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#COVID19 pandemic in Iran have been severely hampered by US sanctions, urging them to cease observing them,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.
“It is IMMORAL to let a bully kill innocents,” Zarif said.
Iran, the worst CORVID-19 impacted country in the Middle East and the third worst hit nation in the world behind China and Italy, said on March 12 it has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $5 billion in emergency funding to help it fight the virus outbreak.
Iran remains under what it claims is an “economic war” waged by the US as Washington attempts to force the country to diminish its role in Middle East affairs. The US sanctions are not supposed to hinder humanitarian supplies to Iran but Iranian officials say that because the sanctions make arranging the financing of trade with the Islamic Republic so tough and daunting, they effectively do.
Tehran governor general Anoushirvan Mohseni-Bandpey, meanwhile, denied that officials were planning a lockdown in the capital, state TV reported. Working hours in government offices would not be altered in coming days and large supermarkets would extend their business hours, Mohseni-Bandpey was quoted as saying by state TV.
The Iranian Nowruz new year holidays start on March 20 and will extend into early April. Officials face the dilemma of how to avoid the travel surge generated by the vacation period causing another spike in coronavirus infections.
2.4​ ​Iran goes to IMF for first time since 1960s and scraps new year events in face of pandemic
Iran on March 12 went to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to request assistance for the first time since the 1960s and cancelled all Persian new year Nowruz events as the coronavirus pandemic continued to take a terrible toll on the country.
Tehran applied for $5bn from the IMF to help counter the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the Central Bank of Iran confirmed. There appeared to be some doubt among analysts as to whether the Iranian government, under US sanctions, is eligible to apply for emergency funding from the Fund.
Iran is suffering the world’s third worst coronavirus outbreak, with only China and Italy faring worse. By the end of March 12 it had recorded 10,075 CORVID-19 infections and 429 deaths.
Earlier, the World Bank and Fund jointly announced their readiness to support countries with economies impacted by the pandemic.
“We are proceeding expeditiously with all requests in line with our policies. I would expect to have more specificity on that in coming days,” Gerry Rice, a spokesman at the Fund, said in a briefing in Washington.
8​ IRAN Country Report April 2020 www.intellinews.com