“Unfortunately, contrary to the human rights claims by the European Union, EU sanctions have also targeted the country’s medical sector,” Mehmanparast said on Wednesday in response to recent statements by Michael Mann, the spokesman of EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, about the bloc’s embargoes against Iran.
Mehmanparast argued that the EU has in practice prevented export of medicines, particularly vital medicines, to Iran, noting that futility of earlier embargoes against Tehran has apparently prompted the bloc to resort to such indirect measures.
“The European Union cannot deny definite and unequivocal effects of its sanctions on the lives and health of the innocent Iranian citizens and shirk its responsibility for violating human rights of hundreds of patients in need of medicine,” the Iranian top diplomat pointed out.
Such “inhuman measures” which “run counter to the fundamental principles of human rights” have even drawn condemnations among the European mass media, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman noted.
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