ZURICH: A humanitarian channel to bring food and medicine to Iran has started trial operations, the Swiss and the US governments said on Thursday, helping supply Swiss goods to the struggling population without tripping over US sanctions.

The Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA) seeks to ensure that Swiss-based exporters and trading companies in the food, pharmaceutical and medical sectors have a secure payment channel with a Swiss bank through which payments for their exports to Iran are guaranteed, a government statement said.

Three shipments of cancer and transplant drugs have already been sent to Iran through this channel and the transaction has been processed, US Special Representative Brian Hook told a press briefing.

Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from the sanctions that Washington reimposed on Tehran after US President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear programme.

But the US measures targeting everything from oil sales to shipping and financial activities have deterred several foreign banks from doing business with the Islamic Republic — including humanitarian deals.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2020