Rouhani: New US sanctions ‘cruel, terrorist and inhumane’

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Friday described the new US sanctions on Iran as “cruel, terrorist and inhumane”, international news agencies reported.

Rouhani characterised the sanctions as “attempts to create serious obstacles in fund transfers for medicine and food” and called on the world’s human rights advocates to condemn the move.

“All countries witness that America’s attempts are completely against international laws and regulations, and in the time of the coronavirus are against human rights,” Reuters reported Rouhani stating on his official website.

Rouhani added: “The Americans have so far done all they could against the great nation of Iran. They cannot break the resistance of the Iranian nation with these inhumane actions,” accusing US President Donald Trump’s administration of following “domestic aims” with such “political-propaganda attempts”.

On Thursday, Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on Iran’s banking sector as it designating 18 major Iranian banks to stop “illicit access to US dollars.”

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In 2018, Trump’s administration unilaterally withdrew from an accord with world powers and Iran, which limited Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for international sanctions relief.

Meanwhile, the governor of Iran’s Central Bank announced that the new sanctions did not cancel the previous exemptions relating to food and medicine.

However, he indicated that the US is creating obstacles for transferring money to import food and medicine under different pretexts, noting that the Central Bank and Iranian businesses are able to overcome this problem.