Zarif urges lifting US sanctions to help Iran fight coronavirus
TEHRAN, (ST)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called on the United Nations and its member countries to disregard the inhuman US embargo on Iran.
“In letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres I urge the world body and member states to disregard the inhuman US sanctions on my country and insist that they be lifted,” Zarif tweeted on Friday.
He added that as the Coronavirus hits Iran, all should recognize that viruses don’t discriminate and in order to fight such disease, humans also shouldn’t discriminate.
In his message, Zarif urged the international community to pressure the United States to lift the sanctions so Iran can fight Coronvirus properly.
On his part, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi said in a tweet on Friday that the US economic pressure on Iran hinders the country’s efforts to combat Coronavirus, reiterating that international crises need real collective international efforts.
The Iranian government and people are exerting massive efforts to fight Novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, but the US sanctions hamper these efforts, said Ravanchi, pointing out that “it is time that America should stop its attempts to politicize humanitarian efforts and lift the blockade.”
According to the latest statistics released by Iran’s Health Ministry, the new coronavirus has claimed another 85 lives in Iran, bringing the overall number of deaths in the country to 514.
“Sadly, 85 people infected with the COVID-19 disease have died in the past 24 hours,” the ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference on Friday.
Hamda Mustafa