TEHRAN - Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh, Tehran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva, has called the consequences of unilateral sanctions against Iran “crime against humanity”.

During a speech at the 42th session of the UN Human Rights Council, he urged the United Nations to take actions in stopping the sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal in May 218 and restored the previous sanctions against Iran and ordered new ones. Trump has described his government’s sanctions against Iran an “economic war”. 

To strangulate the Iranian economy, Trump has acknowledged that his administration has slapped the “harshest sanctions” against Iran that its kind has never been seen in history.

In an interview with CNN aired on September 24, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that sanctions are war.

“Sanctions are war. Because in a war, usually military targets are chosen. In sanctions, civilians are the targets. So, it’s war. It’s more than war,” he said.

President Hassan Rouhani said in June that the U.S. sanctions are examples of “crime against humanity and economic terrorism” because they have targeted ordinary people’s “lives and needs”.

“It should not be said that the U.S. has imposed sanctions on us, because they are not sanctions. They are crime against humanity. They could be called sanctions if they targeted some of our sensitive industries, but they are crime against humanity and economic terrorism when they target the people’s lives and needs,” he stated.

NA/PA