For Fatemeh, the pill she
takes twice a day in her home
in Iran means the difference
between life and death.
Earlier this summer when she
contacted her friend
Mohammad in the US to say
she was running out of the
medicine due to a shortage,
the obvious thing for her
fellow Iranian to do was to
order it from the chemist
next door and have it shipped
directly to Iran. To the dismay
of Fatemeh and Mohammad,
the order was rejected
because of US sanctions on
trade with Iran.
This week, Standard
Chartered bank was accused
by US regulators of scheming
with Iran to hide transactions
, an accusation it denies.
While the sanctions focus
may currently be on big
institutions, in the eyes of
ordinary Iranians, it is they
who bear the brunt.
"My friend suffers from
Brugada syndrome [a heart
condition] and has abnormal
electrocardiogram and is at
risk of sudden death," said
Mohammad, who lives in
Moorhead, Minnesota. "There
is one drug that is very
effective in regulating the
electrocardiogram, and hence
preventing cardiac arrest. It is
called quinidine sulfate and is
manufactured in the US."
Mohammad ultimately
circumvented the problem by
having the medicine ordered
to his home address and sent
to Iran through friends. "By
the time she got the pills, her
own supply was finishing
within four days, what if we
couldn't send them in time?
Who would be responsible if
anything had happened to
her?" he asked.
With the latest embargo
placed on the importing of
Iranian oil, sanctions are now
tighter than ever. Western
officials argue that sanctions
are aimed at punishing the
Iranian regime in the hope of
forcing it to comply with
international rules over its
disputed nuclear programme,
but many Iranians see things
differently.
"Sanctions are affecting the
entire country, but it is the
people that bear the brunt
and have the least ability to
protect themselves from this
pressure," said Trita Parsi,
president of the National
Iranian American Council and
the author of the book A
Single Roll of the Dice:
Obama's Diplomacy with
Iran. "What is most
concerning is that it is now
increasingly clear that the
people are the target," he
said.
According to Parsi, those
advocating the punitive
measures hope that pressure
on the people will translate
into pressure on the
government. "That works in
theory – in democracies. But
in a non-democracy, such as
Iran, the ability for people to
pressure their government is
limited," he said. "Many in
Washington acknowledge that
we are conducting economic
warfare. That means the
entire Iranian economy is the
battlefield – and ordinary
Iranians are [seen as] enemy
combatants."
As sanctions have started to
take their toll, prices of fruit
and sugar, among other
staples, have soared – in
some cases showing three-
and four-fold increases. The
latest controversy surrounds
long queues for discounted
poultry, an essential
ingredient of Persian food,
which has seen its price
double since last year,
causing what has been
dubbed a "chicken crisis" and
prompting demonstrations.
Iran's Haemophilia Society
recently blamed the sanctions
for risking thousands of
children's lives due to a lack
of proper drugs, the
opposition website Rahesabz
reported.
Sanctions, too, are
compounding the country's
economic woes, sending the
national currency falling to a
record low and making dollars
hard to come by.
The west says sanctions are
the only option left, other
than war. But Parsi said: "That
is patently false. It is the pro-
war elements that are
propagating the idea that the
choice is between war and
sanctions. The type of patient
and persistent diplomacy that
has resolved issues like this in
the past is yet to be fully
explored."
Measures imposed on Iran's
central bank, cutting it off
from the world, have caused
grave problems for ordinary
Iranians as well as opposition
activists because it is the only
official channel for them to
transfer money abroad.
"Those who carry on despite
hardships inside the country
are also feeling more and
more isolated. Activists, like
regular Iranians, cannot use
banks to transfer funds for
conference participation,
hotel reservations and to
attend training workshops
abroad," said Sussan
Tahmasebi, a prominent
Iranian women's rights
activist who worked on a
recent report called Killing
Them Softly: The Stark Impact
of Sanctions on the Lives of
Ordinary Iranians.
"As a result of these [western]
policies, ordinary Iranians are
finding themselves caught up
in the sanctions mess," she
said. "In effect, the banking
sanctions are forcing Iranians
to rely on a cash-based
economy, making them
dependent on black
marketeers for the transfer of
funds to cover legitimate
expenses, such as educational
and health costs."
Activists say that, unlike
ordinary people, the regime
can find a way out of banking
difficulties with help from its
proxies.
Sanctions are also affecting
Iranians outside the country.
One Iranian who is a resident
of the US said her bank
account was closed recently
because of a "new policy
forbidding the banks to work
with countries that expose
them to money laundering".
Speaking on condition of
anonymity, she said: "I am
living in this country [US],
working and paying tax like
others. I believe this is a kind
of discrimination."
• Some names have been
changed to protect people's
identities
TULIA.........UFUNZWE!