WarSclerotic

Iranian reformist newspapers on Monday published a rare joint editorial criticizing U.S. sanctions against Iran and asking “world journalists” to defend Iranian human rights.

The editorial was published in both Farsi and English in at least eight state-owned and pro-reform dailies. It said the United States had “lied” about the purpose of sanctions, which target ordinary people and curtail access to medical supplies and equipment.

“Trade restrictions, blockades, embargoes, freezing of assets and other economic sanctions are incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations,” the editorial said.

It called the U.S. pullout from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran “an undiplomatic and immoral” policy.

The agreement with world powers had established a protocol to limit Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

Iran is negotiating with European trading partners to try to find a way to circumvent U.S. sanctions and remain in the nuclear deal.

The editorial is seen as part of efforts by Iranian reformists to address international public opinion before a new round of U.S. sanctions, targeting oil exports, takes effect in early November.

Iranian hard-liners opposed to rapprochement with the West were always skeptical of the nuclear deal, and have viewed the U.S. withdrawal as proof of their longstanding belief that the U.S. cannot be trusted.

On Monday, Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Gholamali Khoshroo criticized the U.S.’s “morally wrong” measures against other countries, saying that unilateral sanctions amount to collective punishment and violate basic human rights.

Addressing the Sixth Committee of the 73rd Session of the U.N. General Assembly focused on “the Charter of the United Nations and strengthening of the role of the organization,” Khoshroo accused the U.S. of being “addicted to sanctions,” saying it sees it “as a tool in its toolbox in pursuance of its own national interests.”

“These morally wrong and ethically unjustified unilateral measures not only defy the rule of law at the international level but also infringe upon the right to development and lead to the violation of basic human rights,” he said.

“Coercive measures often lead to the collective punishment of innocent civilians and violation of human rights,” he asserted.

On Sunday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, tried to downplay the upcoming U.S. sanctions targeting the country’s vital oil and gas sector.

Also on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Tehran received a U.S. note confirming its withdrawal from a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries.

The Trump administration announced it would be terminating the 1955 Treaty of Amity earlier this month in response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said withdrawing from the treaty was long overdue and followed Iran “groundlessly” bringing a complaint with the International Court of Justice challenging U.S. sanctions on the basis that they were a violation of the pact.

The largely symbolic gesture highlighted deteriorating relations between Washington and Tehran.