On December 19, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations expressed condolences over the death of an Iranian toddler who suffered from a rare skin disease. The rare interaction between Kelly Craft and her Iranian counterpart, Majid Takht Ravanchi, came after a tense U.N. Security Council meeting on compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Ambassador Craft reiterated that Washington was open to talks with Tehran on its nuclear program. But she also warned Iran against taking additional steps away from the 2015 nuclear deal and interfering in the Middle East. The United States “rejects Iran’s use of nuclear brinkmanship to normalize its destabilizing behavior.” Craft added that Washington was prepared “to curb malign Iranian behavior.”
Ambassador Ravanchi rejected U.S. diplomatic overtures as “disingenuous.” He accused the Trump administration of using its “maximum pressure” campaign to force Tehran into negotiations that would not be based on equal footing. “Iran does not negotiate under the threat of a sword,” Ravanchi said.
Ravanchi condemned U.S. sanctions, which have had a chilling impact on trade with Iran. “It is a shame that the U.S. bullying has resulted in discontinuation of export of certain medicines to Iran, causing nightmare for some patients,” he told the council. “For instance, a European company, under the pressure of U.S. sanctions, has stopped exporting special bandages for patients suffering from EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa), a rare genetic condition resulting in easy blistering of the skin.” Ravanchi said a toddler named Ava was unable to get proper treatment due to U.S. sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council also discussed the findings of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ report on the September 2019 attacks on Saudi oil facilities. The United Nations was unable to conclude that the drones and missiles used in the sophisticated strike were from Iran. U.N. political chief, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that escalating tensions had brought the region to the brink of conflict. “We witnessed attacks against oil tankers, strikes against a civilian airport, and a highly sophisticated and synchronized attack against oil facilities in Saudi Arabia,” she said. “Combined with acrimonious rhetoric, these developments have dangerously brought the region closer to a serious confrontation.”
After the session, Craft approached Ravanchi to express her condolences over the death of the child. Direct interactions between U.S. and Iranian officials have been rare due to tensions between the two governments. But Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman at Iran’s U.N. mission, wrote off the exchange as “merely a short conversation.”
.@USAmbUN approached the Iranian delegation after #UNSC statements on Res 2231, and merely had a short conversation on EB patients affected by sanctions. It is not out of the ordinary for UN diplomats accredited to the UN to run into each other, or to have brief encounters, at HQ
— Alireza Miryousefi (@miryousefi) December 20, 2019