TEHRAN — Iran has rebuked the United States for its history of horrible, deadly violations of human rights both at home and in other countries.

“From 26 June to 2 July every year, Iranians recall horrible, deadly violation of human rights by the American regime,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry tweeted on Friday.

“In the next 7 days named as #USHumanRightsWeek, we will shed light on the US actions undermining basic rights of people at home, in Iran & elsewhere,” it added.

The ministry also noted that the U.S. regime is leading a global campaign including economic, medical terrorism against the Iranian people.

“From depriving Iran of its own financial resources for making ends meet, to banning delivery of the COVID19-related supplies for saving Iranians' lives, the US regime is desperately leading the global campaign to use economic, medical terrors agnst Iranian #HumanRights,” the Foreign Ministry wrote in another tweet on Friday.

Iran has been among the countries hit hard by the novel coronavirus that first showed up in China in late December 2019, before spreading across the globe.

The United States’ sanctions against Iran have proven to be a significant obstacle to Iran’s efforts to defeat the coronavirus.

In a letter to the G-20 economic powers on March 24, Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, called for rolling back international sanctions regimes around the world.

Guterres said sanctions are heightening the health risks for millions of people and weakening the global effort to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

“I am encouraging the waiving of sanctions imposed on countries to ensure access to food, essential health supplies, and COVID-19 medical support. This is the time for solidarity, not exclusion,” he said.

“Let us remember that we are only as strong as the weakest health system in our interconnected world,” the UN chief said.

Renowned American scholar Noam Chomsky has said it is “sheer sadism” that the United States maintains sanctions on Iran during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The sanctions are illegitimate in the first place, and maintaining them during the pandemic is sheer sadism,” Chomsky told IRNA in an interview published on May 2.

MH/PA