US Senators to Pompeo: Alleviate Sanctions on Iran, Venezuela amid Covid-19

By Staff- Agencies

US Senator Christopher Murphy and 10 other lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin urging them to alleviate the sanctions that the US keeps against Iran and Venezuela amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are writing to express our concern regarding the deteriorating humanitarian crises in countries under US sanctions as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread. We are particularly concerned about the impact of sanctions on the Covid-19 response in Iran and Venezuela,” the Democratic senators said.

They further added: “As these countries struggle to respond to their domestic health crises, US sanctions are hindering the free flow of desperately needed medical and humanitarian supplies due to the broad chilling effect of sanctions on such transactions, even when there are technical exemptions.”

On Thursday, Attorney General William Barr announced that the United States designed Venezuela as a state sponsoring terrorism.

The meme reads, “Solidarity with President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan leaders unjustly and illegally persecuted by the US. This new outrage also seeks to hide the catastrophe that Covid-19 is causing under the Trump administration.”

Democratic senators also recalled that the short term abeyance of sanctions has “ample precedent” in the US foreign policy.

“For instance, when a massive earthquake struck Iran in 2003 killing 26,000 people, the Bush administration temporarily suspended sanctions to send 150,000 pounds of medical supplies and more than 200 aid workers… to help,” Sen. Murphy and his colleges highlighted.

It is recalled that companies are refraining from making transactions with Venezuela and Iran for fear of being under sanctions.

“Our sanctions regime is so broad that medical suppliers and relief organizations simply steer clear of doing business in Iran and Venezuela in fear of accidentally getting caught up in the US web sanctions,” the lawmakers stressed.