Letter to US Secretary of State
March 17, 2020
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
United States Department of State
Dear Honorable Secretary Pompeo,
Today, every nation in the world is facing major, life-threatening hurdles as a novel Coronavirus spreads across the globe and infects countless people. This disease has taken many lives and continues to take more; by all accounts, conditions will continue to get worse—at least in the short term before effective mitigation plans are applied globally.
Although an accurate number of casualties are unknown, Iran is estimated to have the 2nd or 4th highest disease burden.
Unfortunately, due to gross mismanagement by the government of the Islamic Republic, the situation in Iran is becoming a major disaster. At the same time, current sanctions imposed by the United States make it difficult for concerned citizens of this great nation to help Iranian people in a time of dire need.
As Iranian professors, doctors, lawyers, and representatives of the democratic political oppositions that have been forced into exile by the Islamic Republic of Iran, we are concerned about our country in these extenuating circumstances and want to extend support to our people. The Iranian government claims that sanctions imposed by the US blocked Iran from acquiring required medical devices and medicine; Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, recently released a list of devices which the government is not able to obtain due to US sanctions, both directly and indirectly. Therefore, we are writing to you to ask for a comprehensive review of the current sanctions leveled against the Islamic Republic of Iran—if there are any constraints of this nature, we ask that appropriate steps are taken to facilitate access to medically necessarily equipment and medicine by Iranian people. Please consider the following suggestions as amendments to the current sanctions:
1. Allowing international financial and insurance institutions to facilitate export of medical goods and medicines to private Iranian businesses.
2. Allowing U. S. And European firms to conduct business with private Iranian businesses until the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a global threat.
3. Allowing Iranian and American NGOs to conduct partnerships to set up a COVID-19-specific task force
4. Permitting a team of Health Care Organizations and experts of Iranian and American descent to visit Iran and provide technical assistance to Iranian hospitals and medical centers.
- The US should consider allowing the release of the five billion dollars’ worth of Iranian funds that are being housed in foreign banks. This fund should also be distributed to the Iranian government with the condition that it is spent under the direct supervision of representatives of Iranian NGOs, private sector, or a third-party international institution for the sole purpose of Coronavirus related expenditures.
As you are well aware, this virus knows no politics and boundaries. It has affected the very top of the leadership of this regime. But it is also a fact that those who face the immediate and tragic effect of Coronavirus are regular people—including nurses and doctors. Many of those whose daily job is to take care of the sick and powerless have been rendered disproportionately vulnerable due to lack of sufficient medical devices and supplies.
We end our letter with part of a poem by the great Iranian Poet, Saadi;
Human beings are members of one another,
since in their creation they are of one essence.
When the conditions of the time bring a member (limb) to pain,
the other members (limbs) will suffer from discomfort.
We are asking for a meeting with you and or your representatives to meet and discuss our concerns with regard to this tragedy that continues to take countless lives across the globe.
Mehdi Amini
