US should abandon failed policy of sanctions

Iran’s envoy to the UN, speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), has condemned the US economic embargo against Cuba, saying Washington must rethink its “failed policies” towards other countries.

During a United Nations General Assembly session on Tuesday, Iranian deputy ambassador to the world body Gholam-Hossein Dehqani expressed solidarity with the Cuban government and nation, calling for the lifting of the US embargo against the Latin American country.

The Non-Aligned Movement has always expressed its fierce opposition to foreign unilateral and oppressive measures against countries and warned against the grave consequences of sanctions on the lives of the Cuban people, Dehqani said.   

Iran holds the rotating presidency of NAM.
 
The unilateral US measures amount to the blatant infringement of the rights and interests of the Cuban people and those of other countries, he added.

NAM once again urges the US to submit to the international will and abide by the UN resolutions which call for all sanctions against Cuba to be lifted, he added.

The US imposed commercial, financial and economic embargos on Cuba in 1962 when both countries severed diplomatic ties.

For the 23rd year in a row, the UN General Assembly voted on Tuesday to condemn the US embargo against Cuba.

A total of 188 of 193 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, titled "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."