Right to Health and US Sanctions under Trump against Islamic Republic of Iran (Sanctions on Drugs and Medical Equipment)

Since the end of World War II, global developments have driven the world to expand collaborations. In addition to providing various solutions to peace, the Charter of the United Nations has made an extensive reference to the “human rights” and transformed this term into a discourse, the global compliance with which can be considered an important factor in the public acceptance of a country. This term has gained so much importance that all international mechanisms should be developed accordingly. In this regard, specific frameworks have been defined for sanctions in the UN laws, and the Charter of the United Nations will explicitly revoke the sanctions that violate the human rights. Conversely, the US has deprived Iran of both political and economic relations and obstructed its right to purchase drugs and medical equipment by imposing unilateral sanctions against this country. This paper aims to analyze the effects of the US sanctions on the violation of Iranian people’s right to health. For this purpose, a descriptive-analytical approach is employed to determine what impacts the US sanctions have had on Iranian people’s health in pharmaceutical and medical areas. Although drugs and medical equipment are officially considered humanitarian items and should not be sanctioned, the research findings indicate that the US has imposed unilateral sanctions on these items. Hence, it has violated the international laws and human rights, thereby adversely affecting Iranian people’s right to health.