- table that some Arab and Islamic governments have taken such a measure against the Iranian people at such a critical situation.”
Last Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and several of its allies “formally opposed” the statement, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said. “The NAM was requested to demand that the US terminate its illegal and unilateral sanctions against Iran in abidtofightthecoronavirusasaglobalscourge,” spokesman for Foreign Affairs Abbas Mousavi said.
“Some members of the movement, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco, the regime of [former president Abd-Rabbh Mansour] Hadi in Yemen ... formally opposed the issuance of that statement and broke the NAM’s consensus. It is regrettable that some Arab and Islamic govern- ments, most of whom are our neighbours, have taken such a measure against the Iranian people at such a critical situation.”
The US unilaterally launched its ‘maximum pressure’ campaign in 2018 after withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal, which was signed by the US, Iran, France, Germany, the UK, the European Union, China and Russia in 2015.
Its aim was to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting heavy sanctions against Iran.
According to Human Rights Watch, the sanc- tions have devastated Iran’s flagging healthcare system, hindering the ability for ordinary Irani- ans to access healthcare.
In recent weeks, Iran has pleaded with the international community, including the United Nations, to put pressure on Washington to lift its sanctions. China and Russia have also urged the US to temporarily lift sanctions, which Moscow has denounced as “inhuman.”
On Thursday, Iran’s health ministry spokes- man, Kianush Jahanpur, said the disease was rapidly spreading, with one person dying every minute. “Based on our information, every 10 minutes one person dies from the coronavirus and some 50 people become infected with the viruseveryhourinIran,”Jahanpurtweeted.
Although companies and banks are able to avoid sanctions when it comes to humanitarian channels, many fear getting trapped in a compli- cated web of US secondary sanctions.
However, US Secretary of State Mike Pom- peo said on Friday that “the whole world should know that humanitarian assistance to Iran is wide open, it’s not sanctioned. ... They’ve got a terrible problem there and we want that human- itarian, medical assistance to get to the people of Iran.” Two days later, Iran’s supreme leader refused US assistance on Sunday to fight the new coronavirus, citing an unfounded conspir- acy theory that the virus could be man-made by America.
Khamenei was unable to give any evidence for making this statement, which parrots a sim- ilar comment made by Chinese government spokesmanLijianZhao,whotweetedearlierthis month that it “might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe(s) us an explanation!” Earlier President Trump had referred to the virus as the “Chinese” virus, none of which are states- manlike comments conducive to trying to bring this deadly virus under control. It is perverse to come up with such statements which will only poison the international atmosphere once this coronavirus has been overcome and consigned to history.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 12 25•March•2020