UN envoy: US sanctions on Iran worsen humanitarian situation

By AMIR VAHDAT
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A United Nations special envoy says that the sweeping U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran have badly impacted the country’s economy and worsened the humanitarian situation in the Persian Gulf nation.

Alena Douhan, the U.N. special rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday that the sanctions have affected Iran’s main export groups, banks and also several companies and nationals, including some pharmaceuticals and food production.

She says this has led to “inflation and growing poverty” and depleted state resources for dealing with the basic needs of “people with low income and other vulnerable groups, including people suffering from … severe diseases, disabled people, Afghan refugees, women-led households and children.”