“The US sanctions on the Central Bank is illegal in any way you think of. Under the sanctions, the Central Bank, as Iran’s economic apparatus, is forbidden to purchase food and medicine for the Iranian people,” said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during an international conference on ‘global economy and sanctions’, held on Wednesday at Alzahra University in Tehran.
Based on the remarks of the US Secretary of State, if Iranian people want to have food on their tables, they need to follow the US policies, said Zarif, adding “this sounds exactly like terrorism and is a kind of war crime, since keeping people hungry is an instance of war crimes, and terrorism is an instance of international crimes.”
On Sep. 20, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran's central bank in the latest round of Washington’s anti-Iran measures, calling them the highest sanctions ever imposed on a foreign country by Washington.
The sanctions were imposed after the Trump administration accused Iran of being responsible of the attacks on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities, which were in fact carried out by Yemeni Ansarullah forces.
“Integration of economies on the global level has made it possible for the US government, as the owner of the greatest economy in the world and having superior conditions in financial markets and the power to influence the behavior of other countries, to misuse its superior position to counter independent states, such as Iran,” said Zarif.
The new US’ sanctions are weapons targeting the livelihood and welfare of Iranian people, Zarif stressed.
“In its maximum pressure campaign of imposing sanctions and waging an economic terrorism,, the US government, from the very beginning and in full awareness of its actions and quite deliberately, has been targeting civilians, particularly the children, and this goes beyond a mere violation of humanitarian rights, and is, in fact, an example of terrorism,” Zarif further clarified.
MNA/4741617
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