The Impeding Effects of United States Sanctions on Humanitarian Trade with Iran

Abstract

I set out to examine the relationship between United States sanctions on Iran and humanitarian trade in the form of pharmaceutical imports. To measure this relationship, I used the gravity model of international trade. In this study there are 840 observations across a series of 21 years dating from 1997 to 2018. I found that when a Republican president is in the White House, global trading partners decrease pharmaceutical imports to Iran. However, when Democrats are in the White House the reverse is true, and pharmaceutical imports increase. Although the number of observations are low for a study of this nature, the results are in no way limited in real world application. My study quantitatively indicates that U.S. sanctions on Iran limit humanitarian aid intended for the Iranian people. The United States should take the lead in providing humanitarian relief to the Iranian people since current mechanisms set in place by European states cannot conduct the level of humanitarian trade required to meet the needs of the Iranian people. Therefore, I recommend that the White House take steps to create a direct financial channel between the United States and Iran to assist with humanitarian relief.