Should the United States Lift Sanctions on Iran to Address Its Coronavirus Outbreak?

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Iran is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. The Islamic Republic’s leadership has engaged in a massive campaign aimed at lifting sanctions imposed on it for its malign activities, claiming sanctions hinder efforts to address the COVID-19 public health crisis. This memo, however, assesses that lifting sanctions would be ill-advised. The Iranian population suffering from COVID-19 deserves much needed medical assistance but that should be funded though reliable NGOs, bypassing the regime and not through the transfer of funds to the regime, which has ample financial resources estimated at over $300 billion for economic stimulus and humanitarian aid.

On April 2, 2020, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani admitted that the regime’s public relations campaign ultimately aims to convince the world to lift sanctions on Iran using coronavirus as a pretext. Speaking at his cabinet’s economic meeting, Rouhani said U.S. sanctions have not curbed Iran’s ability to cope with the COVID-19 outbreak. Numerous Iranian health officials have confirmed this assessment. Rouhani added that Iran has “a good reserve of essential commodities for the next months and agriculture and trade ministers have given very promising reports for the situation during the coming months.”

Rouhani also told his colleagues that Iran’s Central Bank Governor said, “Iran has no problem in providing foreign currency until the end of the [Iranian] year,” which is March 2021.

The United States has no sanctions targeting humanitarian goods. Washington has established a banking channel with Switzerland to facilitate humanitarian trade for Iran while retaining oversight against Tehran’s long-standing abuse of humanitarian exemptions to U.S. sanctions laws. Several Iranian banks remain on the SWIFT financial messaging system to process humanitarian transactions. Tens of billions of dollars in Iranian oil escrow accounts exist around the world available for this trade.

Trade data and Iranian government officials confirm that Iran is receiving billions of dollars in essential goods that it needs to address its health crisis. Economic stimulus packages similar to what governments around the world have implemented should come from the regime’s over $300 billion in financial holdings not from any sanctions relief. The United States should only consider suspending or lifting sanctions when the regime ends its malign activities.