In a rare move Kelly Craft, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN walked over to her Iranian counterpart Majid Takht-Ravanchi on Thursday and the two envoys exchanged a few words.
Clark walked over to the Iranian envoy after a UN Security Council meeting on the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers in 2015.
In his speech in the meeting Takht Ravanchi spoke about a two-year old girl named Ava, who died in June. Ava was suffering from Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare genetic condition and needed special bandages to prevent the blistering of her skin.
The Iranian envoy said the U.S. sanctions had caused her death because under the pressure of U.S. sanctions a European company had stopped selling the bandages to 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,” Takht Ravanchi said.
An Official of the U.S. mission to the UN said Clark had expressed her condolences to her Iranian counterpart on the death of the young girl.
A short video of the two envoys showing them speaking was widely shared on the social media.
“As is common practice in the UN that envoys speak with each other after meetings, the U.S. envoy walked over to the Iranian envoy after the UN Security Council meeting", Alireza Miryousefi, the Head of the Press Office at Iran’s Mission to the United Nations, was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) as saying.
Miryousefi pointed out that the U.S. envoy had inquired about the child referred to in the Takht Ravanchi’s speech and he responded. “Nothing more was said in this short conversation,” he added.
In the same UN Security Council meeting Craft had told the members that the U.S. is willing to engage in dialogue with Iran to negotiate a deal that will better serve international peace and security and added: “But we will not sit idly by while Iran continues to destabilize the region.”
Iranian officials including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei say only after removing sanctions Iran will be prepared to talk with the U.S. within the framework of the P5+1.
