Iran: coronavirus provides historic opportunity for US to lift sanctions 

The coronavirus crisis provides a historic opportunity for the US to lift sanctions on Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday. The Iranian leader made his comment after a meeting of the Ministerial Council in Tehran, Anadolu has reported. He added that Washington should “apologise” to Iran.

Rouhani stressed that the fight against the coronavirus requires global cooperation. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that Washington might mitigate its sanctions imposed on Iran and other countries which are fighting the coronavirus Covid-19. However, the US sanctions are not targeting the health sector in Iran, and several international companies avoid dealing with the Ministry of Health in Tehran fearing that they too will be blacklisted by America.

On 5 November 2018, Washington imposed a second package of economic sanctions on Iran that included the energy, financial and sea transportation sectors after the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Iran has received medical aid in the fight against the virus from China, Turkey, Qatar, Russia, the UAE, Kuwait and some EU countries. According to President Rouhani, there has been a fall in new virus cases across the country.

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