Iran condemned the US blockade of Cuba calling it a violation of all existing international laws and of the basic human rights of the Cuban people. In the statement issued by Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday, February 16, Iran demanded international accountability for the US’ “crime against humanity” in Cuba.

Baghaei deplored the recent US actions to further strangle Cuba’s economy and expressed his nation’s solidarity with the Cuban people and its government, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

Millions of Cubans are facing an unprecedented crisis as the socialist island state has been denied its basic energy requirements through a US decree.

On January 29, Trump issued an executive order calling Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and threatening tariffs on any third country selling oil to it.

Trump accused Cuba of supporting and building defense relations with countries such as Russia, China, and Iran calling them all “malign actors and hostile” to the US. However, it is widely seen as an intensification of the US’ long term regime change policies towards socialist Cuba.

The US first imposed sanctions and blockade on Cuba in 1960, shortly after US-backed Fulgencio Batista was overthrown in the Cuban revolution. The blockade has been maintained and expanded by all successive US administrations since then.

Cuba, for its part, has denied US allegations of hosting foreign military or intelligence bases in the country. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, during his address to the nation on February 5 claimed that “Cuba has never carried out, nor proposed, or organized any aggressive action that puts at risk the territorial integrity, the security, or the stability of the government of the US.”

Yet Trump’s threats have multiplied, and coupled with the oil embargo imposed on Venezuela in December, the island nation has not received fuel for almost two months now.

Mexico, one of the other key suppliers of fuel to Cuba, has temporarily suspended shipments in response to the executive order.

US is committing a crime against humanity

Cuba almost completely depends on imported oil for its energy supplies. The unprecedented dearth of energy sources is now forcing it to cut even the most essential activities and services such as medical care, transportation, food, and water supply.

Iran noted that the US blockade against Cuba has a massive humanitarian and material cost threatening millions of its citizens.

Last week, the UN too expressed its concerns over the US imposed energy crisis in Cuba claiming it is “extremely worried about Cuba’s deepening socio-economic crisis-amid a decades long financial and trade embargo, extreme weather events, and the recent US measures restricting oil shipments.”

It noted that Cuba’s food, water supplies and health systems are at threat of shutting down due to lack of enough energy supplies risking the lives of millions of its citizens.

“Intensive care units and emergency rooms are compromised, as are the production, delivery and storage of vaccines, blood products, and other temperature sensitive medications,” said Marta Hurtado, spokesperson of the UN Human Rights in a press conference on Friday in Geneva.

Noting how the decades-long blockade has caused massive humanitarian and material losses for the island nation, Iran called it a deliberate denial of the fundamental rights of the people particularly of their right to self determination.

The blockade of Cuba violates the basic principle of national sovereignty of the states and prohibition of intervention in any member’s internal affairs, the Iranian statement said.

“The US must be held accountable for its continued and systematic violation of these principles and rules, as well as for the widespread violation of the human rights of Cuban people, which amounts to crime against humanity,” Iran said.

Several other countries including Russia and China have condemned the tightening of the US blockade on Cuba and demanded its immediate withdrawal. For the past three decades, the UN General Assembly has voted almost unanimously to reject the US blockade and demand the policy be ended.

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