Iran Sanctions Hurt Ordinary People: Former Mexico President


TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Mexico’s former president Ernesto Zedillo stated that Iranian people and business deserve the relief from sanctions.

Sanctions against Iran have hurt ordinary people and had little impact on those who hold power in the country, Mexico’s former president Ernesto Zedillo said in a joint statement with former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari on Friday.

“The long-suffering Iranian people and business sector deserve the relief from sanctions that a comprehensive agreement should bring. The sanctions have hurt ordinary people without damaging the interests of those who hold power,” Zedillo said in a statement released by The Elders, a group of global leaders and peace activists formed by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

“The sanctions regime against Iran will need to be addressed quickly, and with a high sense of responsibility by all concerned,” Zedillo noted, Sputnik reported.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and chairman of the group said in the statement that “the progress that Iran and the six world powers (P5+1) have made on issues that originally seemed insoluble has been remarkable” and “after so much hard work, it would be a lost opportunity of historic proportions if they could not complete the last uphill stretch on the road to a positive outcome”.

Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari added that “a nuclear agreement is a first step in the efforts to find solutions to the problems in the Middle East”.