US’ sanctions virus spreading to its allies: Kanaani

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Oct 2022 17:33
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The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry described the US government's "sanctions madness" as a virus that is rapidly spreading to Washington's allies.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani

The spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said the US government's "sanctions madness" has become a virus swiftly infecting its friends, slamming Canada's recent sanctions against a number of Iran's news media sites as a violation of the Iranian nation's basic rights in an Instagram post on Friday.

Deploring the recent sanctions imposed by Canada on Iran's Tasnim News Agency, Keyhan newspaper, Nournews, Fars News Agency, and a number of IRIB officials, the spokesperson stated that this is not the first time Canada has sanctioned Iranian major media outlets and journalists, as it has previously sanctioned Press TV.

“From the viewpoint of the government of Canada and its anti-Iranian Western allies, the Iranian nation, apart from (being under) the economic sanctions, has no right to express its opinions and ideas, unless it would speak like them and in their cultural language, such as ‘Iran International’, ‘Manoto’ etc.,” Kanaani added, referring to two London-based anti-Iranian televisions.

Sanctions against Iranian media outlets and journalists violate the Iranian nation's fundamental right to express its voice and opinion and demonstrate that Western advocacy for freedom of information and free expression is nothing more than meaningless rhetoric, the Iranian spokesperson added.

Kanaani also chastised the West for using the same ideas to excuse the degradation of religious and holy sanctuaries. “The move to resort to force and sanctions to prevent the voice of others from being heard by a country whose human rights claims have deafened the world is not so surprising,” he added.

Kanaani added that Canada is used to apartheid behaviors, citing the finding of mass graves of indigenous children in that country and that Ottawa has now initiated "media apartheid".

“When slogan is unmasked and logic becomes weak, there is no option but resorting to force and sanction,” the Iranian spokesperson noted, adding, “Sanction has become the international language of the US and its allies.”