Western sanctions on Iran

‘US sanctions killing Iranian civilians’
As no progress has been achieved between Tehran and the IAEA over Iran’s nuclear program, ordinary Iranians continue to suffer from “genocidal” sanctions imposed by the US, says political commentator Hamid Reza Emadi.

RT,

24 August, 2012

Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog are set to resume talks later on Friday – more than two months after the previous round failed.

Tehran insists it only wants peaceful energy, but the West remains suspicious of its nuclear ambitions.

The harsh Western sanctions imposed on Iran have no affect on the government, claims Tehran-based Emadi. Instead they are only hurting the ordinary Iranians.

Emadi explained to RT how his own family is affected. His father, who suffers from diabetes, cannot receive medication due to Western sanctions.

“Thousands and thousands of Iranians across the country have these problems. Cancer patients are not getting the medication they need,” he said.

The sanctions that the United States has imposed on Iran are “genocidal,” Emadi claims. “They are killing people, killing ordinary civilians, people who have nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program.”

“The United Nation has shamelessly remained silent, the UN is practically doing nothing – it lost its credibility,” he concludes.

James Corbett, editor of the Corbett Report, believes that the UN nuclear watchdog has been exposed during this dispute “as little more than a gang of thugs rather than a bureaucratic agency that’s trying to neutrally arbitrate this dispute.”

Corbett insists that IAEA’s actions demonstrate that currently existing nuclear powers are really trying to enforce a monopoly on nuclear power and dictate what countries can or cannot have access to it.

“They are attempting to hold the Iranian government which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to higher standards than other members of the IAEA who are currently using nuclear power.”

Corbett says Tehran is cooperative with the UN nuclear watchdog but there are many underhanded tactics being used to undermine its credibility.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable fro the Iranian government simply to ask for details what it is that the IAEA is going to be looking for when they give them access to these sites,” he says.

“So it’s being spun as some kind of rejection on Iran’s part, but it’s actually not.”