Press TV has interviewed Paul Wolf, international human rights lawyer in Washington, about life-threatening medical sanctions imposed on Iran unilaterally by the US and its recent decision to lift some of these bans.
What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.

Press TV:�Looking at these sanctions, which are US-led and illegal by many respects. Just the type of equipment: electro-cardiography and dialysis machines; I'm guessing these are machines that help save lives.

The allowing of these medical devices to now come into the country shows their admittance that these are life threatening devices that prior to this announcement they hadn't allowed inside the country. It shows that these sanctions were targeting Iranians and their lives?

Wolf:�Well, sure; not only targeting civilians, but targeting people who have heart problems and have kidney problems. What possible connection could that have to Iran's nuclear program or even to Iran's military?

So, these sanctions are cruel and these sanctions violate the Iranian people's right to life. It's the most basic right that we have, guaranteed by numerous treaties including the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

But it should be obvious to everyone that this is really not fair in international politics to put pressure in this manner.
Remember there are many things that are still sanctioned for example drugs. Iran doesn't produce every type of medication that they need. There are some 80,000 people who need chemotherapy medicine; there are some 40,000 hemophiliacs; at least 20,000 people have HIV aids. And to get those medicines that they need to live, they have to buy them on the black market.
So, yes I guess this is good news that we're lifting the sanctions on some equipment and I would think it's probably related to Iran's new president. It's probably a good sign that at least some one in the White House wants to improve relations with Iran. But it's a very small step.
And I think as you pointed out, it's hypocritical for the United States to be blaming Iran all the time and saying Iran is developing nuclear weapons. But Iran is really not doing anything aggressive at all and these sanctions are aimed at the wrong people - they are aimed at sick people. The world should be sympathetic to them. And I think that we need to really push a little harder because they still are going to have trouble buying them because if I were a banker, I would be scared to do business with Iran. Any bank, insurance company, re-insurers trying to do any business with Iran is potentially threatened.
They are criminal offenses, so why do they need this business if they could go to jail? The enforcement of the laws has been somewhat arbitrary; it's been very difficult to predict exactly what falls within the technical definitions and what doesn't fall within the technical definitions. So, these sanctions are serious.

Look at Iraq. What are the estimates of the number of people who died - I'm talking about before the United States invaded in 2003.

UNICEF, the United Nation's agency for children estimates several hundred thousand children died before the war because medicines were not allowed to be imported in Iraq because of the sanctions.

So it's very serious and I hope that what we're seeing now is a sign that the United States is willing to negotiate with Iran and that Iran's new president Mr. Rouhani will have a chance that the previous president didn't have.

By Press TV

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.