World must push US to lift Iran sanctions amid coronavirus outbreak: Iran UN mission

Iran says the international community should push the United States to immediately lift all "illegal" sanctions it has imposed on the Islamic Republic amid a national endeavor to contain the novel coronavirus.

"The inhumane and illegal US sanctions will jeopardize the health and lives of Iranians and other nations through impeding our capabilities to prevent further spread of the coronavirus to other countries," said the permanent mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in a statement on Thursday.

"While the United States tries to contain the virus inside the country, it helps the outbreak overseas by undermining professional capabilities of some affected countries which are trying to battle the disease," it added.

No country, the statement added, can tackle the global health issue on its own; a challenge that knows no boundaries.

The mission also stressed the importance of bolstering cooperation at the current sensitive juncture instead of intensifying inhumane measures against other nations for purposes of mere political nature.

"Unfortunately, the current situation is the outcome of the continuation of illegal US sanctions against Iran and some other countries. The consequences of the illegitimate sanctions, which are beyond collective punishment of a nation, leave no doubt that they amount to crimes against humanity," the statement said.

Despite Iran's great medical capabilities, the country is faced with obstacles in the way of identifying and treating the coronavirus patients as well as effectively preventing the outbreak due to Washington's "economic and medical terrorism,", it added.

The 'inefficiency' of the so-called special mechanism to allow Iran to import medicine was another point to mention in the statement. It said the mechanism does not match the country’s needs under the current circumstances, and it is not viable either.

Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raeisi said on Friday that the total number of infections had reached 19,644 in the country.

“With 149 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the virus has reached 1,433. Unfortunately, we had 1,237 new cases since yesterday,” Raeisi said on state TV.

He also put the number of those who have recovered from the infection so far at 6,745.

In a phone conversation with his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Moteg on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the US sanctions had hampered the country’s access to medicine and medical equipment.

Virus cases fall in 13 Iranian provinces but sanctions mar fight

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says US sanctions have hampered Iran

The sanctions are still the “main obstacle” to Iran's effective fight against the pandemic, Zarif said.

Read more:

• Deputy health min.: Iran ready to help US control coronavirus pandemic
• Iran only state that can’t buy medical items from abroad due to US bans: Envoy to Madrid
• Iran FM says US cruel sanctions severely hindering anti-corona fight

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