Recently in Iran and Iraq there was an earthquake. This earthquake killed more than 450 people and injured 7000. It also destroyed many houses, leaving approximately 70000 citizens of Iran homeless. This was a devastating earthquake. People in the us rushed to create funds for the Iranian people. But all of these relief efforts were soon shot down due to the sanctions between the us and Iran. You can not send money even to the charity groups already on the ground in Iran like the red crescent.
I personally think this is ridiculous. Helping people should not be limited by political sanctions. If private organizations would like to send funds to Iran then let them do with their money as they please. This is definitely one of the many ethical v. Political debates of today. I don’t believe the government can decide who lives or dies. And I think this is a very similar issue. If the government of a county is not the best it could be that is not the people’s fault. government should not be able to decide who gets help and who doesn’t. They can not dictate what we do with our money. Help is help and I do not believe we should restrict it just because it comes from somewhere that is seen as an bad place.
Someone who was able to send help to Iran was Kianoush Rostami. He was a Iranian weightlifter gold medalist from the rio games. He posted on his Instagram about what he plans to do. He said that he was going to give his metal back to the people who deserve it. He is auctioning off the gold metal and sending all profit to the people effected by the earthquake. This is the kind of generosity we need to see more of.