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The United States has demanded that all sums intended for the purchase of the coronavirus vaccine be transferred through American banks, Iranian President Hasan Rhanan said, according to the MTI, who fears that the Americans will not block the money.
In 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 2015 agreement on the Iranian nuclear program between Tehran and the great powers and reinstated severe economic sanctions lifted under the treaty. Iran has frozen its bank accounts in several countries, including the United States.
In theory, food and medicine are exempt from US sanctions, but in reality, to avoid potential litigation, international banks are reluctant to negotiate with Iran.
“We want to send the money to buy the vaccine to a country where we have the money, and that country has accepted it,” the Iranian president said at a meeting of the committee on measures against the new coronavirus on Saturday, but did not name the country.
Róhani said that the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) first said there would be “no problem” with such a transfer, then stated that the money should be transferred to a US bank before it can be transferred for the transfer. purchase of vaccines.
“Who can trust people like you? Wherever they found them, they stole our money,” Róhani said, referring to the US government.
In April, he reported a “great court victory” in Rhanhani when Iran managed to get its $ 1.6 billion account held in Luxembourg, blocked at Washington’s request, released.
With more than 54,500 deaths and nearly 1.19 million infections, Iran is the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East.
In early December, the Ministry of Health announced that Iran had signed a pre-purchase agreement for some 16.8 million doses of vaccine under the COVAX program established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the equitable distribution of vaccinations
Iran has asked volunteers to apply in recent days for a clinical trial of its own vaccine, which began development in the spring, the ministry said.
In Hungary, the administration of the coronavirus vaccine to medical personnel already started on Saturday.
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