TEHRAN -- The EB Foundation of Iran has called on the government to secure a U.S. oil shipment seized in the Persian Gulf to provide compensation to Iranian children suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB) due to American sanctions.
The foundation officially made the appeal in a reference to two Greek-flagged ships that Iran seized in the Persian Gulf last month.
The ships, Delta Poseidon and Prudent Warrior, were confiscated by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on May 27 in a tit-for-tat following the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker by Greece at U.S. request.
Earlier this month, a Greek court overturned a ruling that allowed the United States to keep part of the Iranian oil, in a blow to Washington’s attempts to tighten the sanctions on Iran.
According to the EB Foundation of Iran, the adverse impacts of the sanctions, which are part of the U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, are deepening the wounds of EB patients and need to be remedied immediately.
The foundation demanded that the U.S.-owned shipment on Prudent Warrior be paid as compensation for patients suffering from the rare skin disorder and as a proportional response to Washington’s illegal conduct.
“Our minimum demand is that the cargo of the ship be confiscated in favor of EB patients, so that perhaps a small portion of the material and spiritual damage to them will be compensated,” it said.
It explained that the “criminal” sanctions unilaterally imposed on Iran by the U.S. have prevented EB patients from accessing special dressings and, as a result, have inflicted “numerous severe physical and psychological wounds on these patients and their families.”
The foundation further hit out at the U.S. sanctions as a violation of fundamental human rights and international law, saying Washington has committed an act of “modern economic terrorism” by the bans.
“The barbarity of America’s irrational sanctions has even gone so far as to prevent access to humanitarian data-x-items that are vital to patients’ lives,” it said.
The U.S. launched the so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions against Iran in 2018, after unilaterally exiting the Iran deal.
The sanctions have restricted the financial channels necessary to pay for basic goods and medicine, undermining supply chains by limiting the number of suppliers willing to facilitate sales of humanitarian goods to the country.
Iran has repeatedly denounced the sanctions as an act of “economic war”, “economic terrorism”, and “medical terrorism.”
Often known as butterfly children because their skin is as fragile as the wings of a butterfly, EB patients need special care. Even mild frictions or bumps cause severe blistering of the skin which is very painful.
They often have difficulty with their daily activities, such as walking, eating and even breathing, but without proper protective bandages, their agony would be heartbreaking.
The trade of humanitarian goods, such as food, medicine and medical devices, is on paper allowed by the U.S., still European companies refuse to do business with Iran, fearing secondary American sanctions.
Since the reimposition of sanctions, Swedish medical products firm Molnlycke Health Care has stopped delivering Mepilex dressings which are trusted around the world to treat a wide range of chronic and acute wounds, including in EB patients, Iranian media reports say.