Iran court rules US must pay nearly $7bn in damages to EB patients over sanctions

According to The Iran Project, the Tehran Legal Court of International Relations issued the verdict on Thursday and said the US government and officials have been sentenced to pay 6,785,000,000 dollars as part of material, moral and punitive damages to the plaintiffs in the case of Iran's EB patients.

The ruling was made after 295 Iranian EB patients and family members of patients lodged lawsuits in protest at the US-imposed sanctions that had hampered the import of much-needed pharmaceuticals and wound dressings for those suffering from the rare skin disease.

In the ruling, the court addressed cases such as the illegal and illegitimate nature of unilateral US sanctions against Iran, the illegitimate blocking of humanitarian items, including medicine, the illegitimate sanctions against children and other vulnerable groups, the adverse effects of sanctions on on the life, health and well-being of EB patients and their families.

The Tehran Legal Court of International Relations said that after the withdrawal of the US administration from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), some companies affiliated to the US and Europe cut off business trade with the Islamic Republic, among them the Swedish company Mölnlycke.

The world-leading MedTech company is a major producer of medical bandages and healing dressings for EB patients across the world. It stopped transactions with Iran as soon as new sanctions were imposed by the then-US President Donald Trump.

The court said that over a span of about eight months after the reinstatement of sanctions, the Iranian EB patients ran out of medicine and ointment to heal their deep skin wounds, as a result of which about 20 lost their lives and many others who survived endured irreparable physical injuries.

Reporter : Editorial of The Iran Project