THE HUMAN COST OF SANCTIONS

BY IDA GHOHESTANI 

“I always wondered what would have happened if she was in the United States,” Sara* tells me as she talks about her beloved grandmother who recently died in Iran after having contracted COVID-19.

At 70 years old, Sara’s grandmother was healthy, with no underlying conditions that put her at risk. Upon contracting COVID, her oxygen levels were volatile and she was transferred to a hospital. At this point, Sara’s mother and grandfather were on the phone for hours a day in an attempt to ensure her grandmother would receive the proper medication, and to see what was happening with her care and treatment. Sara recounts to me that one time it took her three days to get her the medicine she needed because they had to go through multiple people.

I asked Sara, a current university student and daughter of two Iranian immigrants, why she thought this was. Her response was immediate: lack of adequate medical supplies and poor communication within the Iranian healthcare infrastructure. While maximum pressure sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States are implemented with “humanitarian measures'' in place to ensure that essential care materials like medicines are not affected, in reality many pharmaceutical companies have halted dealings with Iran in fear of retaliation by the United States.

Prior to U.S. sanctions, pharmaceutical companies were able to build up their inventories to prevent shortages of vital medicines, and were able to import necessary foreign medication, particularly for patients with diseases such as cancer and epilepsy. However, since the implementation of sanctions and rising prices of vital medicines, this is no longer possible. There is a serious lack of medication and preventative measures for Iranians with life-threatening diagnosis, and shortages of vital medications will continue to be more frequent if the United States continues with the maximum-pressure campaign. 

Furthermore, inflation as a result of sanctions has resulted in many medications, vitamins, and supplements necessary to those with life-threatening diseases being omitted from the list of government insurance-subsidized medications. Much of the medication that is currently available within the country is now imported at cheaper prices from India and China, which has led many experts to question the quality of the drugs available, particularly for patients with rare diseases. This creates another added health risk for patients like Sara’s grandmother.

Sanctions are often seen as an alternative to military intervention. President Woodrow Wilson said in 1919, “A nation that is boycotted is a nation that is in sight of surrender. Apply this economic, peaceful, silent, deadly remedy and there will be no need for force. It does not cost a life outside the nation boycotted [emphasis added], but it brings a pressure upon the nation which, in my judgment, no modern nation could resist.” This statement presupposes the acceptance of lost life in a target country, normalizing the idea that as long as American lives aren’t lost for a Western motive, such action is welcomed.

If sanctions are lifted as a gesture of goodwill, Iranians will begin to see the United States once again in a positive light.

Furthermore, the presumption that no modern state could resist the economic effects of sanctions is dangerously naive. This principle has become a fundamental piece to understanding the United States’ affinity towards imposing sanctions against “non-cooperative” governments, namely those deemed to have regimes in power that are considered unacceptable by Western powers. At the top of that country list lies the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Time and time again, the argument for sanctions against Iran is made: economic pressures from the implementation of sanctions will force Iran’s non-cooperative government to halt their nuclear program and sponsorship of terrorism. Sanctions have been seen as a way to strangle Iran, making Iranians suffer significantly to prompt another revolution and a “return to democracy,” a U.S.-led initiative that reminds many Iranians of the coup in 1953 and reinstatement of the unpopular Shah. And for years we have seen the Iranian government only strengthening its nuclear program and state sponsorship of terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, further destabilizing the region.

The Iranian government, led by the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and Foreign Minister Javaad Zarif, has ignored the human cost of sanctions which have disproportionately affected Iran’s most vulnerable, including the elderly, children, and the disabled. The government has also worked to strengthen censorship and used brute military force to silence opposition, both within and outside the country’s borders. In imposing sanctions, the United States has effectively accepted the loss of life in Iran, in trade for an unlikely outcome: regaining an affluent Middle Eastern ally that will yield to Western demands.

“It’s real people who are being affected by sanctions and it’s the citizens who suffer the consequences of old men’s decisions to play war,” Sara tells me. Her statement echoes the sentiments of many Iranians who have been affected by the imposition of inhumane sanctions.

Iran has consistently demonstrated that it refuses to yield to Western powers. The government has resisted change for decades now and there is no end in sight for the current regime. It is time for the United States to recognize this and take a dramatic step: remove sanctions and bring Iran to the negotiating table. Current sanctions only halt trade opportunities and push Iran to strengthen relations with adversarial countries like China and Russia. If sanctions aren’t lifted, relations between Iran and the United States will become irreparable.

Conversely, if sanctions are lifted as a gesture of goodwill, Iranians will begin to see the United States once again in a positive light. When regime change does come to Iran, it opens the door for the potential for the creation of a positive diplomatic relationship between the two countries once again.  Only through diplomacy can there be the potential for regime change, but more importantly, sanctions must be lifted to halt the loss of innocent life in Iran.

*A pseudonym has been used to protect Sara’s identity for her and her family’s safety.

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Ida Ghohestani is a sophomore at the University of Southern California majoring in International Relations and French. Her research interests include terrorism/counterterrrorism, civil wars and conflict in the Middle East, and U.S.-Iran relations. She is participating in a foreign affairs reporting class taught by Professor Phil Seib, a collaboration between the Pacific Council and the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.