Our Voices
We are a group of feminist Iranian-American scholars, students, activists, and artists who are concerned about the deadly effects of the U.S. sanctions on the Iranian people.
The brunt of economic sanctions are borne by ordinary Iranians. For over a decade, lack of access to medicine and the environmental effects of the sanctions have debilitated the Iranian people and have subjected them to death. This has never been more evident than now, with the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign coinciding with the deadly corona pandemic and making for devastating consequences.Sanctions against Iran have long been justified as a means of punishing the Iranian state.
US intervention in the region has resulted in the rise of authoritarian states, extremism, conflict, and deaths of innocent people. We have seen this happen to our Iraqi neighbors, even before the occupation of Iraq by the U.S. forces. Between 1990 and 2003, more than 500,000 innocent Iraqi children died as the direct result of the Iraq sanctions. This is exactly why we oppose U.S. intervention in Iran and the broader region, and believe that sanctions only destabilize the region, increase conflict, harm the most vulnerable segments of the population, and contribute to the loss of lives. Sanctions cause harm to ordinary people, provide the state with justification for the repression of dissent in the name of national security, legitimize austerity measures, and give rise to corruption and sanctions-profiteering by state and non-state elements.
While the Biden administration might be amicable to the idea of reinstalling JCPOA, the history of sanctions on Iran under Democratic presidents (including the "crippling sanctions" during Obama's presidency) prove that we cannot assume an end to the sanctions once Trump leaves the White House on January 20th, 2021.
That is why we feel the urgency to raise awareness about the deadly sanctions, and to put pressure on the next administration to lift the sanctions on Iran. We consider the U.S. sanctions to be war by another name, condemn sanctions on Iran, and stand in solidarity with other peoples who are subjected to deadly sanctions, from Gaza to Venezuela.
We are all volunteers and our work on this campaign is completely grassroots and independent. We build coalitions with a wide range of organizations and individuals who seek to lift the sanctions on Iran.