The potential Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, has called for the easing of US sanctions against Iran to reduce the difficulties Tehran faces in tackling the Corona virus.
Biden calls for easing sanctions on Iran to help it to fight Iran … Corona’s total infections exceed 50, 3160 deaths
Biden said in a statement yesterday, Thursday, that the United States should establish a channel devoted to banks and companies to work in Iran, in addition to issuing licenses that would enable Tehran to buy medicines and medical devices.
He called for giving assurances to aid societies not to punish them if they were active in Iran, adding that Tehran should reciprocate by releasing its American detainees.
He considered that the “maximum pressure” campaign, led by President Donald Trump against Iran, which includes comprehensive sanctions, was “counter-productive” by fueling Tehran’s hostility.
“In the midst of a global health crisis, it makes no sense to combine failure and cruelty by preventing access to the required humanitarian aid,” Biden said in the statement.
He added that “placing restrictions on the flow of international humanitarian aid artificially in order to score a political point (…) will increase the threat this virus poses to the American people, now and in the future.”
The appeal came a day after his rival in the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, led a move with left-leaning lawmakers to call for the lifting of US sanctions on Iran, where more than 3,000 people died from the Covid-19 virus.
Source: AFP
