Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US sanctions against his country’s financial sector are “cruel, terrorist and inhumane,” adding that Washington is creating serious obstacles in importing medicine and food.
However, the governor of Iran’s Central Bank said the new sanctions do not affect the existing exemptions for medicine and basic goods.
Rouhani said in a phone conversation with head of the central bank, Abdolnaser Hemmati, that the sanctions violate international law, dismissing them as political propaganda that serve internal American interests.
Washington cannot "break the resistance of the Iranian people,” vowed the president.
He said the US administration wrongly believes the sanctions would break Iran's resistance, but time has shown that this analysis is far from reality and has been ineffective.
Rouhani discussed with Hemmati the report on the process of providing foreign currency for essential goods and medicine, praising appreciated the efforts exerted by the Central Bank and banks.
The new sanctions are a continuation of US President Donald Trump’s “strategic mistake” in withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, according to the president.
Rouhani also referred to American attempts to activate the snapback sanctions mechanism, saying all countries believe that these actions are completely against international law, and “with the outbreak of coronavirus, it is a completely inhumane act by Washington, and human rights activists around the world must condemn it.”
Hemmati asserted that US sanctions have not cancelled previous drug and commodity exemptions, explaining that banks will continue to use the SWIFT service to continue financing commodities.
Meanwhile, US Special Representative for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Germany for consultations with senior officials from the UK, France, Germany and the EU.
They discussed areas of policy cooperation and blocking dangerous arms sales to Iran.
German foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Adebahr, criticized the US sanctions on Iran, saying that they will drop the private trade of humanitarian aid, as it battles the coronavirus pandemic.
