US ignores calls to suspend Venezuela and Iran sanctions amid coronavirus pandemic
Source: The Guardian
US ignores calls to suspend Venezuela and Iran sanctions amid coronavirus pandemic
Spread of coronavirus has not slowed drumbeat of successive layers of punitive measures imposed by the state department
Julian Borger in Washington
Tue 31 Mar 2020 15.43 BST
Last modified on Tue 31 Mar 2020 18.09 BST
At a time when all of humanity is facing a common, invisible, enemy, world leaders have called for a suspension of economic sanctions that have increasingly become the pursuit of war by other means.
The Trump administration has responded so far by ignoring those appeals and intensifying punitive measures on the two nations it has identified as Americas greatest enemies: Iran and Venezuela.
The spread of coronavirus has not slowed the regular drumbeat of successive layers of sanctions imposed by the state department on Iran. Last week, a new list of people and companies linked to the Revolutionary Guard was targeted.
On the same day, the justice department unveiled drug trafficking and money-laundering charges against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and 14 top current and former officials.
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Peter Harrell, a former senior sanctions official at the state department, said: The administration is taking a kind of kick them while theyre down approach, seemingly with the hope that by piling on sanctions and other actions, the administration can capitalize on the virus in Iran and Venezuela to spur greater public opposition to the incumbent governments and perhaps regime change.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/us-ignores-global-appeals-suspend-sanctions-coronavirus-pandemic-iran-venezuela