
(Source: Shutterstock.com)
WASHINGTON/DUBAI—The United States sent Iran a blunt message this week: the spread of the coronavirus will not save it from U.S. sanctions that are choking off its oil revenues and isolating its economy.
Iran is the Middle Eastern nation worst hit by coronavirus, with its death toll climbing to 1,284 and one person dying from it every 10 minutes and 50 becoming infected every hour, the health ministry said.
The United States, which argues that its “maximum pressure” campaign to curb Iran’s nuclear, missile and regional activities does not stop the flow of humanitarian goods, imposed new sanctions this week.
The Trump administration blacklisted five companies based in the United Arab Emirates, three in mainland China, three in Hong Kong and one in South Africa for trade in Iran’s petrochemicals.
“Washington’s increased pressure against Iran is a crime against humanity,” an Iranian official told Reuters. “All the world should help each other to overcome this disease.”
Some analysts suggested the Trump administration should do more to speed the flow of humanitarian goods into Iran, though they saw little evidence to suggest this was in the offing.
“Our policy of maximum pressure on the regime continues,” Brian Hook, the U.S. Special Representative for Iranian Affairs, told reporters. “U.S. sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran.”
On March 16, China called on the United States to give Iran sanctions relief for humanitarian reasons but U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and analysts saw no signs of this.
“While Iran is an epicenter of this virus outbreak and facing true economic catastrophe ... there will be no relief on sanctions,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg of the Center for a New American Security think tank.
Hook said Washington sent a diplomatic note to Tehran offering help with coronavirus “and it was quickly rejected.”
He also blamed Iran’s leadership for its coronavirus woes, saying that Iran “spends billions on terrorism and foreign wars” and that if it spent one-tenth of this “on a better health care system, the Iranian people would have been much better off.”
In what might be a gesture to Washington, Tehran released U.S. citizen Michael White from its custody though he must stay in Iran.
Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution think tank said Iran allowing White or other detained U.S. citizens to fly home might appeal to President Donald Trump.
“I still don’t believe this administration wants to provide a lot of leeway to the Iranian authorities but that doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t be looking for every opportunity to” get medical supplies into Iran, she said.
The outbreak in Iran was likely to spread as Iranians travel for the Nowruz new year’s celebration, she added, saying this could hurt U.S. security partners across the region.
“Iran is Italy, only on steroids,” Maloney said, alluding to the outbreak in Italy, whose coronavirus death toll on March 19 overtook that of China, where the virus emerged.
Mark Dubowitz, an Iran hawk with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies policy group, said Washington could send medical goods to Iran via private groups but should not ease sanctions.
“At the very time Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias in Iraq are killing Americans and Brits and others, this would be exactly the wrong time to be providing any kind of economic relief to the regime,” he said, referring to last week’s attack on a military camp in Iraq that killed one British and two U.S. personnel.
“We should be sending medical supplies directly to Iranians through non-governmental organizations and bypass the regime.”
Iranians appeared to have mixed feelings about whether Washington was making its outbreak worse.
“America’s sanctions are preventing Iran from getting necessary medicine and equipment to fight against this virus. They have to lift it,” said dentist Arash Hosseini, 52, in Tehran.
But Twitter user @fnikjoo, suggested sanctions relief would just provide “Money to support more terrorists in the region and beyond.”
Recommended Reading
USGS: 47 MMbbl of Oil, 876 Bcf of Gas in Conventional Rockies’ Basins
2025-03-13 - The U.S. Geological Survey surveyed areas where potential hydrocarbons in as yet undiscovered oil and gas formations in the Wind River, Bighorn and Powder River basins.
Dallas Fed: Trump Can Cut Red Tape, but Raising Prices Trickier
2025-01-02 - U.S. oil and gas executives expect fewer regulatory headaches under Trump but some see oil prices sliding, according to the fourth-quarter Dallas Fed Energy Survey.
Vår Energi Makes Third Oil Discovery in Barents Sea
2025-02-27 - Vår Energi has discovered a third offshore oil reserve in the Goliat area of the Norwegian Continental Shelf as part of an exploratory collaboration with Equinor.
Predictions 2025: Downward Trend for Oil and Gas, Lots of Electricity
2025-01-07 - Prognostications abound for 2025, but no surprise: ample supplies are expected to keep fuel prices down and data centers will gobble up power.
US Crude Oil Stocks, Excluding SPR, Fall to 2-Year Low, EIA Says
2025-01-15 - Crude inventories fell by 2 MMbbl to 412.7 MMbbl in the week ending Jan. 10, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 992,000-bbl draw.