The UN Took Away Iran's Right to Vote in the General Assembly

On Thursday, Iran strongly condemned the United Nations' decision to remove its voting rights in the General Assembly due to the delay in paying membership dues worth some US$16 million.

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"US economic terrorism prevents Iran from paying for food, let alone UN fees," Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif tweeted.

The Iranian official suggested that the United Nations collect the unpaid fees using the US$110 million that have been stolen through the recent piracy implemented from financial institutions blocking Iranian funds abroad.

In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Iranian diplomat recalled that his country cannot pay these fees due to illegal and unilateral U.S. sanctions.

He also denounced that it is "astonishingly absurd" to punish the Iranian nation, to whose suffering from sanctions the UN secretariat has remained "indifferent."

The late payments have been caused by restrictions imposed on the Iranian banking system and the blocking of Persian funds by banks in countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Iraq.

During President Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement signed in 2015 between Iran and six great powers. Three years later, Washington unilaterally imposed sanctions against Iran, paradoxically arguing that Iran was not complying with the nuclear deal.