Eight countries under unilateral sanctions, mainly from the United States and European Union, urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday to request the immediate and complete lifting of those measures to enable the nations to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a joint letters, the ambassadors from China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria and Venezuela urged the UN chief to "reject the politicization of such a pandemic.
The ambassadors, who said they were under instructions from their foreign ministers, did not name any countries responsible for what they called "illegal, coercive measures of economic pressure.
But the United States has imposed sanctions on all of the nations except China and the European Union has imposed sanctions on all but Cuba.