29 Mar 2024
MNA In a letter penned to a number of world leaders on Sat., Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that confronting the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, requires coordinated regional and international actions.

He emphasized the need for all countries' participation and efforts to counter the outbreak of coronavirus.

"No country can manage this huge, dangerous crisis alone, let alone if it has many difficulties accessing international financial markets and supplying its needed goods, Rouhani stressed.

Rouhani referred to the spread of coronavirus and its turning into a global pandemic, and added, this virus does not know any borders and chooses its victims without any political, religious, ethnic and racial considerations.

"Confronting the virus requires coordinated regional and international actions on the one hand, and taking tough measures, meeting the basic needs of the people, providing financial support to those affected by the suspension of economic businesses, enormous health and medical costs, etc. on the other hand. Implementation of these measures requires a strong economic power and tens of billions of dollars in funding.

In this letter, Rouhani pointed to the heads of addressed countries that Islamic Republic of Iran, unlike other countries grappling with the virus, faces serious obstacles and restrictions stemming from two years of widespread illegal sanctions, maximum pressure policy and systematic government obstructions by the American government. The US has imposed more than 100 sanctions against the Iranian people and government in recent years, adding about 1,200 Iranian individuals and entities to its sanctions lists.

Pointing out that these sanctions have caused about $200 billion direct damages to the Iranian economy in less than two years, he said, adding, Most foreign national and companies, even nationals and corporations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) member states, have practically followed these sanctions, while these actions are in clear breach of human principles, international regulations, including the JCPOA and Security Council Resolution 2231.

The US government, even at the height of this widespread crisis, has continued to push for unlawful efforts to thwart Iran's efforts. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has impudently urged other countries to make sending humanitarian aid to Iran subject to the fulfilment of America's irrational and inhumane demands, Rouhani added.

He pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran, with the utmost transparency after identifying the first person to have the virus, began confronting it and, as acknowledged by the WHO representative, the Iranian government has made tremendous progress in combatting and controlling COVID-19, stressing that no country can manage this huge, dangerous crisis alone, let alone if it has many difficulties accessing international financial markets and supplying its needed goods.

There is no doubt that in the face of a dangerous global epidemic, Tehran and Qom are not far from Paris, London and New York, and any policy that weakens the economic structure and medical system, and limits financial resources for crisis management, will have direct effects on the fight against the epidemic in other countries.

Reminding that the failure of coronavirus is an "international" task, the President addressed the recipients of the letter that you are expected to think of measures to implement the commitments of all countries under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 and humanitarian obligations, so that the illegal US sanctions against the Iranian people become ineffective, and their economic terrorism, which has shown its ugliest and most inhumane image, is confronted.

"It is time for the international community to stand up to US' illegal and inhumane bullying and not let the unjust US sanctions against Iran affect the fight against the deadly virus, Rouhani emphasized.

The US sanctions against Iran -and following them by other nations- are not only illegal and contrary to UN Security Council resolution, but also unethical and inhumane, and its inhumane dimension today concerns no longer only the Iranian people, but the people of the region, and it encompasses other countries as well; this is not a collective punishment of the Iranian people, but a collective punishment against all humanity," wrote Rouhani.
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