WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden calls for the US to ease sanctions on Iran to reduce suffering as the Islamic Republic reels from the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden says the United States should set up a dedicated channel for banks and other companies to operate in Iran and issue licenses for the sale of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
The former US vice president also calls for guarantees to aid groups that they will not be penalized for operating in Iran — and says Tehran should reciprocate by freeing detained Americans.
Biden says that US President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, which includes sweeping sanctions, had “badly backfired” by encouraging aggression from the clerical regime.
“It makes no sense, in a global health crisis, to compound that failure with cruelty by inhibiting access to needed humanitarian assistance,” Biden says in a statement.
“Artificially limiting the flow of international humanitarian assistance to pursue a political point will not only allow the Iranian government to deflect responsibility for its own botched response, it will increase the threat this virus poses to the American people, now and in the future,” he says.
— AFP
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