UNITED NATIONS (Dispatches) -- Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations has lambasted unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran, calling for an end to all the bans which have negative impacts on the environment, health system, and well-being of Iranians.
Amir Saeed Iravani made the remarks in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi, where he complained about the destructive effects of the “unilateral and illegal” sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran.
The senior Iranian diplomat said the U.S. sanctions hamper Iran’s efforts to address challenges related to the environment, health and welfare of the people.
He said some U.S. sanctions hinder Iran’s access to new technologies as well as investment in environmental projects, arguing that they are against international law and the UN Charter.
The U.S. has created a sophisticated network of economic, financial and trade sanctions with the aim of isolating the Iranian nation, the diplomat said, adding that the sanctions also endanger environmental and health problems in the country.
Iravani further said cooperation in the field of environmental issues is a global responsibility, and that U.S. measures are against the global sustainable development goals.
He also said the U.S. must assume responsibility for its wrongdoing against the Iranian people, calling on Washington to lift all illegal and unilateral sanctions with environmental impacts.
The United States under former president Donald Trump reinstated crippling sanctions on Iran after unilaterally walking out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018,

despite Iran’s full compliance with the terms of the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Although Trump failed to achieve his professed goals with the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign, the waves of sanctions took a heavy toll on ordinary Iranians, including those battling life-threatening diseases.
The sanctions, maintained by Trump’s successor Joe Biden, 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.”