UN sec gen says sanctions hurting ordinary Iranians

TEHRAN,Oct.7(MNA)– International sanctions imposed on Iran are having “significant” effects on the Iranian people and also appear to be harming humanitarian operations in the country, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the UN General Assembly released on Friday, Reuters reported. Iran is under UN, U.S., and European Union sanctions for refusing to halt the uranium enrichment component of its nuclear program. “The sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran have had significant effects on the general population, including an escalation in inflation, a rise in commodities and energy costs, an increase in the rate of unemployment, and a shortage of necessary items, including medicine,” Ban said in the report, dated August 22, to the 193-member General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran has been hit with four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions between 2006 and 2010 for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program. Western countries originally said that the sanctions would hurt the government and not the people of Iran but now acknowledge the wider impact. Britain, France, and Germany have called for more EU sanctions, but it is unlikely that further UN sanctions will be imposed on Iran because of resistance from Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly criticized unilateral U.S. and EU sanctions against Tehran. Russia and China have reluctantly supported all four rounds of UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program but worked hard to weaken the measures in negotiations on the Security Council resolutions before their adoption. “The sanctions also appear to be affecting humanitarian operations in the country,” Ban wrote in the report. “Even companies that have obtained the requisite license to import food and medicine are facing difficulties in finding third-country banks to process the transactions,” he stated. Ban also said that due to the payment problems some medical companies have stopped exporting medicine to Iran, leading to a reported shortage of drugs used to treat various illnesses, including cancer, heart and respiratory conditions, and multiple sclerosis. In addition, he noted that a number of Iranian aid groups and activists had expressed concern about inflation, rising commodity prices, and the sanctions compounding each other to have “far-reaching effects on the general population.”