TEHRAN – In a letter to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki called for a global call to remove Iran's drug and food sanctions, noting that the world medical community, by its oath, has a humanistic duty to take action in this regard.

“Despite our all-out fight against COVID-19, Iran is facing a unilateral, unlawful, and flagrant violation of international laws by the U.S. government, which withdrew from JCPOA, to initiate extensive, comprehensive and cruel sanctions against the citizens of my country. 

Meanwhile, blocking Iran’s access to global banking channels has damaged Iran’s economy and disrupting key trade activities, including medicine and medical equipment. Thus, the health of the people has been the most targeted and damaged, particularly during the COVID-19 outbreak,” Namaki wrote.

The U.S. government based on the interim order of the International Court of Justice, in addition to general obligations and multilateral treaties, must lift sanctions in the field of medicine and medical equipment.” 

According to the Hippocratic Oath, the first principle of equality is the provision of health facilities and services to all human beings. The world medical community, by its oath, has a humanistic duty to help lift Iran's drug and food sanctions and provide equitable and timely access to medical and public goods such as vaccines.

While appreciating WHO’s leadership in combating the pandemic, Namaki said this issue requires solidarity, integrity, dedication, and commitment at all levels across the globe. 

He outlined the latest progress of efforts by Iran to fight COVID-19, saying, “We have applied three rounds of nationwide screening, where in the current practice, 28 million high-risk people have been screened since two weeks ago. In the meantime, we have started reopening of the businesses three months ago through 'smart distancing', 'wearing a mask' through national campaigns, and most recently reopened schools. Public health measures, updated treatment protocols, local production of PPEs, substantial up-scaling diagnostic capacities, infection prevention and control (IPC), risk communication and community engagement, protecting essential health services and provision non-COVID measures, and at the top, 'Whole Government' approach where all implemented to ensure the least adverse effects of the outbreak.”

“Despite all our effort, we painfully lost tens of highly educated and dedicated healthcare professionals,” he regretted, adding, “We have suffered difficult circumstances for the last 7 months, while we have fought against COVID-19 and the unlawful, unilateral sanctions at the same time. Therefore, our legal and legitimate expectation in this emergency situation is that the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and all International Agencies to ensure that medicine and humanitarian items are made available to the Iranian people. It is the time for a global call to remove all sanctions, which could endanger the health of affected individuals.”

“Thus, I urge Your Excellency to take necessary measures to end the illegitimate and unilateral sanctions of the United States that inflicting pain and death upon Iranian people and other nationalities, bringing negative consequences for global health and health security,” Namaki concluded.