Heavily weakened and crippled by the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has been in the news for its difficulties in containing the health crisis affecting the whole world. These obstacles are illustrated by the shortage of medicines in this Middle Eastern state.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on the international community to lift US sanctions and urgently release 5 billion euros to the IMF (International Monetary Fund).<\/p>\n
The current crisis highlights the impact of U.S. sanctions on health. However, the US government has reiterated that medicines and medical equipment are exempt from sanctions because of their essential nature.<\/p>\n
So what’s really going on?<\/p>\n
In fact, Iran’s health problems already existed before the spread of Covid-19. Renewed US sanctions have led to a sharp depreciation of the rial and severe financing restrictions for financial institutions in third countries.<\/p>\n
The combination of these two factors has made transport and finance companies wary, resulting in delays and reluctance to transport or finance medical equipment.<\/p>\n
In this sense, the NGO Human Right Watch (HRW) had actually published a report on October 29, 2019 entitled: “‘Maximum pressure’: US economic sanctions undermine Iranians’ right to health”1)<\/sup><\/a>https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2019\/10\/29\/maximum-pressure\/us-economic-sanctions-harm-iranians-right-health<\/span><\/span><\/span>