In a statement posted on X, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the date of December 4 was designated by the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year through resolution 79/293.
“The date coincides with the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development on 4 December 1986 (UNGA resolution 41/128),” Baqaei noted.
He said unilateral coercive measures, mainly economic, financial and banking sanctions imposed without UN Security Council approval, systematically violate fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, health, education and development.
By deliberately targeting the lives and well-being of entire populations, these measures constitute crimes against humanity, Baqaei declared.
He added that “the United States must be held accountable for committing such crimes through its illegal and inhuman sanctions against the peoples of developing countries, including Iran.”
The United States has imposed extensive sanctions on Iran for decades, citing unfounded concerns over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program.
Washington reimposed tough sanctions after unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear accord in May 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, despite Iran's compliance with the deal.
The measures have restricted financial channels for importing essential medicine, materials and medical equipment to Iran.
Although Washington and its Western allies claim that humanitarian goods were exempted from sanctions, tens of thousands of patients in Iran have, over the years, died or developed critical ailments due to the unavailability of essential drugs.
Iranian officials have consistently argued that these measures collectively punish ordinary citizens and impede the country’s socioeconomic development.
The new international day was established by the UN General Assembly in June 2025, following calls from the Non-Aligned Movement and several developing countries over the humanitarian effects of unilateral sanctions.
Iranian authorities used the occasion to reiterate their long-standing position that such measures contravene international law and the UN Charter, and called on the international community to strengthen efforts to eliminate them.
In a related development, a Tehran court in July 2024 ordered the US government and officials to pay $6.785 billion in damages to Iranian patients with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare skin disease.
The ruling followed lawsuits by 295 EB patients and families in protest at the US-imposed sanctions that had hampered the import of much-needed pharmaceuticals and wound dressings for those suffering from the rare skin disease.