U.S.’s Continuing Sanction Against Iran will Just Make the COVID Situation Even Worse??

China urged the U.S. to lift sanctions on Iran immediately as the country has become the  epicenter of coronavirus in the Middle East.

 

The virus has taken 853 lives in Iran and infected 14,991 people. Iran has become the worst-affected country in the Middle East.

“Continued sanction on Iran was against humanitarianism and hampers Iran’s epidemic response & delivery of humanitarian aid by the UN and other organizations,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Monday.

Geng also stated that China will pay close attention to the situation in Iran and maintain the communication with the country. China had sent anti-epidemic materials including test kits, along with voluntary experts to aid Iran.

 

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had sent letters to several countries, in which he accused the U.S. government of continuing to hindrance Iran’s efforts to counter the pandemic, with sanctions having caused about 200 billion U.S. dollars of direct damages to the Iranian economy in less than two years.

Last week, Iran had asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $5 billion in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

 

The U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Tehran’s petroleum exports in 2018 after withdrawing Washington from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers.

China has been one of Iran’s biggest oil importers as the U.S. tries to reduce Tehran’s export level to zero by urging other countries to sanction Iran. In 2019, the U.S. had sanctioned several Chinese firms for allegedly shipping Iranian oil. China Concord Petroleum, Pegasus 88 Limited, Kunlun Shipping Company, Kunlun Holding Company and two subsidiaries of a leading Chinese shipping and logistics company Cosco were among the U.S.’s sanction lists.