U.S. sanctions under fire after deadly earthquake
KERMANSHAH, Iran — Criticism of U.S. sanctions on Iran rekindled Thursday over IranianAmericans abroad being unable to send money directly to aid those affected by a powerful earthquake that killed over 530 people as doctors worked to help the injured.
Though the 2015 nuclear deal lifted some sanctions, others from as far as the days after the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran still stand, including those that prohibit the some 1 million Iranian-Americans from directly sending cash to Iran.
The state-run IRNA news agency, as well as other media, published articles criticizing the rules.
“Despite all the difficulties, the Iranians living in the U.S. are doing their best to devise innovative solutions to send their humanitarian supplies to the quake-hit areas in western Iran,” IRNA said in its report.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier this week that his country does not need foreign help for the quake and it is capable of managing the aftermath on its own.
However, the Washington-based National Iranian American Council has offered suggestions about how to donate.
It also urged the U.S. Treasury “to closely examine whether additional steps are needed to ensure that Americans can effectively contribute to relief efforts, and to issue any additional licenses necessary to ensure that U.S. sanctions do not stand in the way of urgent relief.”
The U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. However, it has lifted some sanctions in the past to help with Iranian earthquake relief, most notably in 2003 when a magnitude 6.6 earthquake killed 26,000 people in Bam.
The official IRNA news agency has said that the earthquake Sunday night killed 530 people.