UN official: Sanctions hampering money wiring to Iran for Projects

The sanctions and restriction imposed on Iran's economy and the banking system have troubled transfer of funds from Geneva to Tehran for funding UN humanitarian projects in Iran, a UN envoy said. Speaking to reporters here in Tehran on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran Bernard Doyle said that the sanctions imposed on Tehran have made transfer of money from Geneva (UNHCR's Headquarters) to Tehran "a major problem" for his agency. He further complained that "issues and problems of the refugees are among humanitarian affairs and should not be treated politically". Iranian officials have on many occasions blasted the western officials' claim that anti-Iran sanctions have not targeted humanitarian and medical fields. Both the US and EU allege that foodstuff and medicine have been exempted from restrictions, but the tough sanctions imposed on financial transactions with Iran have practically blocked Iranian companies' access to the international markets as they cannot pay for their purchases. Late in December, an Iranian health official blasted the UN's lack of proper action to prevent the harmful impacts of the US-led western sanctions on the supply of medicine to Iran. Head of Iran's Medical Council Shahabeddin Sadr in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon lambasted the silence and indifference of the world body to the vital results of the US-led western sanctions and restrictions on the supply of drugs and medical equipment to Iran. "Now is not the time to kill time with useless and fruitless bureaucracy, rather it is time for taking responsible, accountable and human action very rapidly, and it is of surprise that the United Nations and its other relevant bodies and organizations are showing unjustified silence," Sadr said in a second letter to the UN chief in protest at the US ban on medical supplies to Iran after he sent a similar letter to Ki-moon a few weeks ago and the UN chief demanded him . He asked Ban Ki-moon to pursue the case at the UN and take proper action to prevent the boycott, and urged him to "decisively condemn this inhuman action of the western countries which is a betrayal to the history and humanity, and stop the sanctions on medicine and medical equipments". Sadr also called on the UN to ask nations to avoid political or economically-tainted attitudes towards health and well-being of the people of the world.