TEHRAN- The Iranian government spokesman has criticized the harsh sanctions imposed by the U.S. on the Islamic Republic, saying by carrying out a "campaign of genocide" against Iranian citizens, the West is revenging on Iranians.

In a Persian-language tweet, Ali Bahadori Jahromi predicted that by the end of the Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2023, about 220 Iranians with thalassemia will be affected by sanctions imposed by the United States.

“Seventy thalassemia patients lost their lives in the year 2018, 90 in 2019, 140 in 2020 and 180 died last year due to sanctions. According to the projections this year, 220 patients will be the victims of cruel sanctions. Add to this statistic, EB (epidermolysis bullosa) patients and all those patients with rare and refractory diseases in need of special medicinal products,” the government spokesman stated.

“The West is taking revenge on Iranians through a genocide campaign against the patients,” the spokesman added.

Sanctions form the backbone of the bogus American human rights laws’

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, also slammed the U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic earlier in the day, calling them the "backbone" of bogus American human rights laws.

He went to highlight that “the whole Iranian people, without any distinction and discrimination, have been struggling for many years with the brutal sanctions of the United States, which have targeted their livelihood, jobs, health and normal life.”

“Even EB children were not exempted from the unilateral, illegal and cruel U.S. sanctions. Sanctions are the backbone of American human rights,” he remarked. 

Under hardline former president Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, in May 2018 and reinstituted crushing sanctions as part of a campaign dubbed "maximum pressure."

The sanctions have attacked several facets of Iranian life over the past five years, from the economy to the health and medical systems.

The negotiations to save the deal began in the Austrian city of Vienna in April of last year, months after Joe Biden succeeded Trump, with the goal of determining how serious Washington was about rejoining the accord and lifting sanctions against Iran.

The long negotiations were often interrupted by the U.S.'s indecision and delay despite significant progress.