A prominent political analyst says the US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic are “jeopardizing the lives of millions of patients” in Iran by trying to achieve the “grand delusion” of installing a pro-West regime in the country.
“The US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic which directly and painfully target the population have created an inconceivable situation for those whose very lives depend on the medicine adversely affected by these barbaric sanctions,” Iranian author and Middle East expert Dr. Ismail Salami wrote on the Press TV website.
“The sheer idea of imposing illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic and jeopardizing the lives of millions of patients is indeed an act of brutality which runs counter to the very true spirit of humanity as well as to international humanitarian laws,” he added.
Citing a recent article published in a leading US daily, Salami said the West is “sharply aware of the devastating inhuman effects” of the sanctions on the sick people in Iran.
The Washington Post article, titled ‘Iran, Sanctions Take Toll on the Sick’, details how drug shortages are particularly affecting “cancer patients and those being treated for complex disorders such as hemophilia, multiple sclerosis and thalassemia, as well as transplant and kidney dialysis patients."
In a letter to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in August, Fatemeh Hashemi, head of Iran's Charity Foundation for Special Diseases, called for UN action to prevent the sanction-induced damages to six million Iranian patients suffering from such intractable diseases as thalassemia, hemophilia, kidney conditions, multiple sclerosis (MS), cancer, etc.
“Although medicine is not included in the list of the sanctions, the aftermaths of the sanctions, the impossibility of transferring money through the banks as well as the appalling atmosphere created thus has cast its cumbersome shadow upon medicine and healthcare in Iran and has austerely affected the import of medicines in the country. As the head of an institute dealing with the lives of six million patients, I hereby implore you to exert all your endeavors to champion human rights in lifting the sanctions as they are political in nature and prove to the inexcusable detriment of the patients in Iran,” Hashemi said.
"We feel the shortage mainly for cancer and MS drugs. Of course, thalassemia and dialysis patients are also the targets of these hardships. All these problems stem from the sanctions the US has imposed on the banking sector and the difficulties in transferring foreign currency," she added.
In an October report to the UN General Assembly, Ban warned that the Western embargoes against Iran have mainly targeted the livelihood of the ordinary Iranian population.
“The sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran have had significant effects on the general population, including an escalation in inflation, a rise in commodities and energy costs, an increase in the rate of unemployment and a shortage of necessary items, including medicine," the UN chief said on October 6.
In a recent speech, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei blasted the illogical Western sanctions as “barbaric” and described them as a war against a nation.
“The West is angry and they have used Iran’s nuclear energy program as a pretext [to impose sanctions]. They claim that they will lift the sanctions if Iran backs down on its right to nuclear energy. They are lying. Out of spite and revenge, they decide to impose illogical sanctions against Iran,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The illegal US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic are based on the unfounded allegation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegations and argues that as a committed signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
“The West is well aware that Iran has never sought a nuclear weapons program, nor does it ever wish to do so. However, they appear to be incapable of finding a better excuse than Iran’s nuclear energy program to go ahead with their barbaric sanctions with the ultimate goal of installing a US-friendly regime in the country,” Salami said.
He added that the “grand delusion entertained by the US officials [for regime change in Iran] indicates how very removed from reality the Washington officials are and how infernally adamant they are on bringing about this change at whatever cost, even the lives of millions of people.”
“In cahoots with the US, the West is willingly or unwillingly exterminating the Iranian patients through these illegal sanctions. Indeed, they will be held accountable for the human loss they are inflicting upon the Iranian nation: surely, the eyes of God are watching them and they are held in divine abhorrence.”
Source:
Press TV
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