Coronavirus: Tehran calls on US to lift sanctions
HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-IRAN: Coronavirus: Tehran calls on the USA to lift sanctions
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| Coronavirus: Tehran calls on US to lift sanctions |
DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States should lift sanctions on Iran if Washington wants to help Tehran stem the coronavirus pandemic, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on Monday, adding that his country has no plans to accept American humanitarian aid.
"American leaders lie (...) If they want to help Iran, all they have to do is lift the sanctions (...) Then we can deal with the epidemic of coronavirus ", he said in a television address.
According to the Ministry of Health, Iran is the main source of contagion in the Middle East with more than 21,000 cases of infections, including 1,700 fatal, the virus killing an average of one person every ten minutes.
Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he had offered Iran assistance from the United States in the fight against the coronavirus.
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected the aid on Sunday, deeming it strange from American leaders whom he described as "charlatans and liars".
(Parisa Hafezi; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Henri-Pierre André)