Iran’s Rouhani: US blocking of aid to flood victims ‘unprecedented crime’

Young journalists club

News ID: 37376
Iran » Iran
Publish Date: 22:40 - 03 April 2019
TEHRAN, Apr 04- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says US harming of humanitarian work in flood-hit areas constitutes “an unprecedented crime.”

Iran’s Rouhani: US blocking of aid to flood victims ‘unprecedented crime’TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - “The US move to block international humanitarian aid to those affected by flood is an unprecedented crime,” Rouhani said on Wednesday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with a number of ministers, heads of executive departments, officials and lawmakers on the occasion of Eid al-Mab'ath, the anniversary of the day the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was chosen as God’s messenger.

Rouhani called on the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the country’s legal bodies to pursue the issue through legal channels.

He said even Iranians living abroad were not able to send their aid to their fellow people due to Washington’s sanctions.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds more injured in the past days from flash floods after severe rains swept through large parts of Iran.

Iran has announced a state of emergency in several provinces threatened by flooding and ordered tens of thousands to evacuate their homes.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday that the US had frozen the accounts of the Iranian Red Crescent Society as part of its sanctions against the Iranian people, thus preventing other countries from sending humanitarian aid to people in Iran’s flood-stricken areas.

“Given that the accounts of the Iranian Red Crescent Society have been blocked [due to the US sanctions], no foreign citizen or Iranian national living abroad is able to send any relief aid to flood-hit people,” Qassemi told IRNA.

This measure exposes the American officials’ hostile approach towards the Iranian nation and counters all their “ridiculous” claims that the sanctions do not target the people of Iran, he added.

On Monday, Iran’s foreign minister said the US was waging “economic terrorism” against the Islamic Republic by employing restrictive measures that are troubling the relief efforts targeting flood-stricken people across the country.

Source: Press TV

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