60 Iranian American Former Political Prisoners Ask U.S. President to Continue Maximum Pressure on Iran

by OIAC
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, May 1, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — In a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, 60 former Iran political prisoners living in the United States, expressed grave concern for all prisoners in Iran, particularly that of political prisoners who are at severe risk of infection and death due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Iranian regime’s systemic mishandling of the health crisis. 
Citing reports from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the letter warns that Iranian regime has grossly misreported COVID-19 cases and associated deaths in Iran. The letter also charges, “Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its affiliates have attacked, wounded and killed dozens of prisoners, many of whom are prisoners of conscience.”
The former political prisoners caution that Iranian regime is weaponizing the global corona pandemic, “to press for appeasement measures and sanctions relief” just as it uses Iranian people’s wealth to prop up regional terrorist proxies.  
Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) agrees with this assessment and the letter’s request that the United States, “continue the maximum pressure policy on the regime and its regional proxies.” We join these Iranian American community members in calling on the President to work with U.S. allies to demand, “the immediate release of the thousands of political prisoners,” being unjustly incarcerated in Iran. 

Related Statement:
166 prominent Iranian American medical professionals and health workers send a letter to President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, April 12, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) praises Clinicians for a Free Iran (CFFI) for their letter to President Donald Trump highlighting Iran’s sinister plan to leverage COVID-19 pandemic to enrich and empower the regime. More than 160 prominent medical professionals, health workers, and scholars, many of whom are on the frontline of the battle against this global pandemic, have raised deep concerns that regime foreign minister Javad Zarif is portraying his regime as a “victim ” of U.S. sanctions. 

CFFI Chair, Dr. Ashraf Zadshir, a specialist in infectious diseases and Founding Director of the Department of Residency at Borrego Health in Southern California added that, “both the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani should be held accountable for expelling Doctors Without Borders team from Iran and refusing U.S. offers of humanitarian assistance, the regime is blaming the pandemic on the U.S. sanctions to cover up its denial, mismanagement, and subsequent embezzlement of COVID-19 aid sent by the international community.”

According to CFFI President, Dr. Firouz Daneshgari, a senior surgeon at the Case Western Reserve University and the honorary president of the International Medical Committee, “the Iranian regime is campaigning, not to help the people of Iran, but to exploit the loss of thousands of Iranian lives due to COVID-19 for its sinister agenda, to get the sanctions lifted by the United States and the International community.“ The CFFI letter reiterates a number of important facts also outlined in a joint statement by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Representative Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the letter, these lawmakers correctly charged that Iranian regime, “has diverted medical equipment, declined U.S. and other assistance, and continued to support dangerous terrorists around the world even in the midst of this crisis.” 

OIAC concurs with the CFFI that, “The much-needed humanitarian aid should only be provided directly to the people of Iran and not the regime and its IRGC, and Tehran must be compelled to accept such humanitarian aid.” We further join the CFFI signatories in asking U.S. government, “to maintain the maximum pressure on the regime while offering direct aid to the people of Iran.”

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