U.N. envoy says U.S. sanctions on Iran worsen humanitarian situation

Sweeping U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran have badly impacted the country’s economy and worsened the humanitarian situation in the Persian Gulf nation, a United Nations special envoy said Wednesday.

This has led to inflation and growing poverty, and depleted state resources for dealing with the basic needs of people with low income and other vulnerable groups, Douhan told reporters during a press conference in Tehran. She singled out those suffering from “severe diseases, disabled people, Afghan refugees, women-led households and children” as being badly affected by the measures.

Douhan, a Belarusian who was appointed in 2020 and reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, also said that the “sanctions have been substantially exacerbating the humanitarian situation in Iran.” She urged countries that imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran, especially the United States, to remove them.

(PBS News Hour)