Washington top violator of rights, Teheran says

TEHERAN－During the American Human Rights Review and Exposure Week from June 27 to July 3, Iran highlighted the United States as the "biggest violator of human rights".

"Iran is one of the countries which has been severely affected by the US' instrumental use of human rights. Nowadays, the US' imposition of unilateral coercive sanctions has turned into a tool to violate the human rights of Iranian people," said the Iranian Foreign Ministry in its annual report on US human rights.

The US' "cruel sanctions and economic terrorism" imposed on Iran negatively impact Iran's production, employment and national revenues, as they have weakened economic return, reduced revenues and led to a social gap that has downgraded the standard of living for Iranians, the report said.

It slammed the US sanctions for mainly targeting Iran's lifeline－oil exports. As a result, a severe reduction in Iran's national revenues led to "the debilitation of the Iranian government in preserving and improving the fundamental infrastructures in the country".

It said the lack of access to the international financial system and disruption in payment processing systems have "critically disturbed Iran's participation in international partnerships in such projects, and it has failed to develop and renovate the country's industries".

Specifically, Iranian aviation companies and shipping lines have failed to acquire the necessary spare parts, equipment and services for the maintenance and upgrade of their fleets, which endangers the safety of air passengers and increases the risk of water contamination from ship leakages.

Washington's unilateral sanctions have also caused "irreparable damage" to the health of vulnerable members of the Iranian society, said the Iranian Foreign Ministry, adding that the negative impact has been "very tangible and destructive".

Protection failures

The Iranian report censured the US' hypocrisy for failing to protect the human rights of many of its own citizens, while claiming to be an advocate of human rights and pointing a finger at other countries.

In the US, "there is no meaningful monitoring of the violations of the rights of minorities such as Muslims and people of color within the United States where hatemongering is widely pursued by officials and police forces", it said.

After the murder of African American George Floyd by a white police officer and subsequent protests against police brutality, "US police are still using similar levels of lethal force, and they are still not facing the consequences", reported Tehran Times.

"It's safe to say white Americans enjoy a privilege in a country that self-proclaims itself as the flag bearer of democracy and beacon of human rights in the world," it said.

Xinhua