Page 7 - IRANRptFeb21

“Since [Biden’s] administration claims not to be anti-science like the previous one ..., one expects it to free the transfer of Iran’s own foreign exchange resources to fight the coronavirus and for health and food, and lift banking sanctions quickly,” government spokesman Ali Rabiei told state television on January 26.
Also on January 26, during a visit to Moscow, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said that Tehran planned to import and produce the Sputnik V vaccine.
Deputy Health Minister Qassem Janbabaei, meanwhile, told state television that “AstraZeneca in Sweden” was among companies from which it was considering buying vaccines from overseas, but made no reference to the Anglo-Swedish company’s British ties, Reuters noted.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority, has banned the government from importing US and British-made vaccines. He has said that they are unreliable and may be used to spread the infection to other nations, but has presented no evidence to back the claims.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on January 23 that vaccinations would begin in the coming weeks.
Tehran launched human trials of the first of its three domestic vaccine candidates late last month.
Iran is also participating in the COVAX scheme that aims to secure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines for poorer countries.
Iran has recorded nearly 1.39mn cases of COVID-19 and 57,651 deaths, according to official data updated on January 27. The infection and death rates in Iran have been on a downward trend in recent weeks following the country’s third coronavirus wave. In the Middle East, only Turkey, with 2.4mn infections officially recorded, has endured a more intense coronavirus outbreak than Iran.
2.3​ ​”Try me” not telecoms minister Iran’s president tells hardliners in internet row
“If you want to try someone, try me,” said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on January 27 as he hit out at Iran’s hardline judiciary over the prosecution of the country’s telecommunications minister for an alleged refusal to block Instagram ​and impose restrictions on other foreign social media and messaging platforms.
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi was summoned for prosecution last week. Rouhani, a centrist and pragmatic politician, spoke out against that move at a cabinet meeting, saying that an effort to improve internet bandwidth in Iran was under way because of his orders, partly to help improve business and assist an anti-corruption campaign. Both a “lack of control on content” as well as the “closure” of social media were wrong, he added.
“These days, the internet is like oxygen for people... to want to restrict it would be absolutely wrong.... How else can we expect people to do everything from home and teach their children online during the [coronavirus] pandemic?” Rouhani asked.
7​ IRAN Country Report February 2021 www.intellinews.com