US sanctions detrimental to Iran's healthcare system: Envoy

Tehran, June 12 (IANS) Iran's envoy said that US sanctions have adversely affected the healthcare system of the Islamic republic, local media reported.

Zahra Ershadi, Iran's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said on Friday at a UN General Assembly session on HIV and AIDS that "regretfully, unilateral coercive measures, including unilateral economic, financial and banking sanctions against Iran, have seriously violated the right of access to healthcare for Iranians, and those facing HIV-related problems are directly suffering from this situation".

The sanctions have blocked the ordinary channels of international cooperation and hindered the Iranian patients' timely and effective access to medicine and medical equipment, she was quoted as saying.

The official called for "immediate and practical steps" of international community to remove corresponding barriers caused by the US sanctions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the removal of the US-led sanctions.

However, former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA.

Iran has denounced the sanction pressures as an act of "economic war" which affects the healthcare system of the country.