Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva has lashed out at the US for imposing cruel sanctions against Iran, warning that the negative consequences of such measures turn it into a “crime against humanity.”

Addressing a panel on unilateral coercive measures during the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Vienna, Esmaeil Baqaei Hamaneh said the world considers unilateral sanctions as a violation of international law.

He said the continuation of such an illegal approach by certain countries is a threat to international peace and security, and a challenge ahead of the world’s collective security system based on the UN charter.

The Iranian envoy called on other countries to adopt measures in order to neutralize the impacts of sanctions, and stressed the necessity for a global consensus on opposition to extra-territorial implementation of illegal bans.

Highlighting the destructive impacts of sanctions on the most basic human rights, Baghaei said those who introduce themselves as the “masters of sanction” must be condemned as violators of human rights and murderers of innocent patients and children.

Patients suffering from cancer in Iran struggle with obtaining necessary medications for therapy due to the US sanctions imposed on the country.

An Iranian pharmacology professor recently wrote in an article in Foreign Policy that cancer patients are losing their lives in Iran as a result of the US bans.

Dr. Abbas Kebriaee Zadeh, a professor of toxicology and pharmacology at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, wrote that US sanctions against Iran indirectly hamper the flow of vital medicines for cancer patients in the Islamic Republic.

The article reveals that while Washington claims its harsh sanctions against Iran would not target the flow of medicine and other humanitarian necessities into Iran, banking sanctions are in fact increasing import prices, blocking supply chains, and creating deadly drug shortages in the country.

The US special representative for Iran affairs Brian Hook recently claimed it is a “myth” that the US unilateral sanctions against Iran include medical supplies; however, certain medications particularly those made in the US are hard to obtain in Iran reportedly due to banking sanctions that hamper money transactions which causes some Western companies to refuse to sell the necessary drugs and medical equipment to Iran.

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Tensions have been running high between Tehran and Washington since last year, when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The European parties to the nuclear deal have since been trying to convince Iran to remain in the pact by promising to shield its economic interests from US sanctions. However, they have largely failed to fulfill their promise.