UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2020) The US maximum pressure campaign on Iran is akin to putting a knee on a person's neck, Russian Ambassador to the United Nastions Vassily Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.
"We've been watching with great concern the policy of maximum pressure on Iran, which is better characterized as a maximum suffocation policy," Nebenzia said. "Iran is being deliberately squeezed from all directions. The task is to achieve regime change or create a situation where Iran literally wouldn't be able to breathe. This is like putting a knee to one's neck."
Nebenzia said US policy of unilateral actions disregards both common sense and the opinions of other nations.
Nebenzia's comments reference about the most recent events in the United States when on May 25, a white Minneapolis police officer killed Floyd by pressing his knee into the handcuffed and prone man's neck for almost nine minutes. The incident sparked protests against police violence and racism in various cities across the United States and in other countries.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani estimated earlier in June that the Islamic Republic has been losing an annual $50 billion in missed revenues to US economic sanctions.
In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US pulled out of the JCPOA and reinstated harsh sanctions on Tehran.
