...

Rouhani says US sanctions similar to coronavirus

Politics Materials 23 February 2020 16:01 (UTC +04:00)
US sanctions are similar to the new coronavirus
Rouhani says US sanctions similar to coronavirus

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 23

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

US sanctions are similar to the new coronavirus, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Tehran, Trend reports referring to the website of the Office of the Iranian President.

Rouhani noted that the fear of this virus is greater than the virus itself.

The Iranian president added that the US imposed sanctions on Iranian food and medicines in addition to the country’s economy. The imposition of these sanctions is a terror attack, and Iran expects the EU to fulfill its humanitarian mission in this regard, said Rouhani.

The Iranian president added that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) may have a positive impact on the security and peace not only in Iran, Europe and 5+1 group countries, but the whole region and the world.

Rouhani said that Iran still hopes that the nuclear agreement will be preserved.

“Nuclear agreement could be a good basis for building confidence between Iran and the West, mainly the EU and the US,” the president noted. “Iran, in turn, remained committed to this agreement.”

Eight people have died as a result of the new coronavirus in Iran.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. It is primarily spread through airborne contact or contact with contaminated objects.

Chinese health authorities say that the majority of the people who have died were either elderly or had underlying health problems.

Aside from Mainland China, the cases of coronavirus spreading have also been confirmed in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, the US, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, France, Canada, the UAE, India, Italy, Russia, Philippines, the UK, Nepal, Cambodia, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Sweden and Sri Lanka.

The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions included Iran's oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies and individuals.

In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions against Iran in November of the same year.

In order to preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal stated in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.

On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories having not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.

On Sept. 5, Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA.

On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA. Iran no longer faces any restrictions on its nuclear program.

Tags:
Latest

Latest