TEHRAN — Iranian Ambassador to Brussels has thanked Iranian nationals living in Belgium for offering cash help to buy medical products needed to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Iran.

“Humanitarian spirit is an important part of the Iranian people’s characteristic which is displayed during difficulties, especially during the era of sanctions,” Gholamhossein Dehghani said on Saturday, according to IRNA.

Last week, Dehghani said Iran is not alone in rejecting the legitimacy of the U.S. sanctions.

“The moves could be regarded as the violation of international law,” he said in an article published by Euronews.

“Is the U.S. government stalling such relief only pending a ‘direct’ request from the Iranian side? Or, could it be a matter of the U.S. administration’s policy within the broader maximum pressure campaign?”

He concluded, “Has the deluge of international demands that U.S. sanctions be lifted fallen on deaf ears only so that they could hear it directly from Iran? Or, is it due to the actual tendency among some of the top U.S. officials to make Iran buckle under the mounting pressure that is at play?”

The United States’ illegal and unjust sanctions against Iran have created difficult conditions for the Islamic Republic, which is struggling against the coronavirus since the first cases were announced back in February.

So far, more than 80,000 people have tested positive for the virus and some 5,000 people have lost their lives.

Foreign ministers of the European Union have urged suspension of sanctions against countries, including Iran, in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Chris Murphy, the U.S. senator from Connecticut, warned last week that the Trump administration could be partially responsible for “the death of innocent people” if it continues its current policies towards Iran amidst the coronavirus epidemic.

“If this epidemic continues to grow and spread in Iran it will…result in the death of innocent people, partially as a result of U.S. policy that does not accrue to the national security benefit of our country,” he told reporters on the Monday conference call, The National Interest reported.

“Remember, if we don’t beat it there, we don’t beat it here. This virus doesn’t respect borders,” he added. “It’s just good public health policy to help even our adversaries beat back this scourge.”

On March 31, a UN human rights expert called for lifting international sanctions against countries ranging from Iran to North Korea and Venezuela in coronavirus crisis, according to Reuters.

“The continued imposition of crippling economic sanctions on Syria, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and, to a lesser degree, Zimbabwe, to name the most prominent instances, severely undermines the ordinary citizens’ fundamental right to sufficient and adequate food,” Hilal Elver, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement.

MH/PA