U.S. sanctions exacerbate situation of quake-hit Syrians: Iranian FM

TEHRAN, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister on Thursday deplored the U.S. sanctions on Syria, saying they have exacerbated the situation of the quake-stricken people in the Arab country.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone call with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Mirjana Spoljaric, in which the two sides discussed the latest rescue and relief operations in quake-hit Syria and Türkiye, said a statement published by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on its website.

Amir-Abdollahian described the humanitarian situation in Syria as "very difficult," calling for more attention from the international community to Syria's "special" conditions.

For her part, Spoljaric said the ICRC will take extensive measures to assess the quake-hit people's conditions in Syria.

Iran has so far sent five batches of humanitarian aid to Syria, according to the Iranian Embassy in Syria.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani called for pressuring the United States to lift sanctions on Syria to enable the delivery of international aid to the quake-hit regions in Syria, reported the semi-official Mehr news agency.

A catastrophic 7.7-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks struck southern Türkiye and northern Syria on Monday, killing at least 14,014 people in Türkiye and 3,556 in Syria so far and injuring tens of thousands of others, according to the latest statistics.