UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2020) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday compared US sanctions his country to the police killing of African American man George Floyd in Minneapolis in May after a police officer knelt on his neck.
"My nation, the resilient people of Iran, instead of enjoying global partnership and cooperation, are grappling with the harshest sanctions in history, imposed in blatant and gross violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international agreements and Security Council resolution 2231," Rouhani said. "The footage broadcast to the world, concerning the treatment of an African American by the US police, is reminiscent of our own experience: we instantly recognize the feet of arrogance kneeling on the neck of independent nations."
Rouhani also pointed out that US sanctions exacerbate the situation in Iran in the context of the coronavirus pandemic that hit the country hard.
On Monday, US Special Representative Eliot Abrams said the United States will expand sanctions against Iran until the country is ready to come back to the negotiating table. Abrams comments came the same day the United States unveiled new sanctions targeting Iranian nuclear scientists as well as states, persons or entities that violate the arms embargo on Iran.
The international conventional arms embargo is set to expire next month after the UN Security Council rejected a US proposal to prolong it. The United States now says it considers the embargo in place indefinitely after it initiated the snapback sanctions mechanism of the Iranian nuclear agreement. Other key Security Council members, including Russia and European nations, rejected the move, claiming that the Americans lost legal rights for it after withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018.
