Iran Press/ America: Global institutions and analysts have expressed concerns with the impact of sanctions on Iranians' right to health and access to medication.
"The epidemic in Iran is serious now. We need international assistance as the sanctions imposed on the country makes international help inaccessible," an Iranian scholar who works in Geneva told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.
Within 24 hours, the Iranian Embassy in China has received 4 million yuan ($576,800) after the embassy released a post on Sina Weibo on Wednesday, saying that Iran is in urgent need of materials like masks, respirators and viral testing kits.
"The generosity and kindness of Chinese friends touched us deeply," the embassy said on Weibo late Thursday, vowing to use the donation to buy disease prevention supplies with transparency.
In the Wednesday Weibo post, the embassy posted contact numbers and QR codes of their WeChat and Alipay accounts, while some netizens commented with screenshots of transfer information under the embassy's post.
Analysts said the US had partly exempted humanitarian goods through certain channels recently, but in name only. Constraints on financial transactions and the reluctance of financial institutions to facilitate trade related to Iran have made accessing medical supplies a persistent challenge.
Even though the US Treasury Department announced partial relief on February 28 to allow humanitarian aid to arrive in Iran through Switzerland, many companies are still hesitant to export critical medical supplies for worries of triggering retaliation from the US, apart from concerns over the difficult transaction procedures.
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