EU Shrugs Off US Sanctions, Gives Millions In Coronavirus Aid To Iran

• Roshan Amiri
• . March 25, 2020
• . Update: March 25, 2020 2:34 pm
• 858 Views
• Shares

The White House has not backed off it’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran even as the Islamic Republic’s Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to soar, approaching 25,000 confirmed cases Tuesday.

Despite even close US ally Britain quietly signalling it’s had enough of Washington’to the UN General Assembly: “Iran nuclear program has crossed all red lines”

• By Alaina
• . September 28, 2021

Israel_ Israel is a beacon of light and freedom, and supporting it is a moral choice. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday in his

Archaeologists’ discover mosaics in Turkey

• By Raven Ruma
• . September 27, 2021

The assembly of over 3,000 stones was unearthed in the remains of a 15th century BC Hittite temple, 700 years before the oldest known mosaics

Iran Plays Hard To Get On Negotiating Table With Washington

• By Roshan Amiri
• . September 25, 2021

Iran is in no mood to take a stand over its nuclear deal and this is somehow frustrating for Washington. The frustration over Tehran’s indecisiveness

Turkey must withdraw immediately, Syrian Foreign Minister says

• By Roshan Amiri
• . September 24, 2021

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad confirmed that Damascus considers Turkey’s presence in Syria an act of occupation and wants to see Ankara withdraw its forces

Iraq Might See Dull Election Outcome In October

• By Raven Ruma
• . September 21, 2021

 In a sad revelation, political experts are pre-empting a disappointing outcome of the Iraqi elections for the country. Unless a high voter turnout happens, along

Fuel Wars in Lebanon spikes to cause more terror than before

• By G Morrison
• . September 20, 2021

It is evidently seen that Lebanese drivers have to stand in line for hours to get their car fueled up to get gasoline. It is

WORLD

Students and Activists join Climate protests in Germany

• . September 25, 2021

Sudan Government blames pro-Bashir groups for the attack

• . September 21, 2021

Inspiration4: A surprising exchange of congratulations between Bezos and Musk

• . September 17, 2021

Space X Creates History By Sending Civilians Into Space

• . September 16, 2021

PM Henry under suspicion of Moise assassination, banned from exiting Haiti

• . September 15, 2021

North Korea tests Cruise Missiles, Japan voices their concerns

• . September 13, 2021

OPINION

The West focuses on Kabul and forgets Lebanon

• By Raven Ruma
• . September 28, 2021

The French war on terror in the Sahel desert, now Wagner mercenaries are a problem

• By Hashim Sheikh
• . September 27, 2021

Qatar’s animus to intervene in peace talks between Taliban-ISIS Khorasan is merely a pseudo reality

• By Aparajita Das
• . September 26, 2021

Afghanistan: Did the Taliban steal Alexander the Great’s treasure?

• By Hashim Sheikh
• . September 23, 2021

With Afghanistan, Qatar to be leader of the Islamic world at the expense of Riyadh

• By Aparajita Das
• . September 22, 2021

Severe Global crisis to take place as governings ill-timed pressures, Secretary of State Pompeo has upped the ante further, on Monday accusing the Iranian regime of everything from hoarding masks and equipment to intentionally spreading the deadly disease to at least five countries.

But it appears Europe has finally begun to shirk US demands. On Monday EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell announced 20 million euros in new aid to Iran, and more crucially said the body will support Tehran’s request for IMF assistance.

We’ve not been able to provide a lot of humanitarian help but there is some 20 million euros in the pipeline … that we expect to be delivered over the next weeks,” Borrell said in a video news conference Monday.

We also agree in supporting the request by Iran and also by Venezuela to the International Monetary Fund to have financial support,” he said further but without disclosing details.

European officials consider the situation as urgent and see the US pressure campaign as greatly exacerbating the death toll given Iran lacks much of the basic medicines and equipment to treat at-risk patients and mitigate the outbreak. Recently Iranian health officials said shockingly that one person is dying from the virus every 10 minutes.

The pressure for some kind of dramatic blanket easing of US sanctions is only set to grow, given that last week Iran’s leaders for the first time in a half-century turned to the IMF. Bloomberg reported of the urgent IMF appeal:

“Iranians say that their economy is weak and unable to cope with the humanitarian toll because of the U.S. sanctions. Last week, Iran turned to the International Monetary Fund for the first time since the 1960s for aid, though Ali Vaez, the Crisis Group’s Iran project director, said the U.S. may try to block the IMF loan in order to keep up the pressure on the regime.”

No doubt this will unleash fury out of Pompeo’s office, but at such a crucial juncture with the whole world’s eyes on combating the coronavirus pandemic, Washington will continue to shed allies by keeping up the so-called ‘maximum pressure’.

Iran’s leaders have said that without immediate assistance possibly “millions” will die inside the country, while further blaming Trump and Pompeo’s policies for increasing the death toll.

Related posts:

1. NATO Defense Ministers agreed to expand the training mission in Iraq
2. The French war on terror in the Sahel desert, now Wagner mercenaries are a problem
3. Oman is concerned about the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz
4. Iraqi PM-assign Allawi says he has chosen Cabinet, calls parliament for vote of confidence