Iran grapples with sanctions

 UN rapporteur advocates for the lifting of Iran's sanctions

The conclusions from discussions Alena Douhan had with the government, the commercial sector, and NGOs while recently visiting Iran were included in her report

Iran's economy has been adversely impacted by sanctions.

Tehran, Iran - In a report that describes the impact of decades of embargos on the nation, a special United Nations rapporteur has advocated for the lifting of unilateral sanctions against Iran.

Alena Douhan, whose position in the report is centred on the detrimental effects of the sanctions, claimed that they had an impact on almost every element of country life and advocated for their lifting.

Despite the fact that food and medicine are free from sanctions, according to Douhan, general licences provided by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to ensure exemptions "looked to be ineffectual and almost nonexistent."

The effects of the sanctions on finance, trade, shipping, insurance, and over-compliance on the side of international companies and suppliers, according to her, have "severely weakened" the delivery of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to Iran.

All Iranians' enjoyment of the right to the best attainable degree of health is seriously hampered by these.

Iran has been subject to sanctions ever since the country's Islamic revolution in 1979.

Although the United States has imposed the vast bulk of the numerous levels of sanctions, the report also mentions other countries with a history of blacklisting Iran, such as the European Union, Australia, and Canada.

President Joe Biden expanded the "maximum pressure" campaign of severe sanctions that Washington has been enforcing since 2018, when former US President Donald Trump unilaterally reneged on Iran's UN-backed 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. This has been done even as efforts to restore the agreement continue.

According to the US, its sanctions are in retaliation for what it claims are Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, its actions in the larger Middle East, and its oppressive behaviour toward its inhabitants

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, stated on September 7 that it was "not in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is purely peaceful." Iran's nuclear programme remains at the centre of its dispute with the US.

Tehran has adamantly maintained that this is untrue and that the goal of its nuclear programme is nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons.

In more recent times, the US has slapped sanctions on Iranian firms for assisting in the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, as well as on an Iranian ministry accused of taking part in a cyberattack on Albania, an accusation Iran has dismissed as unfounded.

sanctions' results

To lessen the effects of sanctions, Iran produces roughly 95% of its medications and vaccines domestically, but the report noted that it has had trouble obtaining raw materials and chemicals.

US sanctions have also contributed to the deaths of patients with rare diseases by obstructing the provision of life-saving drugs and medical supplies needed to treat certain cancers, thalassemia, haemophilia, leukaemia, multiple sclerosis, and epidermolysis bullosa (EB) kinds of disease.

According to a report citing data from the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, US sanctions imposed since 2018 have put the nation's food security at risk by preventing the importation of at least 10 million tonnes of agricultural products, which is a "clear violation of the right to food in terms of access and adequacy."

The impact of sanctions on Iranians' capacity to purchase food was another major emphasis of the report.

Food expenses have increased dramatically in response to rampant inflation—which is currently at roughly 40%—and currency devaluation.

The cost of the average food basket climbed more than 3.4 times between 2018 and 2022, it noted, adding that "food insecurity rates have skyrocketed among the population, reaching 60% in some locations."

According to the analysis, as sanctions become tougher, the annual gross domestic product (GDP) fell by an average of 1.7% between 2011 and 2015. Following the implementation of the nuclear deal, it saw record-breaking growth of 13.6% in 2016 and 3.7 percent the following year, but when further US sanctions were put in place two years later, the economy shrunk by 6% and 6.8%, respectively.

The research makes the important point that more than five million immigrants and refugees, many of them Afghans in desperate need of humanitarian aid, reside in Iran.

According to the report, the sanctions have "negatively damaged the government's ability to protect and humanitarian actors' ability to implement initiatives, including the provision of basic goods and the construction of schools and health centres."