TEHRAN – By blocked the accounts of Iran’s Red Crescent Society the United is practically preventing aid to the Iranian flood victims by other countries, a move which Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Saturday clearly shows the depth of Washington’s animosity toward the Iranian people.

“The Red Crescent as an international institution is duty bound to help in difficult situations when there is food shortage, earthquake or war without paying attention to political issues, however, the U.S. blocked the Red Crescent aid,” Larijani said before departing to Qatar to participate in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s summit.

He added that the U.S. evil behavior will be discussed in the summit.

About U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s remarks on contributing to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to help the flood-stricken people in Iran, Larijani said such remarks are “deceitful” and “shameful”.

Since March 19, large parts of Iran have been inundated with flash floods. So far, about 70 people have lost their lives and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. 24 provinces out of 31 have been affected by the flood.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday that the U.S. sanctions have hampered relief support from foreign donors.

In October 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered that the United States had to halt the unilateral sanctions it has re-imposed on “humanitarian” supplies.

On Monday, Zarif stressed that the economic restrictions, which Washington is deploying against Tehran under the banner of “maximum pressure”, are violating the related UN and ICJ regulations.

Zarif has said the U.S. is waging “economic terrorism” against Iran by employing restrictive measures that are troubling the relief efforts targeting flood-stricken people across the country.

NA/PA