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IIC welcomes Congressmen's initiative to exempt food from Iran sanctions, urges Clinton to allow food sales

Washington DC, December 25, 1998, (IIC) - Iranians for International Cooperation (IIC) welcomes Senator Craig's initiative to persuade the Treasury Department to grant necessary license for the $500 million worth of farm exports to Iran. In a letter to President Clinton, IIC's Chairman urges the US administration to hear the request of the US lawmakers and allow sales of food commodities to Iran.

Earlier this week, Senator Craig and 31 other lawmakers called earlier this week for a food exemption from the Iran sanctions, pointing out that unilateral sanctions simply don't work and that they hurt US companies more than the countries singled out for punishment.

This initiative indicates the increased awareness of the futility of unilateral sanctions. Indeed, the sanctions instrument is a clumsy foreign policy tool with tendencies to backfire and hurt American businesses and farmers.

At a time when declining Asian demand has depressed US grain prices to the lowest level in a generation, an estimated 10 to 11 percent of the world's 98 million ton wheat market is off-limits because of foreign policy economic sanctions. This has made life for US farmers very burdensome, while foreign competitors happily have taken over their market shares.

The sanctions on Iran have so far only resulted in poorer relations with key US allies, increased hostility towards Iran at a time when Iran is reaching out to the US, increased suffering for the ordinary hardworking people in Iran and lost business opportunities for US companies.

Improved relations with Iran, which is an important power in Persian Gulf region, is in the vital interest of the US. The current policy is long overdue for review. IIC warmly welcomes the willingness amongst lawmakers at Capitol Hill to patch the frayed relationship between Iran and the US.

Iranians for International Cooperation (IIC), is a not-for-profit, independent network of concerned global citizens who strive to improve relations between the two former allies Iran and the US.

Contact: Trita Parsi, Chairman, chair@iic.org
Ramin Farjad-Rad, PR Officer, public_reation@iic.org


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