Nine high-profile members of US Congress are calling on the Trump administration to end sanctions on Iran as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin to denounce the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign amid the country’s efforts to tackle the covid-19 outbreak along with the rest of the world countries.
The letter was signed by Representative Ilhan Omar, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Jared Huffman, Senator Ed Markey, Representative Joaquin Castro, Representative Ayanna Pressley, and Representative Barbara Lee.
“Rather than continue to pile on sanctions in the Iranian people’s hour of need, we urge you to substantially suspend sanctions on Iran in a humanitarian gesture to the Iranian people to better enable them to fight the virus,” read the letter. “Sanctions relief should encompass major sectors of the Iranian economy, including those impacting civilian industries, Iran’s banking sector and exports of oil, and should last for at least as long as health experts believe the crisis will continue. Failure to do so risks inhibiting the delivery of key humanitarian goods, and putting the Iranian people into further health and economic peril.”
The letter was signed amid global calls on Washington to put an end to the illegal sanctions.
Iran has confirmed 27,000 cases of coronavirus since the infection was spotted in the country on February 19.
More than 9,000 people have recovered and 2,077 have died of the virus, according to the latest figures provided by the health ministry.
Human rights activist are, in part, using the #endcovidsanctions on social media to address Washington’s illegal sanctions amid the fast-spreading pandemic.
