Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian looks on during a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart in Tehran, on July 20, 2022. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
TEHRAN – Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday Tehran will add at least four institutes and 15 officials of the West to its "terrorists blacklist," according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks during a visit to an institute in Tehran that supports epidermolysis bullosa (EB) patients.
Iran condemned any violence against its diplomatic and consular missions in Europe and urged foreign governments and their embassies in Tehran to refrain from interference in the country's internal affairs
Those people and institutes have played a role in imposing medical sanctions on Iran and promoting "violence and extremism" that have caused insecurity in the country during the recent unrest following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, said the Iranian top diplomat.
Certain states have turned unilateral sanctions into a "modern tool" for the systematic violations of human rights, he added, noting that those countries "shed crocodile tears" after Amini's death and sought to incite "riots and terror" in Iran by abusing the Iranian people's emotions.
More than 1,000 EB patients in Iran need a special dressing produced by a Swedish company for their wounds, but were unable to obtain it due to US sanctions, said Amir-Abdollahian, adding that foreign ministers from Sweden and the United States have at the same time claimed that pharmaceuticals are not included in the sanctions against Iran.
The US sanctions against Iran have intensified since 2018, the year when Washington pulled out of the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Although the United States claims that humanitarian items, including medicine and foodstuff, are not included in the sanctions list, its embargoes on Iran's oil exports and banking sector have, in practice, prevented the country from importing such goods
Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said earlier 480 thalassemia patients have died in Iran over the past four years because of the US sanctions, which prevented Iran from importing medicine for rare diseases
In addition, 220 thalassemia patients could die this year for the same reason, while EB patients and those suffering from other rare diseases are also among the victims of the sanctions on Iran each year, he added in a tweet.
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Meanwhile, Iran condemned any violence against its diplomatic and consular missions in Europe and urged foreign governments and their embassies in Tehran to refrain from interference in the country's internal affairs, official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday.
"Acts of violence against Iranian diplomats as well as diplomatic and consular missions in Europe … proves that they had been organized and were part of a bigger campaign against Tehran," IRNA quoted a Tuesday statement by Iranian deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Zahra Ershadi as saying.
Presenting a report of the assaults and acts of violence against Iranian diplomats and diplomatic missions across the world before the Sixth Committee on protection, security and safety of diplomatic missions and representatives in New York, Zahra Ershadi stressed that Tehran has spared no effort to create a safe and peaceful environment and provide full facilities for other countries' diplomats as well diplomatic and consular missions on its soil.
Amini’s death sparked protests across Iran. The protests first erupted in her native province of Kurdistan and then spread to several other Iranian cities including the capital.
Following the recent events in Iran, a number of Iranian diplomats as well diplomatic and consular missions were subject to assaults and violence in countries including Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden, according to Zahra Ershadi.
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